PREBLE county, if it has no scenery which realizes the grand or approaches the massively sublime, certainly presents to the eye a rare combination of those gentler elements of nature's beauty, which atones for the absence of the ruggedly picturesque. Nature everywhere wears an appearance which indicates her favor to man and adaptability to his good. The landscape everywhere is of that nature which most harmonizingly holds and surrounds the scenes of harvest and the husbandman's home. The rural residences and the tangible evidences of thrift and plenty which cluster around them seem appropriately placed in the pictures which a ride through Preble county discloses to the eye. They are the natural outcome—the crystallizations of the richness of the soil—and, although reared by the industry of man, they have not been wrought with such stress of force, such slow and difficult toil, as in some less favored regions. Not stubbornly or grudgingly has nature yielded here to man, but gladly and with glorious generosity of harvest from the largest of her riches. A benison of beauty seems to rest upon the land and to have as its counterpart and complement the blessing of plenty.

With salubrious climate, fertile soil, capable of bearing as full a variety of crops as any tract of country in its latitude, bountiful and constant water supply, undulating but not rough surface, insuring good drainage, and yet having no lands that are untillable, Preble county lacks no elements which the farmer needs. It has more than these—an inexhaustible supply of- limestone of great economic value, and a_ greater available abundance of good timber than any other section of the State equal in area.

In this chapter we present a description of the surface features and geology of the county, taken principally from the State geological report.

Preble county is bounded" on the north by Darke, on the east by Montgomery, on the south by Butler, and on the west by the State of Indiana. The drainage of the county is mainly by four streams, Twin creek, Seven Mile creek, Four Mile creek, and Elk creek, all of which flow into the Great Miami. Some small areas upon the west side of the county are drained by tributaries of the White river. The surface is generally gently rolling, and there is but a small part of the county which lies flat. Parts of Washington and Jackson townships are quite level, but there are only very small areas from which the water flows sluggishly, and even in these no swamps are found. The highest land of the county is to be found on the ridge between the drainage basins, the water-shed which extends through Israel, Dixon, Jackson, Jefferson, and Monroe townships. The southern portion of the county presents the most attractive appearance. It is beautifully diversified in surface, and, besides being very pleasing to the eye, it constitutes a very rich agricultural district. A geological and a topographical map of Preble county would be found, if compared, to have many points in common. In a general way the altitudes and depressions are connected directly with the geological formation. The northern portion of the county may be said to consist of the Upper Silurian formation, and the southern of the Blue limestone. The former lies higher than the latter and projects into it a promontory which extends below the county line. The Niagara limestone may be said, in a general way, to have an altitude of more than five hundred feet, and the Blue limestone of less than five hundred feet Above low water mark at Cincinnati. The following are the altitudes of a few points id the county:

The vertical range of the county is about three hundred and fifty feet, and the geological, as far as the bedded rocks are concerned, is considerably less.

The geological series of Preble county comprises three main elements, one of which belongs to Lower

Silurian time, while the other two are of Upper Silurian age. ']'he Niagara group has an average thickness of seventy-five feet; the Clinton limestone a thickness of fifteen feet, and the Cincinnati group attains a thickness of two hundred and twenty-five feet. The Blue limestone or Cincinnati group is principally shown in the valleys. The valley of Twin creek is the deepest and widest, but is so much obscured with drift that it does not furnish as satisfactory exposures of the rocky floor as many of the shallower valleys do. Seven Mile creek gives, on the whole, the best exhibition of this series. From Camden to Halderman's mill, the stream runs much of the way upon the rock, and excellent opportunities are offered for studying the structure and collecting fossils of the formation. The Blue limestone yields a large quantity of building stone, of fair quality for local use. It was years ago much used for lime, but the advantages of the Cliff limestone for this purpose led to its general adoption as a substitute.

The Clinton limestone comes next in order (ascending,) after the Blue limestone. The line of junction between the Lower and Upper Silurian is very distinct in Preble county. A series of springs, and a very productive belt of country, mark this geological boundary. The shales with which the Blue limestone is terminated are impervious, and as the Clinton limestone that covers them is porous, and is also traversed with lines of fracture, springs must necessarily occur along the line of the two formations. Springs flowing over the margin of shales will do something toward imparting to them fertility, and this particular series of shales possesses the elements of fertility in large measure in their natural constitution. Many of the finest farms in the county belong to this horizon. The condition of the county in the Morning Star neighborhood of Lanier township very clearly exemplifies the facts here made mention of.

The Clinton limestone is everywhere uneven in its bedding. The contrast between it and the overlying Dayton stone, or the even courses of the Cincinnati group beneath is very striking. A layer of the Clinton stone can rarely be followed a rod. The stone itself, in many instances, seems solid, but it lies in very flat, lenticular pieces rather than in a regular wall. It is on this account that it is very little valued for building purposes where either of the other formations heretofore named is accessible. Parts of it are sandy in texture, and render the local name of sandstone applied to it appropriate. Throughout the exposure of this series in Preble and several adjoining counties beds are everywhere found that acquire the name of firestone. They are sought for chimney backs and for all similar uses to which ordinary limestone cannot be applied The chemical composition of the stone does not explain this peculiarity. They consist of eighty-four per cent. of carbonate of lime and about twelve per cent. of carbonate of magnesia. They can be burned into a fair article of lime, but endure without crumbling in all ordinary exposure to heat. The Clinton limestones in all of its outcrops throughout the county rich in its characteristic fossils. Favorite corals, chain corals, bulls-horn corals, and many forms of bryo zoans are very abundant, and are beautifully preserved.

In close connection with this fact, viz., that the formation is made up of organic remains, it is to be added that petroleum abounds through many of the exposures of the county. Geologists are generally agreed that petroleum, when occurring in a limestone rock, is derived from the animal remains of the rock, but no explanation can be given of the fact that the product occurs at one point and is wanting in another. When the excitement caused by the discoveries on oil creek was at its height the show of oil along the outcrop of this formation did not fail to attract attention, and rights to explore and develop the territory were bought up through several counties of Ohio and Indiana. Companies were formed and wells sunk at several points in southwestern Ohio. The deepest of these was at Eaton, where the boring was carried eleven hundred and seventy feet below the surface. There was, however, no geological promise in these undertakings. The Clinton limestone, it is true, is rich in petroleum in many localities, but its thickness does not exceed a dozen feet, and there have been no disturbances in its stratification, by means of which reservoirs for the oil have been prepared. When the Clinton limestone was passed in the boring the long series of the Cincinnati shales and limestones was not enough to exhaust the limestone series of the State. A considerable fragment of the rock was brought up from a depth of eleven hundred and thirty feet which proved to be a silicious limestone, quite after the pattern of the older limestones of the continent in their more northern latitudes. During the boring various alterations of disappointment and hope were realized by the projectors. The boring was begun in the Niagara limestone and when the Clinton limestone was reached the show of petroleum was sufficient to kindle a blaze of excitement. The telegraph was used to announce to distant stockholders the success of the enterprise, and the boring was temporarily suspended until a tank could be provided, that there might not be a "sinful waste of oil." There are several points in the county which still yield a fine show of petroleum, the springs that issue from the base of the. Clinton limestone being often thickly coated with it.

is shown to best advantage in section in the bed and banks of Seven Mile creek at Eaton. There are nearly fifty feet exposed within a mile or two of the village. The ascending order of occurrence is as follows: (I) Dayton limestone, (2) Niagara shale, (3) West Union limestone, (4) Springfield limestone, (5) Cedarville or Guelph limestone. The three lowermost are, in this county, somewhat obscure, and the third has, in fact, not been positively identified. The Eaton building stone belongs in number four of this series. It constitutes the main resource of the northern part of the county. The same courses, together with the overlying Cedarville or Guelph beds, are also struck at New Paris. The upper. beds are here burned extensively for lime, which this

horizon everywhere furnishes in central and southern Ohio. The stone agrees in its composition with the Cedarville beds, except that portions of it are highly fossiliferous. An analysis of the limestone of the Eaton quarries shows 49.75 per cent. of carbonate of lime; 35.87 carbonate of magnesia; 4.46 of alumina and iron, and 9.40 of silicious matter. Among the fossils found in great abundance at Eaton is the well known shell—Pentamerus oblongus, and also the more common of the Niagara trilobites. Some of these fossils appear here in greater abundance than in any other locality known, and in great perfection.

On Banta's fork, three miles from Eaton, excellent quarries are worked in the lower beds of the Niagara, and a fine article of flagging stone is secured. Similar courses are worked on the banks of Twin creek, two miles above Euphemia. The most extensively worked quarries of the county are located at New Paris. The upper numbers of the Niagara series are well developed and easily reached. The building stone courses are also accessible. The main interest, however, is the burning of lime, which is distributed mainly to the westward by railroads leading out of Richmond, Indiana. Patent kilns are in use, and the production amounts to three hundred bushels per day for eight months in the year. At the quarries on the east side of Twin creek, opposite Lewisburg, lime has been burned for thirty years.

A fine section is furnished in the bed and banks of Sellers run, of the upper rocks of the county. Beginning with a fine show of the Clinton limestone rich in its characteristic fossils, which is shown near Turner's distillery, the succeeding beds of the Niagara series to the Cedarville inclusive, are traversed and disclosed within the course of a mile.

The drift beds of the county cover nearly its entire area, and in general character they agree with the same order of deposits in adjacent regions. The boulder clay, or immodified drift is reached in the digging of many wells. In the northern half of the county this deposit is uniformly deep-so deep as never to be reached in ordinary excavations. Its surface is often covered with the sand, gravel and stratified clay which compose the modified drift of this region, and when so covered it constitutes the water bearer for the area which it occupies. When the boulder clay itself makes the surface, the water supply is found at easily accessible depths within it in some of the seams of sand and gravel that are scattered at irregular intervals through its substance. In the central regions of the county the boulder clay rests directly upon the polished surface of the Niagara limestone, and in the southern it is not seen as distinctly or often, its best exposures being in the deeper valleys. There is every indication that the boulder clay was formed under the great glacial sheet, which, it has been demonstrated, covered the western portions of the continent in the period preceding the present. It is filled with scratched and polished fragments of limestone and northern rocks, compactly laid in the dark blue clay which characterizes the formations of this age in every part of the world where they occur. The seams of sand and gravel interpolated in the clay, doubtless result from partial meltings of the glacial sheet in some of the wilder periods of its history. The ice sheet, in its southern advance, must have found the face of the continent covered with a forest growth and other forms of vegetation. It seems certain that some remnants of this pre-glacial growth are preserved in the boulder clay. Worn fragments of wood are often found deep in the clay, which it seems impossible to refer to any other source.

This pre-glacial vegetation must not, however, be confounded with the inter-glacial growths. The latter is, doubtless, of much more frequent occurrence. It is to a widespread stratum of inter-glacial vegetation that the buried tree tops, roots, leaves, and ancient soil, so often reported in the digging of wells, and other excavations, must be referred. The forest bed, as this stratum has been designated, is of much less frequent occurrence in Preble than in the counties south and east of it, but there are still many evidences of its presence within this area. In Harrison township a tree top is reported to have been struck at a depth of thirty feet. An ochre seam which sometimes accompanies the forest bed and sometimes replaces it in the regions to the southward, is also occasionally met with in Preble county. It is generally found associated with a gravel seam which it cements into a hardpan, which must be penetrated to reach the water veins. The beds of modified drift, as the sand, gravel, and clay, that overlie the boulder clay in stratified deposits are called, occur abundantly in the county, not being confined to the deeper valleys, but being found also over most of the uplands. In the northern townships, and especially in the flat lying districts, they have a general thickness of twenty feet. Underneath are found the seams of sand and gravel that cover the boulder clay, and which constitute the water bearer of this region.

In nearly all particulars the drift of Preble county is a part and parcel of the drift field of Ohio, but there is a single feature in which it has the prominence over all contiguous areas. A very remarkable boulder belt traverses its central and eastern regions—more remarkable than any similar belt in the State. There are various points in this general region where boulders are thickly strewn over the surface in limited areas, as, for instance, along the uplands that bound the Great Miami valley for twenty-five miles above Dayton, on the west side of the valley, directly opposite Dayton, and also in the country that lies west of the Stillwater, in the vicinity of Union, Montgomery county; but none of these boulder belts attain the proportion of the Preble county deposit. Its northern boundary is not very distinctly defined, but there is a gradual thickening of the boulders until we find them in the central part of Washington township so numerous as to render tillage of the fields difficult.

From this part the belt can be followed in a broad band to the southeastward, as far as the county line, and even beyond. Its length within the county is at least ten miles. Its greatest breadth does not exceed three miles, but the east and west roads cut across it diagonally, so as to show sections of four or five miles in width.

The boulders range in size from one thousand cubic feet downwards. Of one hundred and two blocks that were lying on the surface within a small compass, the largest was seven feet in length; another measured five feet; four exceeded four feet; six exceeded three feet ; and thirty-five measured more than two feet, while the balance were under that size. It is probable that in this area were nearly as many more concealed by a shallow covering of soil. On one farm near West Alexandria one thousand two hundred boulders, exceeding two feet in diameter, were counted to the acre. There are points where they occur in greater number than this. The value of the land is diminished where it is so thickly covered. The distribution of the boulders is irrespective of the elevations and irregularities of the surface. They cover the high grounds and the low about equally. They control portions of the belt, and occupy a part of the great northern plain of the county, which has an altitude of about one thousand feet above the sea. A considerable variety of composition is shown by the boulders, although the conglomerates are the most common as well as the most characteristic. They agree quite well with each other, and differ in a marked degree from the conglomerates met with elsewhere in the drift field of southwestern Ohio. It seems probable that they may hereafter give the clue to the exact location from which they were originally derived. Their peculiarity consists in their distinct stratification. Layers of coarse silicious pebbles are separated from each other by from four to eight inches of fine sandy quartzite, which is very often light green in color and which sometimes has a faint amethystine tint. The conglomerate character is sometimes but feebly shown, and then the blocks would be classed as ordinary quartzites.

The boulders evidently belong to the last stage of the Drift period, to the time of northern submergence which followed and closed the great ice age. They were floated by icebergs across the inland sea that stretched from the Canadian highlands to central Ohio, but no explanation is proffered of the fact that they occur just where they now lie, rather, than elsewhere. The present topography of the country furnishes some suggestions, but no adequate explanation of the phenomena One of the most remarkable circumstances occurring in the drift is the obstruction of an old valley by the boulder clay. This case is met with in the bed of a small tributary of Seven Mile creek, one mile west of the village of Camden. The stream has been compelled to abandon its old course for a short distance, and to work out a new and circuitous channel through the limestone rock.

TIME was when the face of the country did not appear as the pioneer first saw it—covered with an unbroken forest. Centuries before the sparse, scattered, nomadic Indian population dwelt in the land, and followed the chase through its tangled wood, this country was occupied by a numerous race, a people who had fixed habitations, and the customs of a semi-civilized nation. They lived by agriculture, and the country was, perhaps, denuded by them of its forest, if not to as great an extent as now, at least in a considerable degree. Strive as we may, by what little there is of the accumulated light of study and research, we can gain only a meagre amount of knowledge in regard to this people who occupied the continent prior to the age at which its written history begins. The race to which we ascribe the name of Mound Builders is one of which no chapter of history can be written; we can only gain an uncertain and unsatisfying glance behind the great black curtain of oblivion. No record has been kept, no musty legends or vague traditions have been handed down to give us an idea of the character and condition of the ancient race. Only the earth monuments, enclosing a few relics of rude art, and the last lingering remains of mortality-crumbling skelementons, which literally turn to dust as the places of their sepulture are invaded-have endured to silently and solemnly attest, in the nineteenth century, the existence of a vast and vanished race. Concerning the greater questions in regard to this people—their origin, nature, progress, and ultimate destiny, we can gain only a little knowledge from the works they have left behind them, and for the rest indulge in fascinating, fanciful, but futile speculations. The subject is one which is full of mysterious interest. Its immensity is awe-inspiring, and the gloom with which it is veiled, while baffling, lends to the study of this branch of archaeology an element of enchanting romance.

The ancient works, commonly attributed to the Mound Builders, are spread over a large extent of country. They dot the valleys from the Alleghanies to the far northwest, and extend from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. They are to be found upon the Missouri a thousand miles from its confluence with the Mississippi; upon the Kansas and Platte, and on other remote western rivers. They spread over the valley of the Mississippi, and line the shore of the gulf from Texas to Florida, extending in diminished numbers into South Carolina. They occur in great numbers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Texas, and are less numerously distributed through the western parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and in North and South Carolina, as also in Michigan, Iowa and the Mexican possessions. That the earthworks are distributed evenly over this territory should not be imagined. They are confined, principally to the valleys of the rivers and large streams, and the few discovered elsewhere are small, with few exceptions.

Within the State of Ohio there are undoubtedly over ten thousand mounds and other earthworks. They are much more numerous in the southern than in the northern part, and nowhere else in the State appear in greater number or variety than in the Scioto valley, which indeed seems to have been the seat of empire of the pre-historic race or at least the centre of population and theatre of government for a very large region.

The mounds and enclosures scattered through Ohio and the wider territory, we have just outlined, are of several classes. The enclosures may be classified as defensive works and religious enclosures. The tumuli or mounds are generally subdivided, by students, into Sepulchral, Sacrificial, Temple (or truncated) mounds, Mounds of Observation and Memorial or Monumental mounds.

Nothing is more absolutely sure in regard to the Mound Builders than that the irregular enclosures were primarily and principally intended as works of defence. They may have subserved other purposes, but they were constructed to answer as strongholds against an enemy. They are always found on high ground and in naturally strong positions. They usually occupy the summits of hills or plateaus, and often occur at the confluence of streams. The walls wind around the borders of the high land they occupy, and it is often to be noticed that they are thickest and highest at these points, which are naturally most easily accessible. In some instances miles of wall are found enclosing perhaps more than a hundred acres of land. The people who built these defences had certainly no mean order of military skill. They chose almost exactly the same situations upon which modern military engineers would locate forts, should the country be the scene of war—positions which could be given the maximum of resisting power with the minimum of outlay in labor. Fine examples of defensive works occur in Butler, Highland, Ross, Licking and Greene counties, and perhaps the most notable is the celebrated Fort Ancient in Warren county. The work in Preble county, at the confluence of Banta's fork and Twin creek, is of this order, though much smaller and simpler than many to be seen in other parts of the State. The walls of most of the enclosures are of earth, a few of stone, and in rare instances, of stone and earth combined. The immense amount of work necessary to the construction of these fortifications precludes the notion that they were hastily thrown up to repel a single invasion. They were for defence against a known and powerful enemy, and were probably the protecting wall against a fierce war-loving nation for many years. It is safe to suppose that as they were constructed through the exercise of a wonderful industry and steadfastness of purpose, the race of people who reared them had the courage to defend them and their country persistently against any odds.

The so called sacred enclosures are distinguished from the military works by their more frequent occurrence and by the regularity of their construction in geometrical figures—circles, squares, hexagons, octagons, ellipses, and parallelograms. Not unfrequently several of these forms appear in conjunction. Great skill is exhibited in the construction of this class of works. The plans show a perfection which could not have been attained without the exercise of some science similar to modern surveying. The evidence that works of this class were intended for religious uses is apochryphal. That they were not intended as military works appears altogether probable, from the fact that the fosse, or ditch, usually occurs inside the embankment. The enclosures may have been occupied by the houses of the rulers of the race, by those of the priesthood, and they may also have contained the temples which an idolatrous people raised, as the shrines of their gods. It is not improbable that such were the purposes for which these works were designed, and they may have been the theatres where great councils were held and games indulged in, as well as the places where were observed, on a colossal scale, the rites of a superstitious religion. There is evidence that they were intended for the assemblage of a vast concourse of people. The great circles of England, India, Peru, and Mexico, are similar to these sacred works, and within them have been found the shrines of the gods of the ancient worship. They may also have contained consecrated groves. We know that it has been a practice common to almost every people, in every time, to enclose their shrines, their places of worship, that they might he guarded from the profanation of man and the desecration of beasts. Frequently there is situated in the center of this class of works a mound or elevation, supposed to have served the purposes of an altar, on which animal, or, possibly, human sacrifices were offered. The writer has in several localities found stones in the center of these works which indicated subjection to intense and long-continued heat. Parallel ways, often termed covered ways, because they are supposed originally to have been constructed as the latter name implies, often connect two or more of the geometrical enclosures, or lead from them toward the streams, or to their ancient banks. Their supposed use was to afford protection to those passing to and fro within them. As the rounded embankments of the enclosures would not afford an absolutely impassable wall, it has been conjectured that they were originally surmounted by palisades or palings.

Stately marble palaces and temples have fallen into shapeless masses of ruin, while the simple mounds erected by a more rude and primitive people, have withstood the elements and retained almost perfectly their original forms and proportions. Therefore, we find scattered throughout a wide country the mound monuments raised by an ancient race. These tumuli were among nearly all races in their infancy, the first objects of which ambition and adoration prompted the erection, the primitive memorials of all peoples. They are the principal storehouse of ancient art; they enclose the sacred altar, reared in the name of a lost religion; they hold in sepulture the bones of the distinguished dead. As disclosed by the pick and the spade, these mounds and their contents serve to give the investigating archm-

ologist the most extensive knowledge he can obtain in regard to the customs of their builders, and the condition of the arts and sciences among them.

Most of the mounds are of the kind denominated— sepulchral. They are generally of conical form, and vary in size from six to eighty or ninety feet in height. They usually stand outside of the walls of enclosures, but often occur in localities remote from any other works. There are cases in which they occur in groups, exhibiting a dependence that probably has some meaning. The mounds of this class invariably cover a skeleton, and in some instances more than one. The skelementons most commonly bear evidences of having been enveloped at the time of their interment in bark, coarse matting, or cloth, of which traces and casts nearly always remain. It sometimes happens that the cloth itself still exists, in a highly carbonized condition. Occasionally a rude chamber of stone surrounds the remains. Burial by fire seems to have prevailed among the Mound Builders of the north, and urn burial was more commonly practiced in the south. With the skeletons are found various remains of art, rude utensils of different kinds, ornaments and weapons. The fact that such articles always appear in proximity to the remains indicates that the Mound Builders, like the North American Indians, entertained the superstitious and delusive notion that the implements and weapons would be useful to the deceased in another state. It is vulgarly believed that the ancient race reared mounds over all of their dead, an idea which is quickly dispelled by reflection upon the immensity of their population and the comparatively small number of the mounds. The conclusion to which all archaeologists have come, in regard to this matter, is that only the illustrious chieftains, the rulers or the priests of the race, were honored by the rearing of mounds over their places of sepulture, and that the greater number-the common people-were buried by the process of simple interment. Day after day, and year after year, since the present race pushed westward into the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, the ploughshare has uncovered remains which have well nigh "returned to the dust whence they came." So common has been the occurrence of unearthing remains in some parts of the country, that the discovery scarcely elicits remark. The wasting banks of the rivers occasionally display vast cemeteries, and names have been given to various localities from such exposures. It is not to be wondered at that where the bones in the mounds have so nearly crumbled into shapeless fragments, those buried in the common plain, and which are necessarily less protected from moisture, should in many cases have passed into that condition nearly or quite indistinguishable from the mould that surrounds them. It is impossible that any but the smallest proportion of these remains should be those of the Indian race. They are of a different and more ancient people. There are, doubtless, grand depositories of the dead who thronged and raised the silent monuments which we see all around us. We know not when we tread the village street or the green turf of the fields, but that we walk over the remains of thousands of forms, which an age ago were pregnant with the same life and spirit of which we are possessed.

Sacrificial or altar mounds have several distinctive characteristics. They usually exhibit stratification consisting of alternate layers of sand, clay and gravel, or pebbles. The strata are not horizontal, but conform to the convexity of the mound. These mounds contain altars of stone or fire-hardened clay, built upon the original level of the earth. Upon them are found ashes, charcoal and calcined bones, indicating sacrifice. Various implements also occur, as well as beads and other ornaments, and pottery. The remains found in the sacrificial mounds are, in numerous cases, in a condition to indicate that the altars were covered over with earth before their fires had ceased burning. Why they were so covered, or why covered at all, are questions which no man can answer. Perhaps it was to conceal them from the profane gaze of the people of another faith.

Temple mounds are not numerous in Ohio, and it is believed du not occur except at Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth and in the vicinity of Chillicothe. They are usually in the form of truncated cones, though sometimes so broad and flat as to make this term hardly applicable to them. It is supposed that they were once surmounted with structures of wood, all traces of which have long ago disappeared.

Mounds of observation are generally situated upon eminences, and it has been demonstrated by actual survey in some parts of the country that they are so situated in reference to each other that signals could easily be communicated along a line or chain of them. It is the supposition that they answered the same purpose as cairns of the ancient Celts—that is, they were signals or alarm posts as well as coignes of vantage and lookout stations. Along the Miami river, says Judge Force, "are dotted small mounds on projecting highlands, which seem to have been built to carry intelligence by signals along the valleys." They are numerous throughout the State.

Memorial or monumental mounds belong to the class of tumuli that were obviously built to perpetuate the memory of some important event. They are the equivalents of the stone heaps raised by the Hebrews and other nations. This class of mounds seldom contain any human remains or other deposits. When they do contain skeletons, as in a few cases, they ale those of Indians interred in shallow graves.

Effrgies, animal mounds, or, as they are sometimes called, emblematical or symbolical mounds, occur in greatest number in Wisconsin. Only a few are known in Ohio, the most notable being the eagle and the alligator in Licking county, and the serpent and egg in Adams county. The last named is upwards of a thousand feet in length and is a very perfect representation.

Taking into consideration the facts here very briefly presented, the reader can form some idea of the probable nature of the ancient people, and of their number. Caleb

Atwater, in a contribution to the Artherologin Americana, published in 1819, says: "The State of Ohio was probably once much more thickly settled than it now is, when it contains a population of about seven hundred thousand inhabitants." And we may add that the conclusion has been assented to and affirmed by nearly every student of western antiquities. That the Mound Builders were under a single and strong government seems very probable, because under any other the performance of such an immense amount of labor could not well have been secured. It is suggested by Mr. Isaac Smucker that some sort of servitude or vassalage prevailed.

It follows of necessity that if the Mound Builders were a numerous race they were also an agricultural people. The population was much too large to be sustained by the chase, by the spontaneous yieldings of the earth, the products of the streams, or all combined. They were not savages or barbarians, but attained that condition of life which is best described as semi-civilized. The general features of their works and their art remains prove this. They had some knowledge of mathematics and engineering, understood spinning and weaving, and the manufacture of pottery. They were undoubtedly essentially homogeneous in government, religion and general customs. Strongly swayed by a superstitious religion, as they doubtless were, it is not improbable that the government of the Mound Builders was one which sustained and made obligatory the observance of elaborate rites. Their priests were undoubtedly their civil leaders. The great number and vast size of those works which were incontestably constructed for religious observances, proved the great regard that the ancient people had for their religion. The sacrificial character of their worship is beyond a doubt.

When and from whence came the Mound Builders, and when and whither did they go? These are questions to which there comes no answering voice. Only the smallest evidence and that of the apochryphal kind has been received, tending to show that the ancient race had a written language. The two or three engraved tablets that have been discovered, even if genuine, there is reason to believe, will throw but little light upon the origin or subsequent history of the people, should scholars succeed in deciphering them. And it is improbable that any discoveries will ever be made, which will settle these most mooted questions.

Those who do not argue that the Mound Builders were an aboriginal race generally agree that they had their origin in the Orient, or at least in some trans-Pacific region, and that they came to this continent by Behring's straits, and then passing slowly southward and eastward, increasing as they went, they reached the middle region of the northern United States, and from thence, by slow process of extension or migration, made their way southward through the Mississippi valley, and ultimately into Mexico. The resemblances between the tumuli of the United States and the teocalli of Mexico suggest some connection between the Mound Builders and the semi-civilized races that formerly dwelt in the latter country, in Central America and Peru, and who erected the vast structures which lend such an absorbing interest to those regions.

Another theory is that the race instead of journeying southward, improving constantly in condition and increasing largely in population, had their origin in Mexico or some other part of tropical or semi-tropical South or North America, and emigrated northward, gradually retrograding in civilization until they reached the lake region and became so barbarous in their habits of life as to have lost their early habits of industry, their civilized customs and their government. This theory has but little support-its opposite being the one favored by most archaeologists. Beside the fact that the similarity between the ancient works in the northern part of the United States, those along the Mississippi, and those in Mexico, points to their creation by the same race of people, the history and traditions of the early Mexican people, which extend back to the seventh century, afford something of a corroborating nature. The people of Montezuma, as that unhappy ruler informed Cortez, knew by their looks that they were not natives, but strangers, who came from a great distance. Thus it will be seen, if the Mound Builders were the progenitors of the race to which Montezuma belonged, they must have arrived in Mexico prior to the close of the seventh century. The Aztecs are said by Mexican authorities to have arrived in the year 1648. To that race they ascribe the teocalli, with which their country abounds. If we allow ourselves to be influenced by the above date, supposing indeed that the Aztecs were the descendants of the Mound Builders, we must necessarily regard the ancient remains of our country as belonging to a period prior to the date given. The same or an even greater degree of antiquity is indicated by other evidence. The exceedingly decayed condition of the skeletons in the mounds, the amount of vegetable accumulation in the excavations, the age of trees standing upon the mounds and embankments, the shifting of the river channels since the works were constructed on their shores, and the fact that none of the MoundsiBuilders' works are found upon the latest formed terraces, or river bottoms, nor north of the northermost lake ridge, all point to the conclusion that a great time has elapsed since the ancient race inhabited the country. Some of the trees have been known to have an age of from six to eight hundred years, and such trees have been found surrounded with the mouldering trunks of others, undoubtedly of equal original size. Allowance must he made for a reasonable time for the encroachment of the forest after thi: works were abandoned by the builders, and then how great seems their age when we reflect that they are covered by at least the second growth of forest.

But the hoary antiquity of the stateliest monarchs of the wood cannot carry us back to the time when the builders of the enduring earth monuments dwelt in our

land. We can only know that a vast population filled the valleys and the fertile regions, and passed away; that a nation existed and is gone, leaving no page of history to carry through the ages the story of its origin and destiny. All that the student desires to know, that for which he has anxiously but vainly sought, has been engulfed in the illimitable oblivion that holds so much more of the history of human life—how much we cannot tell.

And here another thought arises-the conception of a possibility so stupendous and awe-inspiring, as to render the subject of our former speculation, vast though it is and fraught with mysterious interest, dwarfed by the comparison. Vast as may have been the age that has elapsed since our land has been the theatre of this unknown race, it is but a brief period in the cycles of time that have swept by since the first dawn of the world, and ancient as we are accustomed to regard the Mound Builders of America, they may have been only the last in a series of vanished races of men-the blood of the earth that has gone forth at every pulse beat of the creation, every heart throb of the Infinite.

The most important of the Mound Builder remains in Preble county is the defensive enclosure situated at the confluence of Twin creek and Banta's fork, in Lanier township. The embankments here have been rendered less distinct than those of many similar works in other parts of the county. The slow wear of time, and the more telling work of the plowshare, have both had their effect upon the ancient walls, and they retain but little of their original semblance or even of the appearance which they presented to the early residents of the county. That the enclosure was intended for purposes of defence does not admit of a doubt. The site chosen was in itself a natural stronghold. The high land projecting like a wedge between the two streams could easily be guarded against the assault of an enemy, with no other than the advantages which its position affords. The earthworks constructed here would enable a small force of men to hold the situation against large odds, and it was, doubtless, to the ancient people, a practically impregnable fortress. It is very probable that the earth walls carried along the crest of the hill on two sides and across the level from the Twin creek side to the bank of its tributary stream, were surmounted by heavy palings or palisades. Still there is no positive evidence that such was the case, and we only form that conclusion from the fact that indications of such palings have been found elsewhere in defensive enclosures. The area enclosed by the embankments consists of several acres. There was evidently a gateway in the wall extending across the promontory, and there remains some indication of an earthen construction leading down the side hill upon the southeast side, very likely a passage-way by which the occupants of the fort, When in a state of siege, could reach the bed of Twin creek to procure from it water, without being exposed to the missiles of the enemy. The stream which evidently once flowed at the base of the bank has receded to a distance of several hundred feet, and therein is an evidence of the antiquity of the works, though an indefinite one, and of comparatively little value. Banta's fork does not appear to have shifted its channel since the remote time when the fortification was constructed. Several mounds occur at no great distance from this enclosure, and such is their position that it is natural to infer that they may have been used as signal stations or coignes of vantage from which the approach of an enemy might have been observed. This work is by no means a remarkable one, and the interest that would naturally attach to it is materially lessened by its poor state of preservation. We should not have devoted so much space to its description but for the fact that it is the only enclosure known in Preble county.

There are, however, a large number of mounds within the limits of Preble, probably not less than a hundred. But few of them have been. excavated, and none with very remarkable results. Among the most important we may mention the following: A large one on the Ozias farm, east of Lewisburgh, one on the Eaton and Lewis- burgh road, about a mile southwest of the latter place, and quite noticeable from the roadway, especially as one journeys toward Lewisburgh. There is a specimen of the Mound Builders' work on the farm of Franklin Pierce, near Camden, and one in the southern part of Somers township, near Somerville. There is a large mound on the Samuel Bennett farm in Dixon township, two on the Frank Dunlap farm, and another on the corner of Dixon and Israel townships, where the farms of Messrs. Pinkerston and McQuoiston adjoin. Two others in this vicinity are to be found on the John McDivitt farm, near Fair Haven. In Gasper township there are several mounds along Seven Mile, on the Albaugh, Duffield and Abram Sayler farms. From the one on the last named farm two copper axes were taken and an abundance of flints. The mound in the Eaton cemetery is well known, as it gives name to this resting place of the dead. When it was opened to receive the dust of Lowery and his comrades, who fell in 1793, charcoal was found near the base—an indication that it had been an altar or sacrificial mound, or perhaps a place where burned the sacred fire of an unknown religion. There is also a mound on the farm of John Kinkaid, in Washington township, one on the farm of Benjamin Homan, sr., one on the Griffis farm, half a mile from the former. The last mentioned is of good size. In Harrison township there is a mound a quarter of a mile east of Euphemia, and another on the Christian Stone farm, near Scuffletown. In Dixon township the novel sight is to be seen of a house built upon a mound. Near West Florence is a small tumulus upon one of the Kelley farms. The tumuli are also of quite frequent occurrence in Israel township, and in the vicinity of New Paris, Jefferson township, and in the valley of Twin creek. A very fine mound, of large size and beautifully symmetrical in appearance, is to be seen on the Swartzel farm in Monroe township. •

ornaments have been found in Preble county, and the discoverers have formed them into collections owned into other localities. Smith Hunt, of Richmond, Indiana, has probably gathered more articles from Preble county than any other one man. Many of his purchases and "finds" have been sent to the Rose Polytechnic institute, at Terre Haute, Indiana, as have also many gathered by Mr. G. Dix Hendricks, of Eaton. This gentleman has at various times had in his possession some of the rarest and most valuable archaeological specimens that have been brought to light in Preble county. He has been an indefatigable collector and brought to bear in his work rare judgment, obtaining thereby not only a local but general reputation among archwologists. He has sent many pieces to the Rose Polytechnic institute and to R. W. Mercer, of Cincinnati.

Albert Horn, of Lewisburgh, and Miss Mary Bloom, of Jefferson township, have also made collections, though small ones, and N. B. Stephens, of Eaton, has amassed quite a quantity of specimens, among which are sonic which are very rare and curious. He has a stone axe weighing twelve pounds, a very beautiful piece of workmanship which was found On the Ross Conger farm; a twenty-six-inch roller picked up on the Eli Fisher larch in Washington township, and a large collection of commoner articles. The gem of his collection is a small, hard stone carved in the shape of a canoe, and perforated with two holes through its bottom as if for the purpose of suspending it about the neck of him who was originally its possessor. It is of excellent workmanship, and certainly a unique specimen. It was found on the old Lewallen farm on Four Mile creek, in Dixon township. Mr. Stephens' collection is undoubtedly the best that is owned in the county, both in size and in the variety and value of specimens.

Matthias Disher, of Twin township, has in his possession some fragments of pottery found in a gravel bank on the farm now owned by Ezra Ozias. One of the pieces has upon it an ear-like projection or handle. The vessel was probably whole until broken by the plowshare which unearthed it. It was a jar or urn, and of very good form.

THE principal tribes of Indians within the bounds of Ohio at the earliest period at which definite knowledge was received regarding them, were the Wyandots, called by the French Hurons, the Mingoes, an offshoot from the Iroquois, the Ottawas or Tawas, the Chippesvas, Delawares, the Miamis, and the Shawnees. The Wyandots occupied the country about the Sandusky river; the Delawares the valleys of the Tuscarawas and Musking urn, and the Upper Scioto ; and the Miamis the valleys of the two rivers that bear their name with the country between. The Shawnees had the greatest strength upon the Scioto at the earliest period that the whites went among them, and afterward were most numerous upon the Great and Little Miami. The Mingoes were in greatest numbers on the Ohio river, about Mingo bottom, below Steubenville, and also on the Scioto. The Ottawas had their headquarters in the valleys of the Maumee and Sandusky, and the Chippewas were confined principally to the south shore of Lake Erie. All of the tribes, however, frequented more or less, lands lying outside of their regular divisions of territory, and at different periods their locations varied. Different tribes commingled, too, to some extent.

The Wyandots, according to the best authorities upon aboriginal occupation, were among the earliest red men who dwelt within the territory now included in Ohio. Then came the Delawares, who claimed to be the elder branch of the Lenni-Lenape, and called themselves the grandfathers of the kindred tribes, recognizing only the priority and superiority of the Wyandots. This division has been awarded a high rank by nearly all writers upon the Indians. The Ottawas dwelt originally upon the banks of the Canadian river, remaining there until driven away by the Iroquois; they were then scattered through Canada and Ohio, along the shores of Lake Erie.

As a rule the Ohio Indians were fine specimens of their race—none were superior to the Shawnees and Miamis, between which tribes there existed a long-abiding and warm feeling of. friendship. Little Turtle and Tecumseh were the representative chiefs of these tribes, the former of the Miamis and the latter of the Shawnees.

According to the best traditional authorities the dominion of the Miami confederacy extended for a long period of time over that part of the State of Ohio which lies west of the Scioto river, over the whole of Indiana, the southern part of Michigan and over a large portion of the territory now included in Illinois. The large territory claimed by the Miami's may be regarded as some evidence of the high degree of importance which they maintained as a nation among the Indian tribes of the northwest. The Miami nation or confederacy was composed of four tribes, viz: The Twightwees or Miamis proper, the Weas or Quiatenous, Pinkeshaws and Shockeys. The Miamis proper dwelt where knowledge was first obtained concerning them, almost entirely in the territory now included in southwestern Ohio and southeastern and eastern Indiana. This division was the largest and most powerful one in the confederacy. In the year 1765 the number of the warriors of this tribe was estimated at one thousand and fifty.

They were dwelling at that time in small villages upein the Scioto, the Miami, the Maumee, on the St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan, and upon the Wabash and its tributaries. Branches of the Shawnees, Delawares, Pottawatomies, and other tribes were at various periods permitted to enter and reside at various places within the boundaries of the large territory claimed by the Indians,

and hence the presence of the Shawnees in great numbers upon the headwaters of the Miamis. The Shawnees were the strongest and truest allies of the Miami:. They were intimately associated for a long period, and in each of the later Indian wars on the soil of Ohio, those of St. Clair and Wayne, as well as in the war of 1812, they bore together the brunt of the struggle. Although there is considerable conflicting testimony in regard to the early history of the Shawnees, it is generally concluded that they separated from the other Lenape tribes and led for many years a nomadic life in the south, the main body of them finally pushing northward, and encouraged by the Miamis, crossing the Ohio and locating in the Scioto' country. Here they lived until dispersed by the conquering Iroquois in 1672, when they again became scattered wanderers.

Returning in 1740, or soon after, a reunited race, they again took up their residence in the Scioto valley and contiguous territory, the Delawares for that tribe was then occupying the valley—allowing them to take peaceable possession. From the Scioto country they gradually passed westward to the Miami, attracted on the one hand by their old time friends and repelled upon the other by the frequent incursions of the whites, and finally by the advancement of civilization.

The Shawnees like the Miami: were divided into four tribes—the Piqua, Kiskolocke, Mequachuke and Chillicothe. Owing to their extensive wanderings this nation has been designated "the Bedouins of the American Wilderness,"—a term which is certainly not inappropriate when we consider that of all the tribes of the northwest this was the most nomadic in its habits (and indeed, has continued so down to the present time). The Shawnees were implacable enemies of the whites. They were fine specimens of physical manhood, and this fact coupled with their constancy in braving danger and stoicism in enduring the consequences of defeat won for them the appellation "Spartans of the Race." The Miami: were not behind them in powers or other admirable elements of Indian character. To the former nation, however, belonged Tecumseh, who undoubtedly exerted a wider influence than any warrior among the western Indians. "The Little Turtle " of the Miamis was much like the great Shawnee chief, excellent both as battle leader and in the councils of peace ; but students of Indian character have united in giving him a lower rank than Tecumseh.

Preble county appeared to have been neutral ground for several tribes in the latter years of the eighteenth century. As has been shown, it was within the domain of the Miami:, but so far as is known they never had a village of any importance within it, and, for that matter, neither did the Shawnees or any other tribe. Most of the Indians who traversed this portion of territory were Miamis, Shawnees, and Delawares, but it also served as a hunting ground for small parties of Wyandots, Mingoes, and other tribes. Well defined paths traversed the lands of Preble county, from the White waters to the Miamis, and in many places their trails could be easily distinguished several years after the white settlers came into the country. The last time that Indians were known to have camped within the limits of the county was in the winter of 1813-14. Five families of Delawares were located for nearly the whole of that season on section sixteen of Dixon township, on Four Mile creek, south of the Concord road. They were friendly to the whites and their presence was liked by them. They were looked upon as a safeguard against hostile Indians, who at that time were known to be skulking through the country.

This celebrated chief, who was known in his tribe and to the Indians of the Western Confederacy as Meshekeuoghqua, has been mentioned several times in this chapter, and as his name will occur in the chapter following, upon St. Clair's campaign and Wayne's war, we take advantage of this opportunity to present the reader with such facts as are known concerning him. He led the Indians in that terrible battle known as the St. Clair defeat, and doubtless would have commanded the allied tribes who met Wayne had he not counseled peace. He is known to have been the chief of the party who attacked Adair at Fort St. Clair in 1792, and it is supposed that he led the company against which the brave Lieutenant Lowery made the gallant but forlorn fight near the Forty-foot pitch. Little Turtle lived many years after the wars in which he took so prominent a part, and was held in high esteem by many eminent men who became acquainted with him. When the famous traveler and philosopher, Volney, was in America, in 1797, Little Turtle went to Philadelphia, and the great scholar immediately sought acquaintance with the savage. Little Turtle had become convinced that opposition to the whites was useless, and used all of his influence over his nation to secure peace and the adoption of agricultural pursuits. It was to further this end that he went to Philadelphia. His errand was to solicit Congress and the Society of Friends for assistance to carry out his cherished plan, and to make his people an agricultural community. Schoolcraft says of this chief : "He was at once courageous and humane. There have been few individuals among the aborigines who have done so much to abolish the rights of human sacrifice." On the approach of the war of 1812 Little Turtle communicated with William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indiana, expressing his willingness to aid the United States and asserting the friendship of his people. He afterward rendered important service. This celebrated chief is buried at Fort Wayne.

NEARLY all of the Indian tribes of the Northwest Territory maintained an attitude of unceasing, uncompromising, hostility toward the white settlers from the organization of the territorial government in 1788, until the ratification of the treaty of Greenville, otherwise known as Wayne's treaty, in 1795. The campaigns directed against the Indians prior to the organization of civil government had failed to secure a permanent peace. The inhabitants of the county were constantly exposed to, and occasionally suffered from, sudden, stealthy attacks of the savages. Immigration was discouraged and the constant apprehension felt by the scattered pioneers of the territory, led a few to return to the older settlements and prevented those who remained in the wilderness from making the improvements with which they would have surrounded themselves had peace been assured.

The National Government, anxious to bring about a termination of hostilities in the territory, organized a number of military expeditions, the first of which was that of General Harinar, who was then commander in chief of the military department of the West, in 1790. Detachments of the army met with mortifying defeat at the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers (now Fort Wayne, Indiana), and the campaign failed to give security from the apprehended attack of the Indians on the white settlements.

In 1791 General St. Clair, governor of the territory and a man who had achieved quite a military reputation in the Revolutionary war, organized an expedition which, although stronger than Harmar's army, was nevertheless terribly overwhelmed by the combined Indian forces. Little Turtle, the chief of the Miami's, Blue Jacket, of the Shawnees, and Buckongahelas, of the Delawirres, were engaged in forming a confederacy of all the tribes in the northwest territory, strong enough to drive the whites beyond the Ohio. It was St. Clair's purpose to check this movement, to secure control over the Indians by establishing a line of forts from the Ohio to Lake Erie, and especially to secure the commanding position at the head of the Maumee. General St. Clair began organizing his army at Pittsburgh at the close of April. On the fifteenth of May he reached Fort Washington (Cincinnati), and from this place, after many vexatious delays, he moved forward upon the seventeenth of September to a point on the great Miami (the site of Hamilton, Butler county), where Fort Hamilton was built, the first in the proposed chain of fortresses.

After the completion of Fort Hamilton the army, with the exception of a small garrison, left there, marched on forty-four miles further, and erected Fort Jefferson, about six miles south of the site of Greenville, Darke county. St. Clair and his army in passing northward through the territory now included within the boundaries of Preble county, marched up Seven Mile creek, west of Eaton. [The trace cannot now be definitely located. It was not cut to as great a width as most of the military roads, and the line has been almost wholly obscured by the growth of the forest and the action of the weather upon the soil.] Having garrisoned Fort Jefferson, St. Clair pushed on in the direction of the Indian villages on the Maumee, his force constantly being reduced by desertions, until he had, on arriving at the point where Fort Recovery was afterward built (near the south line of Mercer county), only about fourteen hundred men. At this point, on the fourth of November, 1791, occurred St. Clair's overwhelming defeat, the most disheartening disaster known in the annals of American border warfare. Even the defeat of Braddock was less disastrous. "Braddock's army consisted of twelve hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom seven hundred and fourteen men and sixty-three officers were killed or wounded. St. Clair's army consisted of fourteen hundred men and eighty-six officers, of whom eight hundred and ninety men and sixteen officers were either killed or wounded. But the comparative losses of the two engagements represent very inadequately the crushing effect of the defeat of St. Clair. An unprotected frontier of a thousand miles, from the Allegheny to the Mississippi, was at once thrown open to the attack of the infuriated and victorious savages."

The Indians in this battle adhered to their usual mode of warfare during the first part of the engagement, and, unseen by the whites, poured into the broken, disorderly ranks of the terrified raw troops, a deadly fire. The battle began about half an hour before sunrise, and continued until half past nine, a constant, fierce and murderous engagement. The men who manned the guns of St. Clair's army were shot down one after another by the skilled marksman among the Miamisis and their confederates, and at length confusion beginning to spread from the great number who were falling in all quarters, "it became necessary to try what could be done by the bayonet." Lieutenant Colonel Darke led a spirited charge against the enemy's left flank, before which the Indians instantly gave way, and were driven back three or four hundred yards. For want of a sufficient number of riflemen, however, the advantage thus gained could not be maintained, and the troops were obliged to fall back in turn. The Indians entered the camp, and were repeatedly charged and driven back, but each time with a terrible loss to the whites. In one charge made by the Second regiment, all of the officers fell but three. The Indians fought with desperation and a fury born of long hatred. It was evident that they were controlled by some great chief, and in accordance with a well laid and thoroughly strategic plan. They made the attack from all quarters, and through the whole carnage maintained the most harassing line of tactics possible. At last, after four hours of unremitting battle, much of it hand to hand fighting, the remnant of St. Clair's army, terror-stricken, demoralized and utterly hopeless of victory, made a flying, disorderly retreat. The camp and artillery were abandoned necessarily, as there were no horses left, and the men in panic fled pell-mell through the woods and southward along the road, by which they had marched two days before, a well organized army of

twice as many men. Most of them threw away their arms, ammunition and accouterments, even after the pursuit which was continued about four miles, was abandoned. The road was strewn with them for miles. All day long the rout was continued, and at sunset ended twenty-nine miles from the scene of battle, at Fort Jefferson.

More than a hundred women were with St. Clair's army, following the fortunes of their husbands. The greater number fell victims to the savage enemy, and upon them was wreaked the most cruel vengeance of the victors. Many were found with huge stakes driven through their bodies, pinning them to the ground. The Indians believing that the whites had, for many years, made war merely to acquire land, crammed sand and clay into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and the dead. On the first of February, 1792, the field of battle was reached by General James Wilkinson and a detachment of men, who marched northward from Fort Washington through Preble county. The expedition was made for the purpose of recovering the artillery carriages and burying the dead. The soldiers found indications that the men who had fallen from wounds in the battle had been subjected to the most horrible torture, their limbs having been torn off, and the most indecent indignities perpetrated. Over six hundred skulls were reported to have been found.

It was never known exactly how many Indians fell in this battle, nor, for that matter, how many there were engaged in the fight, though from the extent of the camp which General Wilkinson and his soldiers visited and which was supposed to have been that of the Indians the night before the engagement, their number must have been very large. It has been variously estimated at from one to three thousand. Two thousand is said, by good authorities, to have been the approximate number. It has been generally supposed that Little Turtle,' the great chief of the Miamis, led the Indians in this, their fiercest fight and greatest victory, but Stone, in- his life of Joseph Brant, says that that famous chief was present with a hundred and fifty Mohawk braves, and commanded the warriors of the wilderness.

We have given a somewhat extended account of St: Clair's defeat, because, although it occurred at some distance from the territory of which this volume is the history, a knowledge of the event is necessary to a proper appreciation of the condition of the country at this period, and an adequate understanding of subsequent occurrence in Preble county.

It was after the terrible defeat at the site of Fort Recovery that Fort St. Clair was built just west of the site of Eaton. It was intended as an intermediate place of refuge between Fort Hamilton and Jefferson. The work was performed under the supervision of Major John S. Gano, of the State militia, and by the order of General Wilkinson, who had succeeded St. Clair as commandant of Fort Washington. General Harrison, at that time an ensign, was present during the building of Fort St. Clair, his duty being to command the guard on alternate nights. The detachment of troops detailed for the construction of this fort, and who successfully accomplished it during the winter of 1791-92, suffered very severely front the cold, having no fires and no covering.

Fort St. Clair was a stockade like the other strongholds along the border. It enclosed an area of only a few acres, and contained block-houses and officers' quarters. The forest was cleared away around it for a space of about forty acres. Stockades were usually made by digging a trench along the proposed line of defences, and in this setting the palisades or pickets, of which from one to two or three thousand were required, according to the size of the enclosure. General St. Clair, in his "Narrative," further describes the construction of one of the fortresses in the line which stretched northward from the site of Cincinnati. As its features were, in a general way, similar to those of Fort St. Clair, we transcribe a portion of his description:

• • • It is not trees taken promiscuousty that will answer for pickets. They must be talt and straight, and from nine to twetve inches in diameter, for those of a larger size are top unmanageable; of course, few trees that are proper are to be found without going over a considerable space of woodland. When found, they are peeled, cleared of their branches, and cut into tengths of about twenty feet. They were then carried to the ground and butted, that they might be placed firm and upright in the trench, with the axe or cross-cut saw. Some hewing upon them was also necessary, for there are few trees so straight that the sides of them witt contact when set upright. A thin piece of timber, calted a ' ribbon,' is run around the whote, near the top of the pickets, to which every one of them is pinned, with a strong wooden pin, without which they would decline from the' perpendicutar with every blast of wind, some hanging outward and some inward, which would render them in a great measure usetess. The earth thrown out of the trench is then returned, and strongly rammed to keep the pickets firmly in their place, and a shatlower trench is dug outside about three feet distant, to carry off the water, and prevent their being removed by the rains. " Pickets are set up on the outside, one between every two of the other; the work is then enclosed."

In October, 1792, a great council of all the Indian tribes of the West—the largest council of the kind ever held—was held at Auglaize (Fort Defiance, Ohio), and an armistice was entered into, which the Indians promised to observe until springtime. Peace was not, however, very faithfully observed. It was first broken within the present bounds of Preble county, upon the sixth of November following. On that day about two hundred and fifty Mingo and Wyandot warriors, under the command of Little Turtle, attacked, almost under cover of the guns of Fort St. Clair, a company of one hundred mounted riflemen of the Kentucky militia, commanded by Major John Adair, afterwards governor of Kentucky. Several accounts of this battle or skirmish, differing slightly, have been furnished by participants in the struggle. The first which we produce is condensed in part and in part taken word for word from a letter which James McBride, of Butler county, elicited from Joel Collins, who was in the action, and who afterward was a prominent citizen of Oxford. Writing in 1843 from memory of the events then, fifty years old, the judge stated that these men had been called out to escort a brigade of pack-horses under an order from General Wilkinson. They could then make a trip from Fort Washington, past Fort St. Clair, to Fort Jefferson, and return in six days, encamping each

night under the walls of one of these military posts for protection. The Indians being elated by the check they had given our army in the preceding year, in defeating St. Clair, determined to make a descent upon the settlement then forming at Columbia, at the mouth of the Little Miami. Some time in September two hundred and fifty warriors struck the war pole and took up their line of march. Fortunately for the infant settlement, in passing Fort Hamilton they discovered a fatigue party, with a small guard, chopping firewood east of the fort. While the men were gone to dinner the Indians formed an ambuscade, and, on their return captured two of them. The prisoners informed the Indians that on the morning previous —which must have been on Friday—a brigade of eighty or one hundred pack-horses, loaded with supplies for the two military posts in the advance, had left Fort Hamilton, escorted by a company of riflemen, mounted on fine horses, and that if they made their trip in the usual time they would be at Fort Hamilton on their return on Monday night. Upon receiving this information Little Turtle abandoned his design of breaking up the settlement above Cincinnati and fell back some twelve or fifteen miles, with a view of intercepting the brigade on its return. He formed an ambuscade on the trace at a well-selected location, which he occupied through the day that he expected the return of the escorts. But as Major Adair arrived at Fort Jefferson on Saturday night, he permitted his men and horses to rest over Sunday, and thus escaped the ambuscade. On Monday night, when on their return, they encamped within a short distance of Fort St. Clair.

The chief of the band of Indians being informed of our position by his runners, concluded that by a night attack he could drive us out of our encampment. Accordingly he left his ambush and a short time before daybreak, on Tuesday morning, the Indians, by a discharge of rifles and raising the hideous yells for which they are distinguished, made a simultaneous attack upon three sides of the encampment leaving that open next to the fort. The horses became frightened and numbers of them broke from their fastenings. The camp, in consequence of this, being thrown into some confusion, Captain Adair retired with his men and formed them into three divisions, just beyond the shine of the fires, on the side next the fort, and while the enemy were endeavoring to secure the horses and plunder the camp—which seemed to be their main object—they were in turn attacked by us—on the right by the major and his division, on the left by Lieutenant George Madison, and in the center by Lieutenant Job Hale, with their respective divisions. The enemy, however, were sufficiently strong to detail a fighting party double our numbers, to protect those plundering the camp and driving off the horses, and as we had left the side from the fort open to them they soon began to move off, taking all with them.

As soon as day dawn offered right sufficient to distinguish a white man from an Indian there ensued some pretty sharp fighting, so close in some instances as to bring in use the war-club and tomahawk. Here Lieutenant Hale was killed, and Lieutenant Madison Wounded. As the Indians retreated the white men hung on their rear, but when we pressed them too close they would turn and drive us back. In this way a kind of running fight was kept up until after sunrising, when we lost sight of the enemy, and nearly all of our horses, about where the town of Eaton now stands. On returning from the pursuit our camp presented rather a discouraging appearance. Not more than six or eight horses were saved—some twenty or thirty lay dead on the ground. The toss of the enemy remained unknown. The bodies of two Indians were found among the dead horses. We gathered up our wounded—six in number, took them to the fort, where a room was assigned them as a hospital, and their wounds dressed by Surgeon Boyd, of the regular army. The wound of one man, John James, consisted of but little more than the toss of his scalp. • • •

Another of the wounded, Lute Voorhes, afterward became a resident of Preble county, and died here not many years since.

" By sunset on the day of the action, we had sonic kind of rough coffins prepared for the slain. For the satisfaction of surviving friends, I will name them, and state that in one grave some fifty paces west of the site of Fort St. Clair, are the remains of Captain Job Hale. Next to him on his left we laid the remains of our orderly sergeant, Matthew English, then followed the four privates, Robert Bowling, Joseph Clinton, Isaac Jett and John Williams. Dejection and even sorrow hung on the countenances of every member of the escort as we stood around or assisted in the interment of these our fellow-comrades. Hale was a noble and brave man, fascinating in his appearance and deportment as an officer! It was dusk in the evening when we completed the performance of our melancholy duty. What a change! The evening before nothing was to be seen or heard in the encampment but life and animation."

Another account of the engagement is given by Major Adair in his report to General Wilkinson. Writing from Fort St. Clair, he says:

This morning, about the first appearance of day, the enemy attacked my camp, within sight of this post. The attack was sudden, and the enemy came on with a degree of courage that proved them warriors indeed. Some of my men were hand in hand with them before we retreated, which, however, we did to a kind of stockade, intended for stables; we then made a stand: I then ordered Lieutenant Madison to take a party and gain their right flank if possible. I called for Lieutenant Hale to send to the left, but found he had been slain. I then led forward the men that stood near me, which, together with the ensigns, Buchanan and Florin, amounted to about twenty-five, and pressed the left of their centre, thinking it absolutely necessary to assist Madison. We made a manly push, and the enemy retreated, taking all of our horses except five or six. We drove them about six hundred yards through our camp, where they again made a stand, and we fought them for some time. Two of my men were shot dead.

"At that moment I received information that the enemy were about to flank us on the right, and on turning that way I saw about sixty of them running to that point. I had yet heard nothing of Madison. I then ordered my men to retreat; which they did with deliberation, heartily cursing the Indians, who pursued us close to our camp, where we again fought them until they gave way; and when they retreated our ammunition was almost expended, although we had been supplied from the garrison in the course of the action. I did not think proper to follow them again, but ordered my men into the garrison to draw ammunition. I returned in a few minutes to a hill to which we had first drawn them; where I found five of my men scalped, who were brought in.

"Since I began to write this a few of the enemy appeared in sight, and I pursued them with a party about a quarter of a mile, but could not overtake them, and did not think proper to go further. Madison, whom I sent to the right, was on the first attack wounded and obliged to retreat into the garrison, leaving a man or two dead. To this misfortune I think the enemy are indebted for the horses which they have got; had he gained their right flank and I once had possession of their left, I think we might have routed them at that stage of the action as we had them on the retreat.

"I have six killed and five wounded; four men are missing. I think they went off early in the action on horse-back and are by this time at Fort Hamilton. My officers and a number of my men distinguished themselves greatly. Poor Hale died calling to his men to advance. Madison's bravery and conduct need no comment; they are well known. Florin and Buchanan acted with a coolness and courage that do them much honor; Buchanan after firing his gun knocked an Indian down with the barrel.

“They have killed and taken a great number of the pack-horses. I intend following them this evening some distance, to ascertain their strength and route if possible. I can, with propriety say, that about fifty of my men fought with a bravery equal to any men in the world; and had not the garrison been so nigh as a place of safety for the bashful I think many more would have fought *elt. The enemy have no doubt as many men killed as myself; they left two dead upon the ground and I saw two carried off. The only advantage they have

gained is our horses, which is a capital one, as it disables me from bringing the interview to a more certain and satisfactory conclusion."

IMMEDIATELY after the defeat of St. Clair the general government sought, by friendly negotiation, to secure peace, though vainly. Preliminary steps were also immediately taken toward bringing about a reorganization of the army, putting it into a thoroughly efficient condition, and liberally equipped it, that it might be in readiness should necessity require.

General Wayne (the Mad Anthony, of Revolutionary fame, and the companion-in-arms of the President), was chosen by Washington, as commander of the army of the Northwest. He spent the winter of 1792 at Legionville, below Pittsburgh, in collecting and organizing his army, and at the close of April, 1793, moved down the river and encamped near Fort Washington, at a place called "Hobson's Choice." Here Wayne was engaged during the negotiations for peace, in drilling his soldiers, in cutting military roads through the forest, collecting supplies in the Indian country, and in making preparations for an inimediate campaign, in case the efforts of the commissioners to obtain peace should be unsuccessful. On the sixteenth of August, 1793, the commissioners received the final answer of the Indian council, and on the twenty-third they sent messengers to Wayne, informing him of the outcome-the failure to secure peace. The general being authorized to move into the Indian country and wage war against the hostile tribes, did so as early as was possible. He had an army of about three thousand men, consisting in about equal parts of the mounted riflemen, volunteers from Kentucky, and of troops brought together in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, very many of them hard characters, and some from the prisons—outlaws and renegades, who were reckless of what the future had in store for them, and actuated only by the spirit of action and adventure. The Kentuckians were commanded by General Charles Scott, the second ranking offrcer in the army, and who, as well as General Harry Lee (the Light Horse Harry, of Revolutionary fame), and General William Darke had been favorably considered by Washington in connection with the chief command of the expedition.

General Wayne began his march northward into the Indian country on the seventh of October, 1793, not following St. Clair's trace, but cutting a new one for his army on the east side of Seven Mile creek. Many of Wayne's soldiers were superstitious, and had they advanced into the enemy's country upon the road which St. Clair's ill-fated army had taken, they would have felt an apprehension of defeat which possibly might have brought on one, or which would, at least, have had the effect of lessening their faith in the force of arms and demoralizing their spirit. From Fort Hamilton, Wayne's trace diverged more considerably from St. Clair than it had south of that post. He marched through what is now Preble county, a short distance east of Eaton, and that portion of the route lying south of the town has been adopted as the location of a public highway, long known as "the old trace road." The trace crossed Banta's fork at or near the forty foot pitch, and ascended the high bank north at a point on the east side of the present north road from which point it bore a little west of north to Fort Greenville. A portion of the old trail is still marked by a growth of young sycamores, which have sprung up where the forest was cut away. Many of the first settlers saw on the uncovered roots of trees, along the trace, the indisputable marks of wagon wheels or of the heavy ordnance trains. On his way northward on this expedition, Wayne named the streams according to the distance from Fort Hamilton at which he crossed them, as Four Mile creek and Seven Mile creek. The latter had before that time been known and mapped as Ct. Clair's creek.

Of the march, and one of the sad incidents of war, the death of Lowery and his brave companions, which occurred subsequently, we will let General Wayne testify, in his own language. On the twenty-third of October he wrote to the Secretary of War from his camp on the southwest branch of the Great Miami, six miles beyond Fort Jefferson (six miles south of the present town of Greenville, Darke county):

I have the honor to inform you that the region took up its line of march from Hobson's Choice, on the seventh inst., and arrived at this place in perfect order, and without a single accident, at ten o’clock on the evening of the thirteenth, when I found myself arrested for the want of provisions. Notwithstanding this defect, I do not despair of supporting the troops in our present position, or rather at a place called Stillwater, at an intermediate distance between the field of St. Clair's battle and Fort Jefferson. The safety of the western frontiers, and the reputation of the legion, the dignity and interest of the Nation, all forbid a retrograde manouevre, or giving up one inch of ground we now possess, until the enemy are compelled to sue for peace. The greatest difficulty which at present presents itself is that of furnishing a sufficient escort to secure our convoys of provisions and other supplies from insult and disaster, and at the same time to retain a sufficient force at camp to sustain and repeat the attacks of the enemy, who appear to be desperate and determined. We have recently experienced a little check to our convoys, which may probably be exaggerated into something serious, by the tongue of fame, before this reaches you. The following is, however, the fact:

"Lieutenant Lowery of the second sub-legion, and Ensign Boyd, of the first, with a command consisting of ninety non-commissioned officers and privates, having in charge twenty wagons belonging to the quartermaster general's department, loaded with grain, and one of the contractor's wagons, loaded with stores, were attacked early on the morning of the seventeenth inst., about seven mites advanced of Fort St. Clair, by a party of Indians. Those gallant young gentlemen (who promised at a future day to be ornaments to the profession,) together with thirteen non-commissioned officers and privates, bravely fell, after an obstinate resistance against superior numbers, being abandoned by the greater part of the escort, upon the first discharge. The savages killed or carried off about seventy horses, leaving the wagons and stores standing in the road, which have all been brought to this camp, without any other toss or damage, except some trilling articles."

Lowery died urging his men to fight and doing all in his power to beat back the savage horde that had assailed him. His last breath sent forth words of encouragement to the brave men who fought by his side.

Wayne met the Indians of the confederated tribes in battle array, and achieved the brilliant victory which brought long enduring peace to the troubled borderers.

The winter season was regarded as an unfavorable time to carry on hostilities against the Indians, and on its approach General Wayne dismissed the Kentucky militia men and placed the regular troops in winter quarters. He erected Fort Greenville near the site of the present town of Greenville, in Darke county, and made that post his headquarters. On December 23, 1793, he ordered eight companies of infantry and a detachment of artillery to take possession of the ground on which St. Clair was defeated in r 79i, and to erect a fortification at that point. The order was executed, and the new fort was appropriately named Fort Recovery. Soon after the completion of this defence, Wayne received from some of the hostile tribes a message, in which they expressed a desire to make peace with the United States. The terms, however, on which the commander of the army proposed to make a treaty were either evaded or rejected by the Indians, probably because they were led by Lord Dorchester, governor-general of Canada, and others, to believe that Great Britain would, in the course of the year 1794, assist them in their attempt to force the American settlers to retire from the territory lying on the northwest side of the Ohio river. At this period, too, a critical and unsettled state of relations existed between the governments of Great Britain, France and Spain, on the one side, and the United States on the other, and it was only by skillful diplomacy and decisive measures that our government escaped being drawn into the vortex of European politics. But this complication of troubles is too broad for treatment in these pages. It belongs to national rather than local history, and reference is merely made to it that the reader may be reminded of the other perils which surrounded the infant Republic while this harassing Indian war was being waged upon the western border.

On the thirtieth of June, 1794, an escort consisting of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, a detachment of Wayne's army, commanded by Major McMahon, was attacked by a large body of Indians, under the walls of Fort Recovery. The Indian force, variously estimated at from seven to fifteen hundred, and probably assisted by a small number of British agents and French Canadian volunteers, made several attacks on the fort within twenty-four hours, and then retired. In these attacks the Americans lost twenty-two men killed, thirty wounded, and three missing. They also lost two hundred and twenty-one horses killed, wounded and missing. In a letter from Wayne to the Secretary of War, dated "Greenville, 7th July, 1794," he says: "The. Indians left eight or ten warriors dead on the field; although they were employed during the night, which was dark and foggy, and carrying off their dead and wounded by torchlight."

Major General Scott, with about sixteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky (the men who had been dismissed in the autumn- previous) arrived at Fort Greenville, and joined the regular troops on the twenty-sixth of July. On the twenty-eighth the entire army commenced their march for the Indian towns on the Maumee. About twenty-five miles from Fort Recovery, on the St. Mary's river, Wayne built a small fortification which he named Fort Adams. The army marched from this point on the fourth of August, and on the eighth arrived at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers. The advance of the army carried terror into the Indian country. Wayne, writing upon the fourteenth of August, says :

"I have the honor to inform you that the army under my command took possession of this very important post on the morning of the eighth instant, the enemy on the preceding evening having abandoned all their settlements, towns and villages with such apparent marks of surprise and precipitation, as to amount to positive proof that our approach was not discovered by them until the arrival of a Mr. Newman who deserted from the army at St. Mary's. * * * Thus, sir, we have gained the emporium of the hostile Indians of the west without loss of blood. The very extensive and highly cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margins of those beautiful rivers, the Miami of the Lakes (or Maumee), and Auglaize, appears like one continued village for a number of miles above and below this place ; nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Ftorida. We are now employed in completing a strong stockade fort, with four good block-houses by way of bastions, at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee (on the site of the town by the same name), which I have called Fort Defiance. " * * " Everything is now prepared for a forward move to-morrow morning, toward Roche de Bout, or foot of the rapids. " " Yet I have thought proper to offer the enemy a last overture of peace, and as they have everything that is dear and interesting now at stake, I have reason to expect that they will listen to the proposition * * dispatched yesterday by a special flag (Christopher Miller), whom I sent under circumstances which will ensure his safe return, and which may eventually spare the effusion of much human blood. But should war be their choice, that blood be upon their own heads. America shall no longer be insulted with impunity. To an all-powerful and great God I therefore commit myself and gallant army."

On the fifteenth of August, 1794, General Wayne moved with his forces from Fort Defiance, and on the twentieth he gained a complete victory over the army of Indians. A force of about two thousand men collected near the foot of the rapids, near a British fort, erected subsequent to the treaty of 1783, and in violation of its obligations. After a short and sharp engagement, the Indians fled, and were pursued under the guns of the British fort. The number of Indians in the battle has been estimated all the way from one to two thousand. They were probably in larger number than Wayne's troops actually engaged against them, whose number, there is every reason to believe, was short of nine hundred. Good authorities say that there were in the action four hundred and fifty Delawares, one hundred and seventy-five Miami's, two hundred and seventy-five Shawnees, two hundred and twenty-five Ottawas, two hundred and seventy-five Wyandots, and a small number of Senecas, Pottawatomies and Chippewas. They had about seventy white allies, including a corps of volunteers from Detroit. The loss to Wayne's army was thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded. The Indian loss was more than double that of the Federal army. The woods were strewn for some distance with the dead bodies of Indians and their white auxiliaries—the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets. The Indians were

The Miami chief, Little Turtle, under whom the Indians in 1791 so overwhelmingly defeated St. Clair, was in the battle, but had little share in the control of the forces. Drake, in his Indian Biography, says: Among the earliest settlers in Preble county was Jacob Parker, who was a soldier of Wayne's army, and had encamped during the campaign on the very ground which he afterwards owned, and on which he spent the greater part of his life.

It has been generally said that had the advice of this chief been taken at the disastrous fight * * * with General Wayne, there is but tittle doubt he had met with as ill success as General St. Clair. He was not for fighting General Wayne at Presque Isle, and inclined rather to peace than fighting at all. In a council held the night before the battle he argued as follows: "We have beaten the enemy twice under separate commanders. We cannot expect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him; and during all the time that he has been marching on our villages, notwithstanding the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers to me it would be prudent to listen to his offers of peace." For holding these views he was accused by another chief of being a coward. This ended all further discussion. Little Turtle fought bravely in the battles and its issue proved him a truer prophet than his accuser had believed.

After the engagement of August 20th, generally known as the battle of the Maumee, or the battle of Fallen Timbers, Wayne's victorious army destroyed all the cornfields and the Indian villages, and returned to the mouth of the Auglaize. Indian' hostilities were at an end, and in the summer of 1795 the peace was perfected by Wayne's treaty made at Fort Greenville, where the army headquarters had been again established, in the fall of 1794. The most important of the provisions made at this council, by the action of which the last remnant of Indian title to the lands in this part of the State was removed, are given elsewhere. The Greenville treaty was the negotiation which secured and perpetuated the peace won in Wayne's battle.

Now that we have briefly outlined Wayne's campaign, let us revert to that bloody event which gives local interest to the war, in Preble county, and the memory of which has been so imperishably fixed by the rearing of Lowerey's monument at the Eaton cemetery.

The exact spot where Lieutenant Lowery and his companions were ambuscaded and killed by the Indians is on Lowery's branch of Banta's creek, in the northeastern part of Washington township, and a few rods up the branch from Zion (Lutheran) church. On the day following the fight the bodies of Lowery, Ensign Boyd and thirteen brothers, who gave up life with them before the overpowering force which made that sudden, fierce attack, were removed to Fort St. Clair and buried a few rods southwest of the stockade, side by side. The remains of Lieutenant Lowery were removed on the fourth of July, 1822, and interred in the northwest corner of the old burial ground. The sad but patriotic ceremonial was conducted with military honors, and an appropriate funeral oration was delivered by Jonas A. Mendel. For fifty years the resting place of the other soldiers was under the long grass by the old fort, but on the seventeenth of October, 1843, the fiftieth anniversary of their death, their remains, too, were removed and with the bones of Lowerey, permanently deposited in a beautiful and symmetrically formed mound, one of the many memorials of a lost race, which dot the surface of Ohio and the valley of the Mississippi. On this occasion the late Rev. Charles W. Swain acted as chaplain, and the late A. Haines, sr., delivered an eloquent and appropriate memorial oration. Upon the apex of the mound was reared, through the enterprise of a number of public spirited citizens of Eaton, a marble shaft, suitably inscribed to the memory of the soldiers who sleep at its base. And so the gratitude of the people who have occupied the country, has been shown to a few of those who led the way in the wilderness and assisted in making it possible that the land should be opened to settlement.

As Wayne's army was advancing toward the Indian country in the spring of 1793, and when in that part of the wilderness which is now Butler county, a man by the name of Newman deserted. Wayne, fearing that he would do harm by carrying information to the Indians, sent out a party of men to capture and return him to the camp, where, doubtless, it was Mad Anthony's intention to have him .shot. Jacob Parker was one of the men detailed for this arrest. The little company started out in a northeasterly direction and soon came upon the fugitive's trail through the woods. They followed it the greater part of the day, and when overtaken by nightfall had reached Twin creek. Upon the west side of this stream and about half a mile from the site of West Alexandria, and perhaps eighty rods from the present site of the Dayton and Western pike, the party encamped. In the morning, while some of the men were engaged in preparing breakfast, young Parker took a ramble through the luxuriant forest, and along the ravine running back from the stream. This was about the twentieth of April, and, the season being unusually forward, nature wore a very attractive garb. The loveliness of the locality made a deep impression upon the young man that spring morning, and on returning to the camp he exclaimed to his comrades: "If I live and get safely through this campaign I mean to own this very piece of ground and open a farm here and live and die upon it." The older men laughed at what they regarded as Parker's boyish enthusiasm, but he insisted that he meant to carry out his intention, and should some day own a cultivated farm where all was then an unbroken wild. The subject for the time was forgotten in the discussion that followed upon the feasibility of following further the deserter. It was decided that further pursuit would be in vain, and the men, after partaking of a hearty meal, took up their march for the army, which they regained upon, or near, tilt! site of Eaton. Parker followed Wayne through his victorious campaign, and, when discharged, began to think longingly of the beautiful valley on Twin creek, where he and his comrades had camped. He had saved his pay as a soldier, and, on the declaration of peace, added. to his means by laboring as a cooper in the village of Cincinnati. About 1798, before the lands were in market, he

visited the cherished site and built there a log cabin. From, that time until the lands were surveyed he remained there off and on, and, as soon as he was permitted, he purchased the quarter section, of one hundred and sixty acres of land, including the very spot he had encamped upon. Here he lived until his death, February z6, 1848, thus fulfilling his boyish prediction which had been laughed at by the older soldiers. Jacob Parker, the humble hero of this little incident of Wayne's campaign, was one of the most worthy and well-liked of Preble's pioneers. He was born in New Jersey in 1778, and was, therefore, about seventy years of age at the time of his death.

THE adventurous French explorers, Hennepin and LaSalle, who in 1679 steered the keel of civilization through Lake Erie and touched its south shore, were the first white men whom we know set foot upon the soil which now constitutes Ohio. The year following, the French had a trading station upon the Miami of the Lakes (Maumee), a few miles upon the site of Toledo, and, according to Bancroft, they had a route through the wilderness from Canada to the Mississippi, by the way of the Maumee, Wabash and Ohio rivers, in. 1716, and a little later another upon the site of Erie, Pennsylvania, by the way of the Allegheny and Ohio.

Vague traditions have been handed down, asserting that the English had trading posts upon the Ohio in 1730, and we know that they had soon after that time, for in 1744 the royal governor of Pennsylvania issued licenses for the carrying on of trade with the Indians as far west as the Father of Waters. In 1748 a trading station was established at the site of Sandusky, by the French, and in the same year the English explored the Ohio as far as the falls.

George Crogan and Andrew Montour, the latter a, half-breed son of a Seneca chief, traversed the wilderness in the summer of 1748 as the bearers of prints and presents from Pennsylvania to the Miami Indians. In return for these gifts the Indians granted the whites the right to build a stockade and establish a trading station at the mouth of Loramie's creek upon the Great Miami, within the bounds of the present county of Shelby. Accordingly a tort or stockade was built which was called Pickawillamy. It occupied the site of the subsequent station, generally known and often referred to in western history as Loramie's store. Fort Pickawillamy has been cited by some writers as the first point at which the English effected a settlement in Ohio. The building which was undoubtedly the first erected by the English on the soil of the State was destroyed in June, 1752, by a force of French, Canadians and Indians. The French traders along the Ohio and its tributaries, were pretty generally superseded by the English, and the enterprising and adventurous spirits from the settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia, about the middle of the eighteenth century, and they maintained the supremacy peaceably until 1784. Christopher Cist and Crogan, in 1750, explored Ohio and passed near, if not into, the present bounds of Preble county. They reported that nothing was wanting but cultivation to make the territory which they had traversed a most beautiful country. The Rev. David Jones (Chaplain Jones of Revolutionary fame) made a tour through a large part of the territory now included in the bounds of Ohio, in 1752 and 1753, and from that time onward, beside the traders and explorers, the country was seen by many who were engaged in military expeditions against the Indians, among whom may be named Colonels Broadstreet, Bogart, McDonald, William Crawford, George Rogers Clark, Edwards, Tod, Bowman, Lockry, Broadhead, and Logan, Lord Dunmore, Israel Putnam, General Lachlin McIntosh, Daniel Boone, and Simon Kenton. Through the observations of these men and a host of others the wilderness was becoming known, and many had grown to look forward to it fondly as a prospective place of residence.

While the, territory now included in Ohio was still a wilderness, the wilds of which were only inhabited by roving bands of savages and by a few traders, it became the field for the exercise of the zeal and bravery of the Moravian missionaries. The trials of these apostles of religion, the toils and privations of Frederick Post, John Heckwelder, and David Zeisberger, upon the Muskingum from 1772 to 1782, form one of the most interesting chapters in early. State history, but it is beyond our province to here produce the story of the missions and the horrible massacre which ended their existence. We only refer to the subject to remind the reader of the famous men who were in this then but little, known "far west," and to give a suggestion of the history that was being made long before the practical exercise of civil authority, and before the country was formally opened for permanent settlement.

By some authorities it is claimed that credit should be given these Moravians for establishing the first settlement in Ohio, intended to be permanent. The design of the founders of the mission station was doubtless to maintain them for an indefinite period, and had Salem and Schonbrun and Gnadenhutten not been wiped out in blood they would doubtless be to-day in existence, the oldest settlements in Ohio. However this may be, none deny to Marietta the honor of being the oldest permanent settlement in the State. An ineffectual attempt was made by four families to found a settlement at the mouth of the Scioto in 1785, but it remained for General Rufus Putnam and his Massachusetts colony, associates in the Ohio company to establish at the mouth of the Muskingum, on the seventh of April, 1788, the pioneer place of permanent habitation in our State-Marietta, so named after Marie Antoinette, the then ruling queen of France.

Not long after the settlement had been made at Marietta, three separate companies were organized to occupy and improve portions of the Symmes purchase, between the Great and Little Miamis. The first, led by Colonel Benjamin Stiles, and consisting of about twenty persons, landed sometime in November, 1788, at the mouth of the Little Miami, within the limits of a tract of ten thousand acres, which. Colonel Stiles had purchased of Judge Symmes. They constructed a log fort or stockade, and laid out the village of Columbia. The second party, twelve or fifteen in number, was formed at Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky, by Matthias Denman and Robert Patterson. After much difficulty and danger, caused by floating ice in the river, they made a landing opposite the mouth of the Licking river. The name adopted for the proposed town, says Burnet in his. "Notes," was "Losanteville," which had been manufactured by a pedantic foreigner whose name, has unfortunately been forgotten. It was formed, as he said, from the words .Le, os, ante and vale, which he rendered, "the village opposite the mouth." The proposed town was never laid off, but upon its intended site there was, however, laid out another village, according to a new plat—the village which is now grown into the populous, prosperous "Queen City of the West." The third party of pioneers in the Miami country was under the immediate supervision of Judge Symmes. Leaving Limestone on the twenty-ninth of January, 1789, the party landed early in the following month, at the point now known as North Bend, and so called, because the most northern bend which occurs on the Ohio south of the Kanawha. For some time it was a matter of doubt as to which of the rival settlements would eventually, as the western world was populated, become a great town. Columbia, for some time, maintained the lead, and even North Bend was considered to have advantages over Cincinnati.

During the time these settlements were making in the Symmes purchase, the southeastern part of Ohio was penetrated by the offshoots from Marietta, and the boundaries of civilization were slowly pushed forward along the river. On April 11, 1789, settlements were begun at Belpre (the French for beautiful meadow), fifteen miles below Marietta, and soon after at Newberry, twenty-five miles below, and also at Waterford and Duck creek. In the autumn of 1789 a settlement was made at the Big Bottom, on the Muskingum, about thirty miles above Marietta. The French settlement at Gallipolis was made in the summer of 1791. * Next after the laying

out of Gallipolis was the beginning made at Manchester on the Ohio, in Adams county, by Nathaniel Massie, and

* Although the French emigrants did not arrive until the summer of 1791, and after Massie had located Manchester, their village (Gallipolis), was laid out and made ready for them by the Ohio company, and when Manchester was founded there were residing at the former place a company of forty men from Marietta. Historians usually give Gallipotis the third place in the order of settlement, and Manchester the fourth. Should the consideration of priority in settlement, however, be based upon actual occupation of each site by permanent residents, Manchester would be entitled to rank third, and Gallipolis would of course be fourth. In speaking of these places as the third and fourth settlements in the State, Marietta and its offshoots are considered as one settlement, and the trio in the Symmes purchase collectively as another.

The settlements made up to 1791 and during two or three years following, slowly increased in size. Cincinnati in 1792 contained about thirty cabins besides the barracks and other buildings connected with Fort Washington. The population was about two hundred and fifty. Four years later, or in 1796, according to Monette's Valley of the Mississippi, the settlement had grown to number six hundred souls, and the village was composed of more than a hundred log cabins and fifteen framed houses.

In December, 1794, the town of Hamilton was laid out and soon after a few settlers located there. Dayton was laid out on the fourth of November, 1795, but not permanently settled until April r, 1796. Franklin, upon the Miami, and within the present county of Warren, was laid out in 1795, and the first settlers arrived in the spring of the following year. Previous to this, Mill Creek, eleven miles north of Cincinnati, had been the frontier settlement in the Miami country. In 1796 Chillicothe was settled, and the same year pioneers began to penetrate the northern part of the State, and Cleveland was laid out at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. At the close of 1798 that portion of the northwestern territory now included in the State of Ohio had a population of about five thousand persons. This population was chiefly in the valleys of the Muskingum, Scioto, the Miamis, and the small tributaries of these rivers within half a hundred miles of the Ohio. No portion of the country received a greater accession of settlers than the valleys of the Miamis. Nowhere was the development more marked or rapid, and nowhere was the prospect of the pioneers more alluring.

It is probable that a few "squatters" were in the territory now constituting Preble county as early as 1796, but the permanent settlement cannot be said to have begun until 1798.* Preble county now contains about five times as many inhabitants as there were in the whole state of Ohio in that year. The southern part of the county was first settled, and, to be more specific, the first township which had a permanent white resident was Gratis. In all probability that first resident, the pioneer of Preble county was John Leslie, who, according to the best authorities, came into the wilderness in 1798. He located on Elk Creek, and upon what is now known as section thirty-six, the extreme southeastern portion of the county, and that which was nearest to the settlements already made in the Miami valley. All northward of this locality was then an unbroken wilderness, and the Indian boundary but a few miles away. Southward there was a scanty fringe of settlements along the Ohio and a sparse sprinkling along its more important tributaries. The same year that John Leslie made his settlement, or the year following, Henry Phillips, John

The topic of settlement here only touched upon, and treated in a general way, is amplified in the several township histories, and the record of early settlers, in fact, forms, as it should, the greater part of each and every one of the chapters.

Phillips, Hezekiah Phillips and John Long arrived in the county, and located in the same vicinity. About the same time that these settlers came in Jacob Parker* took up a residence in the woods on Twin creek, in what is now Lanier township, a short distance from the site of West Alexandria. The southwest corner of Israel township was settled in 1799, by William Huston, the Ridenours, the Kingerys, and some others. James Ochletree built the first mill in the county on Four Mile creek. Somers township was settled near the site of Camden, about 1802, by the Hendricks, Pottengers, Bennetts, Beasleys, Mores, and Smiths. Henry Paddock, Eli Dixon, Reuben Kercheval and a few others settled on Four Mile creek, in Dixon and Jackson townships, about the year 1804. In all probability Eli Dixon was the pioneer of Dixon township, John Harding and the Wades settled on Elkham creek, in Jackson township, about the same time, and were among the first in the township. Peter Vanausdel, John Clawson and Albert Banta were among the early settlers of Lanier, coming in, however after Jacob Parker, already mentioned. Among the earliest settlers of Gasper township were Gasper Potter (after whom it was named), Stephen Albaugh, Silas Dooley, sr., Robert Runyon, William Phillips, Phillip Lewellan, and the Duns. In Twin township the first settlers were the Robertsons, Dickeys, Nesbits, Ozias, and Vanwinkles. The pioneers of Harrison township were Joseph Singer, who arrived as early as 1803, Martin Rice, Tobias Tilman, Jacob Loy, James Abbott, Zachariah Hole, Alexander McNutt, and others. In Jefferson township the first settlers were the Purviances (among them, David, who at an early day ably represented the district in the State senate), the Flemings, Marshals, and Irelands. In Washington William Bruce, Cornelius Vanausdel, David E. Hendricks, Walter Buell, Alexander C. Lanier, John Aukerman, John Mills, John Goldsmith, and John Meroney, were among the first residents. Monroe was the last township in order of settlement, its lands being refused by the pioneers because fiat and wet. Its first settlers were the Armatouts, Shurleys, Adamses, Millers, Marshalls, Doyles, Davisons, Browns, and Coopers.

* For the story of Jacob Parker's settlement see the chapter on Wayne's campaign.

THERE is a corps of active, brave men, usually volunteers, in advance of nearly every great and thoroughly organized army. It is their self-imposed duty to go ahead, and with axe and pick prepare the way for the fighting rank and file that follows. They are called pioneers. Beside the implements of labor they bear arms, for their position is a dangerous one. They are obliged to keep a constant lookout for an ambush, and they march on in momentary fear of a sudden attack, for the enemy, familiar with the land they are invading, and which to there is a terra incognito, full of terrible possibilities, is liable at any moment to sweep down upon tem, or pour into their midst a volley of arrows or musket balls.

The Virginians, Pennsylvanians, North Carolinians and Kentuckians who pushed their way into the great wilderness of southwestern Ohio, were the pioneers of one of the grandest armies earth ever knew. An army whose hosts are still sweeping irresistibly onward, and which, now after more than four score years, has not fully occupied the country that it won. It was the army of peace and civilization, which came not to conquer an enemy in blood and carnage and ruin, but to subdue a wilderness, by patient toil; to make the wild woodland blossom as the rose, to sweep away the forest, till the virgin soil, make fertile fields, and hew out houses which were to. become the abodes of peace and plenty. The pioneers were the valiant vanguard of such an army as this.

The hardy, resolute pioneers who penetrated the vast unknown land northwest of the Ohio, who settled along the Miamis and west of them in Preble county and the surrounding region, found a land as fertile and as fair as heart could wish. The long, cool aisles of the forest led away into mazes of vernal green, where the swift deer bounded by unmolested and as yet unscared by the sound of the woodman's axe or sharp ring of the rifle. All about them were displayed the lavish bounties of nature. The air was fragrant with the thousand odors of the woods in early spring. Underneath the giant oaks and sugar trees, the low-branched beeches, the walnuts and the' chestnuts and the sycamores, the ground was jeweled with strange and brilliant flowers, and the rich sweet grass, green to the water's edge, in the fertile valleys of the 'streams.

The pioneers could enjoy the pristine beauty of the scene, but they had before them the stern, hard realities of life. They could enjoy the vernal green of the wide extending forest, and'the evidences of the fertility of the country they had come to inhabit; they could look forward and fondly anticipate the life they were to lead in the midst of all this beauty, and the rich reward that was to be theirs for the cultivation of the mellow soil, but they had first to work—there was no time for lotus- eating ease in this valambrosia. The seed-time comes before the harvest in more senses than one.

Serious dangers, too, these pioneers were exposed to. The Indians could scarcely be trusted, or, at least, such was the feeling among the settlers. They were constantly apprehensive of trouble. The larger wild beasts were a source of much dread, and the smaller ones the source of great annoyance. Besides these was the liability to strange forms of sickness which always exists in a new country, and which was doubly feared as the settlers were beyond the reach of medical assistance. In the midst of all the loveliness of the surroundings there was a feeling of loneliness which could not be dispelled,

and this was a far greater, source of trial to the men and women who first dwelt in the western country than can be imagined. The deep-seated, constantly recurring sense of isolation, made many stout hearts turn back to the older settlements and the abodes of comfort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned to take up a new life in the western woods.

The pioneers making their way to what is now Preble county, by the Ohio in boats and thence northward through the forest, or all of the distance overland in the great Canastoga wagons, arrived at the place of their destination with but very little with which to begin the battle of life. They had brave hearts, however, strong arms, and were possessed of an invincible determination. Frequently they came on without their families, to make a beginning, and, this being accomplished, would return to their old homes for their wives and children. The first thing done by the pioneer-who brought his family with him was to provide a shelter, however poor and simple, from the rain. This having been done, ground was made ready for some crop, usually corn, as that was the surest. The trees were girdled, the underbrush cut away, if there chanced to be any, and the ground swept with fire. Ten, fifteen, twenty, or even thirty acres of land, might thus be prepared and planted the first season. In the autumn the crop would be gathered and garnered with the least possible waste, for it was the food supply of the pioneer and his family, and life depended upon its preservation.

While the crop grew, the pioneer busied himself with the building of his cabin, which must answer as a shelter from the storms of the coming winter, a protection from the ravages of wild beasts, and possibly as a place of refuge from the Indians.

If a pioneer was completely isolated from his fellow men, his position was indeed a hard one, for without assistance he could construct only a very poor habitation. In such case the cabin was usually made of light logs or poles and laid up roughly to answer the purpose of a temporary shelter, until other settlers had come into the vicinity, by whose help a more substantial structure could be built. Usually a number of families came into the country together, and located within such distance from each other that they were enabled to perform many friendly and neighborly offices. Assistance was always readily given our pioneers by all of the scattered residents of the forest within a radius of several miles. The plan commonly followed in the erection of a log cabin was that which allowed a union of labor. The site of the cabin home was selected, if possible, where there was a good water supply, by a never-failing spring, or if such could not be found it was not uncommon to first dig a well. When the cabin was to be built the few neighbors gathered at the site and first cut down within as close proximity as possible a number of trees as nearly of a size as could be found, but ranging from a foot to twenty inches in diameter. Logs were chopped from these and rolled to a common center. This work and that of preparing the foundation would consume the greater part of the day in most instances, and the entire labor would most commonly occupy two or three days, sometimes four. The logs were raised to their places with hand-spikes and skid poles, and men standing at the corners with axes notched them as fast as they were laid in position. When the structure became several logs high the work would be more difficult. The gables were formed by beveling the ends of the logs and making them shorter and shorter as each additional one was laid in place. These logs in the gables were held in place by poles which extended across the cabin from end to end, and which served also as rafters upon which to lay the rived "clapboard" roof. The so-called "clapboards" were five or six feet in length, split from oak or ash logs, and made as smooth and flat as possible. They were laid side by side, and other pieces of split stuff laid over the cracks so as to effectually keep out the rain. Upon these logs were placed to hold them down, and the latter were kept in position by blocks of wood inserted between them.

The chimney was an important part of the structure, and taxed the builders, with their poor tools, to the utmost. In rare cases it was made of stone, but most commonly of logs and sticks laid up in a manner similar to those which formed the cabin. It was in nearly all cases built outside of the cabin, and at its base a huge opening was cut through the wall into it, to answer as a fireplace. The sticks in the chimney were held in place and protected from fire by mortar formed by kneading clay and straw together. Flat stones were secured for the back and jambs of the fireplace.

An opening was chopped or sawed in the logs on one side of the cabin for a doorway. Pieces of hewed timber three or four inches thick were fastened on each side, by means of wooden pins, to the ends of the logs, and the doors (if there were any), were fastened to one of these by wooden hinges. The door itself, was a clumsy piece of woodwork. It was usually made of heavy boards rived from an oak log, and held together by heavy cross pieces. There was a wooden latch upon the inside, raised by a string which passed through a gimlet hole and hung upon the outside. From this mode of construction arose the old and well-known hospitable saying, "You will find the latch-string always out." It was only pulled in on rare occasions—at night when the occupants had an idea that prowlers might be in the vicinity. Very many of the cabins of the pioneers had no doors of the kind here described, and the entrance was only protected by a blanket, or skin of some wild beast suspended above it. The window was a small opening often devoid of anything resembling a sash, and very rarely having glass. Greased paper was sometimes used in lieu of the latter, but more commonly some old garment constituted a curtain, which was the only protection from sun, or rain, or snow. The floor of the cabin was made of puncheons—pieces of timber split from trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewed as smooth as possible with the broad-axe. They were half the length of the floor. Many of the cabins first erected in this part of the country had nothing but the earthen floor. Sometimes the cabins had cellars, which were simply small

excavations in the ground for the storage of a few articles of food and perhaps some cooking utensils. Access to the cellar was readily obtained by lifting a loose puncheon. There was sometimes a loft, used for various purposes, among others for a "guest chamber." It was reached by a ladder, the sides of which were split pieces put together like everything else in the house, without nails.

The furniture of the log cabin was as simple and primitive as the. structure itself. A forked stick set in the puncheon floor, and supporting two poles, the other ends of which were allowed to rest upon the logs at the side and end of the cabin, formed a bedstead. A common form of table was a split slab supported by four rustic legs set in augur holes. Three legged stools were made in similar, simple manner. Pegs driven in augur holes in the logs of the wall supported shelves, and others displayed the limited wardrobe of the family, not in use. A few other pegs, or perhaps a pair of buck's antlers, formed a rack where hung the rifle and powder- horn, which no cabin was without. These, and perhaps a few other articles, brought from the old home, formed the furniture and furnishing! of the log cabin. The utensils for cooking and the dishes for table use were few. The best were of pewter, which the careful housewife of the olden time kept shining as brightly as the most pretentious plate of our later day fine houses. It was by no means uncommon that wooden vessels, either coopered or turned, were used upon the table. Knives and forks were few; crockery very scarce, and tinware not abundant. Food was simply cooked and served, but it was of the best and most wholesome kinds. The hunter kept the larder supplied with venison, bear meat, squirrels, wild turkeys and the many varieties of small game. Plain corn bread or "pone," baked in a kettle in the ashes, or upon a chip or board in front of the great open fire-place, answered the purpose of all kinds of pastry. The corn was, among the earliest pioneers, pounded or grated, there being no mills for grinding it for some time, and then only small ones, and perhaps a considerable distance away. The wild fruits in their season were made use of, and afforded a pleasant variety. Sometimes especial efforts were made to prepare a delicacy, as for instance, when a woman experimented in mince pies, pounding wheat for the flour to make the crust, and using crab apples for fruit. In the lofts of the cabins was usually to be found a collection of articles that made up the backwoodsman's materia medica—the herb medicines and spices, catnip, sage, tansy, fennel, boneset, pennyroyal and wormwood, each gathered in its season; and there were also stores of nuts, and strings of dried pumpkin, with bags of berries and fruits.

The habits of the pioneers were of a simplicity and purity which was in strict conformance to their surroundings and belongings. The men were engaged day after day in the herculean labor of enlarging the little patch of sunshine about their homes, cutting away the forest, burning off the brush and debris, preparing the soil, planting, tending, harvesting, caring for the few animals which hey brought with them or soon procured, and in hunting. While they were engaged in the heavy labor of the field and forest, or following the deer or other game, their helpmeets were busied with household duties—providing for the day and the winter coming on, cooking, making clothes, spinning and weaving. They were fitted by nature and by experience to be the consorts of the brave men who first came into the western wilderness They were heroic in their endurance of hardship and privation and loneliness. Their industry was well directed and unceasing. Woman's work then, like man's, was performed under disadvantages, which were removed in later years. She had not ouly the household duties to perform, but many others. She not only made the clothing, but the fabric for it.

That old, old occupation of spinning and weaving, with which woman's name has been associated in all history, and of which the modern world knows little save through the stories of those who are grandmothers now —that old occupation of spinning and of weaving, which seems surrounded with a glamour of romance as we look back to it through the mediums of tradition and poetry, and which always conjures up thoughts of the grace and virtues of the dames and damsels of a generation that is gone—that old, old occupation of spinning and of weaving, was the chief industry of the pioneer women.

Every cabin sounded with the softly whirring wheel and the rythmic thud of the loom. The woman of pioneer times was like the woman described by Solomon: "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff." Almost every article of clothing, all the cloth used in the old log cabins, was the product of the patient woman weavers' toil. She spun the flax and wove the cloth for shirts and trowsers, frocks, sheets and blankets. The linen and the wool— the "linsey woolsey" woven by the house-wife—formed the material for all of the clothing of men and women, except such articles as were made of skins. The men commonly wore the hunting shirt, a kind of a loose frock reaching half way down the thighs, open before, and so wide as to lop over a foot or more upon the chest. It generally had a cape, which was often fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that which composed the garment. The bosom of the garment answered as a pouch, in which could be carried the various articles of which the hunter or the woodsman had need. The hunting shirt was always worn belted. It was made of coarse linen, of linsey, or of dressed deer-skin, according to the fancy of the wearer. Breeches were made of heavy cloth, or of deer-skin, and were often worn with leggings of the same material, or some kind of leather, while the feet were usually encased in moccasins, which were easily and quickly made, though they needed frequent mending. The deer-skin breeches or drawers were very comfortable when dry, but when they became wet were very cold to the limbs, and the next time they were put on were almost as stiff as if made of wood. Hats or caps were made of the various native furs. The women were clothed in linsey petticoats, coarse shoes and stockings, and wore buckskin

gloves, or, more often, mittens, when any protection was needed for the hands. All of their wearing apparel, like that of the men, was made with a view to being serviceable and comfortable, and nearly all was of home manufacture. Other articles and finer ones were worn sometimes, but they were brought from the former homes and were usually the articles handed down from parents to children. Jewelry was very rare, but occasionally some ornament was displayed.

In the cabins of the cultivated pioneers were usually a few books—the Bible and hymn book, "Pilgrim's Progress," "Baxter's Saints Rest," "Hervey's Meditations," ".Esop's Fables," "Gulliver's Travels," "Robinson Crusoe," and the like. The long winter evenings were spent poring over the pages of some well thumbed volume, by the light of the great log fire, in knitting, mending, curing furs, etc.

Hospitality was simple, unaffected, hearty, unbounded. Whiskey was in common use in the cabins or most of the early settlers. Nearly every one had his barrel stowed away. It was the universal drink at merry-makings, bees, house-raisings, house-warmings, and weddings, and was always set before the traveler who chanced to spend the might or take a meal in the log cabin. It was the good, old-fashioned whiskey—"clear as amber, sweet as musk, smooth as oil,"-that the few octogenarians and nonogenarians of to-day recall to memory with a suggestive smack of the lips.

As the settlement increased, the sense of loneliness and isolation was dispelled. The asperities of life were softened; its amenities multiplied. Social gatherings became more numerous and more enjoyable. The logrolling, harvesting, and husking bees for the men, and the apple butter and quilting parties for the women, furnished frequent occasions for social intercourse. The early settlers took much pleasure and pride in rifle shooting, and as they were accustomed to the use of the gun as a means, often, of obtaining subsistence, they exhibited considerable skill, in their frequent friendly con= tests of marksmanship.

A wedding was the social event of the most importance in the sparsely settled new country. The young people had every inducement to marry and usually did so as soon as they were able to provide for themselves. When a marriage was to be celebrated the whole nerghborhood turned out. After the ceremony was performed it was customary to serve a substantial dinner—a backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls, and bear or deer meat, with such vegetables as could be procured. The greatest hilarity prevailed during the meal, and after it was over dancing was begun, generally to be kept up until the next morning. It was commenced with "a square four," which was followed by "jigging it off." The "settlement" of a young couple was thought to be thoroughly and generously made when the neighbors assembled and raised a cabin for them.

During all of the early years of the settlement, varied by occasional pleasures and excitements, the great work of increasing the extent of the tillable ground went slowly on. The tools and implements were few and of the most primitive kind, but the soil that had held in reserve the accumulated riches of a century produced splendid harvests, and the husbandman was well rewarded for his labor. The ground was warmer then than now and the season a little earlier.

Flour and meal were difficult to obtain. Only the commonest goods were brought into the country during the first few years of settlement, and they sold at enormous prices, being packed from Detroit or wagoned from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and thence floated down the Ohio. Tea was worth two or three dollars a pound ; coffee brought from seventy-five cents to a dollar; salt five or six dollars per bushel of fifty pounds, and the commonest calicos were sold at a dollar per yard. Long journeys on foot were often made by the pioneers to obtain the necessities of life or some article, then esteemed a luxury, for the sick. Hardships were cheerfully borne, privations stoutly endured; the best was made of what they had by the pioneers and their families, and they toiled patiently on, industrious and frugal, simple in their tastes and pleasures, happy in an independence, however hardly gained, and looking forward hopefully to a future of plenty which should reward them for the toils of their earlier years, and a rest from the struggle, amidst the benefits gained by it. Without an iron will and an indomitable resolution they could never have accomplished what they did. Their heroism deserves the highest tribute of praise that can be awarded.

During the war of 1812 many of the husbands and fathers volunteered their services to the United States. Women and children were then left alone in many isolated cabins all through Ohio, and there was a long reign of unrest, anxiety and terror. It was feared by some that the Indians might take advantage of the desertion of these homes by their natural protectors, and pillage and destroy them, but happily their fears proved to be groundless, and this part of the country was spared any scenes of violence.

After the close of the war there was a greater feeling of security than had ever existed before; a new motive was given to emigration, and the country fast filled up with settlers. The era of peace and prosperity was fairly begun. Progress was slowly, surely made; the forest shrank away before the woodman's axe. The pioneers, assured of perfect safety, began to make better plans for the future; resorted to new industries; enlarged their possessions and improved the means of cultivation. Stock was brought in from Kentucky and the east. More commodious structures took the places of the old ones; the large double log house of hewed logs replaced the old cabin, and log and frame barns were built for the protection of stock and the housing of crops. Frame houses began to appear here and there. Society began to form itself; the school-house and the church appeared, and advancement was made manifest in a score of ways. With so much accomplished, however, there still remained a vast work to perform, for as yet only a beginning had been made in the western forest. The brunt of the struggle, however, was past, and the way made in the wilderness for the army that was to come.

FRANCE was the first nation which claimed possession of the territory, now included within the limits of the State of Ohio. She rested the right of her claim upon the discoveries of that indomitable and intrepid explorer, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, who is said by Parkman and other historians to have passed from Lake Erie southward, over the portage of the Allegheny river, and from thence down the Ohio river as far as the "Falls" at Louisville, thus being the discoverer, and explorer of the State. From his subsequent discoveries too, La Salle was accredited with the honor of having found for France the whole of the vast territory, commonly considered as included in the Mississippi valley, and the whole of which was known originally by the name of Louisiana. The title was disputed by Great Britain, but the controversy was only a slight one, and France held possession before the Utrecht treaty, and after that treaty up to the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when Great Britain came into possession of the soil northwest of the Ohio, and retained it until the close of the Revolutionary war, when by the treaty of peace concluded at Paris in 1783, and ratified by the American congress in the following year, the ownership was vested in the United States.

After the ratification of the treaty of peace in 1784, between Great Britain and the United States, and for some time before, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut asserted claims to portions of the lands now included in the boundaries of Ohio, and Virginia claimed the whole, and much more, even to the entire extent of "the territory northwest of the Ohio river." Virginia's claim was founded upon certain charters granted to the colony by James I., bearing dates respectively, April To, 16o6, May 23, 1609, and March 12, 1611 ; also, upon the conquest of the country between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers and the northern lakes, made by General George Rogers Clark in 1778 and 1779. Though possessing as solid a claim as any other State, Virginia was the second to grant a deed of cession to the United States, which she did in 1784, preceded only by New York, and followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut, the latter ceding her claims in 1786, an act which has been characterized as "the last tardy and reluctant sacrifice of State pretensions to the public good." The charters of Massachusetts and Connecticut both embraced territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and that of New York, obtained from Charles II., including territory that had been previously granted to the other States, conflicts arose which threatened serious evil, but which, happily, as the eyes of all nations were at that time turned upon the infant Republic, were adjusted by wise measures, satisfactorily.

The Iroquois Indians or Six Nations, claimed to be the conquerors of the whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and upon this assumption they based their pretension to the ownership of the soil. Their indefinite claim was extinguished by the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded October 22, 1784. The commissioners of Congress in this transaction were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, and the Six Nations were represented by Red Jacket and Cornplanter, two of their greatest chiefs.

The treaty of Fort McIntosh, by which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas relinquished all claim to the Ohio valley, was negotiated in January, 1785, by General George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee for the United States, and the chiefs of the tribes named for the Indians. By the provisions of this treaty, the boundary line dividing these Indians from the United States was established along the Cuyahoga river and the main branch of the Tuscarawas, to its fotk near Fort Laurens, thence westwardly to the portage between the headwaters of the Great Miami and the Miami of the Lakes (Maumee), thence down said river to Lake Erie, and along the lake to the mouth of the Cuyahoga —the Indians being allowed occupancy of the territory included within these bounds.

Other relinquishments were effected by the treaty of Fort Finney at the mouth of the Greit Miami, concluded with the Shawnees January 31, 1786; by the treaty of Fort Harmar, held by General St. Clair, January 9, 1789, and by the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795.

By the provisions of this treaty by which the lands in Preble county were finally and perfectly secured to the United States, and which was based upon the previous treaty of Fort Harmar, the famous "Greenville Treaty Line" was established. The leading provision was as follows:

The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and the lands of the Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, and run thence up the saint to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Laurens ; thence westwardly to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami, running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Laramie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio and St. Mary's river, which is a branch of the Miami (Maumee) which runs into Lake Erie ; thence a westerly course to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of the Wabash ; thence southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky or Cuttawa river."

This treaty which was one of the most thorough in measures and effectual in result, was made by "Mad Anthony Wayne." The Indians began to gather at Greenville for the conference in the month of June. Among them were the Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Eel River Indians. Many famous chiefs were there: "Buckougehelas," "The Little Turtle" of the Miamis, Tahre the Crane, and other Wyandots, Blue Jacket with a party of Shawnees, and Massas with twenty Chippewas.

It is a highly creditable fact, and one of which all should be proud, that the title to every foot of Ohio soil was perfected by honorable treaty with the Indians, and their claims properly compensated and extinguished.

independent State, one of the terms of admission was, that the fee simple to all the lands within its limits, especially those previously granted or sold should be vested in the United States. The different lands in Ohio are more than twenty in number, and known as follows : 1, Congress Lands; 2, United States Military Lands; 3, Virginia Military District; 4, Western or Connecticut Reserve; 5, Fire Lands; 6, Ohio Company's Purchase ; 7, Donation Tract; 8, Symme's Purchase; 9, Refugee Tract; ro, French Grant; 11, Dolerman's Grant; Zanes Grants; 13, Canal Lands; 14, Turnpike Lands; 15. Maumee Road Lands; 16, School Lands ; 17, College Lands; 18, Ministerial; 19, Moravian Grants; 20, Salt Sections.

All of the soil of Preble county belongs to what is known as the Congress lands; Congress lands are so called because sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general Government, in conformance with such laws as have been from time to time enacted by Congress. These lands were surveyed and put into the market in conformance with an ordinance passed in 1785, after the several States claiming ownership had all granted deeds of cession, and after it was supposed the title had been made perfect by treaty with the Indians The congress lands were regularly surveyed into ranges, running north and south, and these into townships six miles square. The seven ranges are a portion of the congress lands and were the first surveyed by the general Government northwest of the Ohio. They lie in the eastern part of the State, and comprise what is known as the Marietta district. The other Congress lands were surveyed later and at various periods. The townships of the Congress lands are surveyed into thirty-six sections, each a mile square. These in Preble county and elsewhere throughout, except in Marietta and a portion of Steubenville district, are numbered as follows:.

6	5	4	3	2	1
7	8	9	10	11	12
18	17	16	15	14	13
19	20	21	22	23	24
30	29	28	27	26	25
31	32	33	34	35	36

These sections, containing six hundred and forty acres each, are again subdivided into quarters, denominated the southeast quarter section, northwest quarter section, etc., and each containing one hundred and sixty acres. Again, by a law which was made in 1820, these quarter sections were divided into equal parts, by lines running north and south through them. These divisions, which contain eighty acres of land, are denominated the east half-quarter section No.—, and west half-quarter section No.— The minimum price of the Congress lands was originally two dollars per acre, but this was reduced by law to one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, to be paid in cash. Originally a provision was made for the reservation of one-seventh of all the lands surveyed, for the use of the continental troops, but this plan was subsequently abandoned, and a specific appropriation of a tract made for that purpose. The United States reserved, when the lands were first put on sale, four sections out of every township, for future sale, viz : sections eight, eleven, twenty-six, and twenty-nine. Section No. 16, of every township, was reserved "for the maintenance of public schools within said township."

THE first county proclaimed in the old Northwestern Territory was Washington, July 27, 1788, including the territory now included in about forty counties of the eastern part of the State. The next was Hamilton, established by the proclamation of the governor, January 2, 1790. The county included, originally, the lands between the Little and Great Miami rivers, and was co-extensive with the Symmes purchase. The land west of Great Miami was included, originally, in the territorial county of Randolph, which was composed, principally, of territory now included in Indiana, but when the State of Ohio was formed, all of the territory between the Great Miami and the Indiana line was added to Hamilton county. Butler county was formed from Hamilton in 1803, very soon after the organization of the State government, and in the same year Montgomery was erected from Hamilton and Ross counties, chiefly from the former. Preble county was erected in 1808, from Butler and Montgomery counties, the larger portion of its territory being taken from the latter. Thus, until 1803, the few settlers in the county now included in the boundaries of Preble, were within the jurisdiction of Hamilton county, of which the seat of justice was Cincinnati. After 1803, until February 15, 1808, the inhabitants near the present south line of the county were within the jurisdiction of Butler county, of which the seat was then, as it is now, Hamilton-and all of the other inhabitants of the county now included in Preble, were residents of Montgomery county, and, consequently; paid their taxes and transacted all other public business at Dayton.

The following is the full text of legislative act erecting the county of Preble:

SECTION I.—Be it mated by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That all that part of Montgomery and Butler counties included in the following boundaries be, and the same is hereby laid off, and erected

into a separate and distinct county, which shall be called and known by the name of Preble, to-wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of the sixth township, first range east of the meridian, drawn from the mouth of the Great Miami; thence east along said township line to the range line between the third and fourth ranges; thence north to the northeast corner of the seventh township, in the third range; thence west along the township lines to the State line; thence south to the place of beginning.

SEC. 2.—Bc it further enacted, That from and after the first day of March, next, said county of Preble shall be vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities of a separate and distinct county; Provided. That it shall be lawful for the sheriff, coroner, constables, and collectors of Montgomery and Butler counties, to do and perform all the duties which they are or may be required to do in the said counties of Montgomery and Butler within the bounds of the said county of Preble; and all suits and actions which are or may be pending therein at the time of the said division, shall be tried and determined in the same manner as though a division had not taken place.

SEC. 3.—Bc it further enacted, That atl justices of the peace and other officers residing within the said county of Preble, shall continue to exercise the duties of their respective offices until successors are chosen and qualified.

SEC. 4.—Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the associate judges to divide the said county of Preble into townships, subject to the future alteration of the commissioners, and to publish the bounds of each in at least three of the most public places in said townships, and also to direct the electors of said townships to elect, on the first Monday in April, three commissioners, a sheriff, and coroner, to hold their offices until the next annual election, together with the requisite number of township officers: Provided, Notice shall be given at least ten days before the said first Monday of April.

SEC. 5.—And be it further enacted, That the courts to he holden in the said county of Preble, shall be holden in the town of Eaton, until a permanent seat of justice shalt be established in said county.

Preble county was named after Commodore Edward Preble, of the United States navy. At the time the county was erected the . man in whose honor it was named had been dead less than two years, and his then recent services in the Tripolitan war were fresh in the memory of the people. Several localities in the United States were named after him.

Edward Preble was born at Portland, Maine, August 15, 1761. Entering the naval service when at suitable age he advanced rapidly in station, becoming a captain in 1799, and ultimately one of the most distinguished of American commanders. In his youth he acquired honor in the war of the- Revolution, but the deed on which his fame was principally founded was accomplished a quarter of a century later. In 1803 Commodore Preble was sent into the Mediterranean, and after humbling the emperor of Morocco, he appeared with most of his squadron before Tripoli. During the month of August Tripoli was repeatedly bombarded by the American squadron, and a severe engagement took place between Commodore Preble's fleet and the gunboats of the piratical Tripolitans, which resulted in the capture of several of the latter, with little loss to the Americans. The commander was generally praised in this country for his success, and won a high place in the hearts of the people. He died not long after the victories which made him famous—on the twenty-fifth of June, 1806.

IN the chapter immediately preceding this one an account is given of the erection of Preble county and the origin of its name. In this chapter we present an outline of the civil history of the county, including its organization, location of the county seat, description of public buildings, division of townships, and other topics of interest.

The first book of the proceedings of the commissioners of Preble county contains the following as its initial entry:

Be it remembered that on the twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight, that at the house of Samuel Hawkins, in the village of Eaton, George Shidler, esquire, exhibited a certificate bearing date — 1608, from William Brown, esquire, clerk pro tentpore of the court of common pleas of said county, declaring that the said George Shidler had been duly elected a commissioner to serve said county until the next annual election.

Similar certificates having been presented by Willis R. Irwin and Samuel Hawkins, the three commissioners took their seats and proceeded to business. The board appointed Alexander Chambers Lanier, their clerk, and he took an oath to support the constitution of the United States, and of this State so long as he should continue a citizen thereof.

The board appointed William Bruce, esquire, to act as treasurer of said county for the ensuing year. After. establishing tavern rates of license, making provision for the payment of one dollar each for wolf or panther scalps, and attending to some minor matters of business the board adjourned sine die.

On the seventh of Nrle, 1808, another meeting was held at which, among other transactions, it was ordered that "the courts shall be held up stairs in the house of Samuel. Hawkins, in the town of Eaton, said Hawkins having agreed to give the use of said room and a table, without charge therefor." It was also further ordered that Samuel Hawkins be allowed to retain the use of public square in the town of Eaton, marked on the plan of said town by the letter A, until it shall be demanded by the commissioners of Preble county to commence a public building thereon.

At a special meeting of the commissioners, held at the house of Samuel Hawkins, June 23, 1808, the clerk read a return from Aaron Harlin, Ichabod B. Halsey, and Ichabod Comin, commissioners appointed by the legislature to fix the permanent seat of justice of Preble county. Their return declared that the permanent seat of justice shall be "`fixt' at the town of Eaton, provided that the money, lands, lots, stone and labour, subscribed by the inhabitants of said town, shall be duly secured for the use of said county towards erecting publick buildings."

Afterwards the board proceeded to receive and secure the donations given by the subscribers toward establishing Eaton as the seat of justice of Preble county. It appears from the records that Samuel Hawkins "gave to

the county commissioners for the use of building publick buildings in the town of Eaton," the following lots known as numbers twenty-two, twenty-three, two hundred and twenty-two and two hundred and twenty-three, together with one four acre out-lot. William Bruce gave his bond for the following lots, namely: lots numbers forty, forty- four, forty-five, seventy-three, seventy-four, one hundred and three, one hundred and forty-five, one hundred and forty-seven, one hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and fifty-three, one hundred and fifty-four, one hundred and seventy-seven, and stone for all publick buildings to be quarried any place between the upper and lower falls of St. Clair's (Seven Mile) creek ; likewise two blocks of lots adjoining the main street. George Worthington gave his bond promising to donate lot number three.

The following persons gave their notes for the amounts they had subscribed towards obtaining the seat of justice at Eaton: Andrew Houss, twenty dollars in mason work; Matthew Harbison, ten dollars in mason work; John Harbison, five dollars in mason work; Benjamin Griffith, five dollars in turners' work; William Smith, ten dollars payable in lots; Alexander Lanier, twenty-five dollars payable in materials for "gaol" or joiners' work thereon, and also twenty-five dollars payable in work on the court house; William Steele, fifteen dollars payable in work on the "gaol"; Henry Whitsell, fifteen dollars wortlfnf iron work for "gaol"; John Hawkins, five dollars payable in quarrying stone; John Mills gave his bond to make title to the commissioners for six acres of land adjoining the northeast corner of the town plat; Jacob and John Spacht agreed to give instead of eight acres of land, the sum of forty dollars in cash, "said forty dollars to be appropriated to the use of building a gaol in the town of Eaton; John Auckerman gave his bond to make good title to two out-lots containing two acres of land.

The first court of common pleas in the county of Preble was held August 23, 1808, at the house of Samuel Hawkins, in Eaton. The record shows that "the Honorable Francis Dunlavy was president judge of our said court, James I. Nesbit, John Maroney and John C. Irwin, esquires, associate judges." There were also present Alexander C. Lanier, clerk pro tem., and Samuel Mitchell, coroner and acting sheriff.

The first grand jury consisted of John Halderman, foreman, William Wilner, George Marfield, Simeon Van Winkle, Smith Charles, William Goodwin, James White, John Pottenger, Isaac Patton, John Ward, Hezekiah Hardesty, Hezekiah Phillips, Henry Kisling, William Sellers, Samuel Holliday. The grand jur‘y, after being sworn, retired, conducted by John Spacht, constable. The jury returned but two indictments ; one against "Mary Wallein, of Somers township, for retailing goods, wares and merchandise not the growth or manufacture of the United States," and the other against Philip Gemckle, of the county of Montgomery, for the same offense. Mary Wallein was fined six and one-fourth cents and the costs of the case, which she paid, and went her way. Gemckle proving that he had paid into the county treasury the sum of four dollars and twenty- five cents, being the sum which he ought to pay for the time which he sold goods within the county, was discharged.

The first civil suit brought was that of "James Denniston vs. Jacob Fudge, on a contested election for the office of sheriff.", The plaintiff being "cold," came not, and the cause was laid over "until to-morrow." On the next day, the plaintiff was "solemnly called," and not making his appearance, it was decided by the court that "the contest be dismissed at the plaintiff's cost, and that the sheriff-elect stand as sheriff, of course."

Several licenses were granted, at this and the succeeding term, to retail goods and wares not the growth or manufacture of the United States; and licenses were issued to James Sutton, David E. Hendricks, Samuel Hawkins and others, to sell spirituous liquors. All together, only about a dozen cases, civil and criminal, were brought before the court. The prosecutor was allowed ten dollars for his services.

The first mention which the records contain of a court house is found in the county commissioners' proceedings of March 4, 1812. It was then ordered that the following persons be appointed to receive subscriptions for the purpose of building a court house in the town of Eaton, to-wit: Abraham Miller, in Israel township; Paul Larsh, in Dixon township; James Ireland, in Jefferson township;. Alexander C. Lanier, in Washington township; Thomas Massie, in Somers township; Richard D. Hale, in Gratis township; Peter Harter, in Lanier township; Frederick Miller, in Twin township—who shall be allowed four per cent. on all moneys or property which may be subscribed on the books kept by them and actually paid. It was further ordered :

" That the court house to be built on the above subscription shall be allowed for the use of a mititary house for Christians of any denomination only when in public use as a court house. And unless there is four hundred dollars subscribed the subscriptions shall be nothing."

Specifications were made, and bids advertised for, for building a court house of wood, but after considerable agitation of the subject it was decided to erect a brick building, and of a size considerably larger than had originally been intended. The dimensions specified in December, 1814, were thirty by thirty feet; the building was to be two stories in height and to be completed by the December term, 1815. In August, 1815, the commissioners entered an order that the court house should be built upon lot marked "A," in the town plat; that the front should be twenty feet from the main street, and the west end twenty-five feet from the street running north and south. Still later it was decided that the building should be thirty-eight by thirty feet, and before the contract was finally let it was ordered that the structure should be forty feet square. It was not until March, 1816, that Andrew House entered into contract with William Bruce, Matthew Harbison, Robert. and John Harbison as his sureties, to build the first Preble county court house according to the specifications furnished. On December 4, 1816, the commissioners

having viewed the court house built by Andrew House, reported that they conceived it to have been built according to contract, and therefore received it on behalf of the county, and granted an order to the contractor for the sum of five hundred and thirty-two dollars and ninety-five cents. The building was not completed and fully furnished until 1819 or 1820.

It was only a few years after the court house was finished that it was found inadequate to the needs of the county, and from time to time additions were built or other provision made for securing extra room for the county offices.

July 15, 1848, the board of county commissioners— James Wilson, John Patterson, and Ebenezer Pinkerton —met for the purpose of receiving proposals for the building of a new court house, for which they had previously made specifications. The bids opened were as follows:

The commissioners, after some deliberation, awarded the contract for building to N. G. & S. H. Lockwood, and they entered into bond in the sum of twenty thousand dollars. It must not be understood that the court house was built for the sum stated as the bid of the Messrs. Lockwood—fourteen thousand four hundred and seventy-five dollars-various alterations, enlargements, and additions were ordered from time to time by the commissioners and their successors, and the building was finished at a total cost of about twenty-two thousand dollars, or about one-half more than the amount of the original bid and contract. The court house was accepted by the commissioners July 17, 1851, and settlement made in full with the builders. Although the contract originally called for the completion of the building by September, 1850, the increased work made it impossible to have the court house in readiness by that time. During the interval between the removal of the old building and finishing of the new, the Methodist Episcopal church was rented for the use of the court for the sum of eighty dollars per year, jury rooms being also furnished by the church society.

At a meeting of the commissioners on the twenty-fifth of June, 1808, it was ordered that the gaol for the county of Preble be built on the square given to the town of .Eaton by William Bruce, "for publick purposes," and known as lot "A," and on the southeast corner of said square, adjoining to the lot of Samuel Hawkins on the east, and the alley on the west. On the third of August specifications were decided upon by the commissioners, which, in brief, were as follows: "The house shall be built eighteen feet long, sixteen feet wide, and two stories high—the lower story shall be eight feet between floors, and the upper seven and one-half feet. The foundation shall be three feet, and of sufficient depth to bear the weight of the house ; the walls of the first story shall be two feet in thickness, and those of the second story eighteen inches in thickness, the whole to be of good stone laid in lime and sand or lime and soil. The first floor shall be of timber hewed twelve inches thick and squared at the sides and joined close together, to extend fifteen inches into the walls and to be made of good oak; the floor of the second story shall be of timber ten inches thick; the lower story shall be lined with hewed or sawed timber nine inches thick; there shall be one door in the lower story and one in the upper—the lower door shall be of two-inch thick plank and lined with the same." It was further specified that the windows should be barred with one inch square iron, and that suitable fastenings should be placed upon the doors, etc. The contract for erecting the jail here described was let to John Banfill in the sum of seven hundred and thirty- nine dollars. For the faithful performance of his work he entered into bond in the sum of one thousand four hundred and seventy-nine dollars, with Joseph C. Hawkins and Henry Whitesell as sureties. The jail was finished by the close of the year 1808.

July 29, 1820; the commissioners, in consequence of the jail having been destroyed by fire, ordered that a new jail be built. It was provided that the new building should be constructed of stone; should be thirty feet in length from east to west, twenty feet in width from north to south, and two stories in height. Samuel Ward became the undertaker, and agreed to build a jail according to specifications for the sum of eight hundred and forty dollars, and entered into bond for the faithful discharge of his duty with James Small and William M. Davison as his sureties.

July 30, 1822, the commissioners, after inspecting the jail, decided that Mr. Ward had not discharged his duty according to contract. It being left to referees to decide the merits of the question, the verdict of the commissioners was sustained, and they (the referees, Joseph Pagan and Joseph Wysong) reported that "Samuel Ward was entitled to receive the sum of two hundred dollars, which will comprise the whole amount to which he may be entitled for building the jail" This was, after cancelling the accounts, exhibited, for extra work. It was ordered by the commissioners that the jail be received, and that the foregoing payment be considered settlement in full.

In the summer of 1839, steps were taken towards the erection of a new jail, to be erected on the public square south of the public offices. The building which was of stone, two stories in height, and forty-six by twenty-six feet in dimensions, was built by Merkle S. Morton for the sum of six thousand four hundred and forty dollars. This building has been in constant use for jail purposes since its erection, and will doubtless remain for many years, as it answers all needs.

had in contemplation the project of improving the jail, by the substitution of new iron cells, etc., and also of building a sheriff's or jailor's residence; decided upon making the proposed improvement, on condition that the expense should not exceed ten thousand dollars. The county entered into contract with Merkle S. Morton and Earl B. Nourse, of Eaton, in the sum of eight thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars. Their work was completed in the following year.

The earliest mention of the matter of building a county poor-house or infirmary, appears in the commissioners' records for the March meeting, 1835. The entry states that "the commissioners, after various solicitations and applications from various parts of the county, urging the building of a poor-house, do agree to take some preparatory steps thereto, and therefore do order that the auditor publish and give notice to all concerned, that the commissioners have agreed that the public good requires the erection of a poor-house, and that the condition of that class of our unfortunate fellow-citizens would be improved if they had an asylum to which they might retreat wherein their misfortunes would be regularly attended to." The board further required the auditor to advertise for proposals for the purchase of a small farm for poor-house purposes.

December 8, 1835, the commissioners bought of George Lease the present infirmary farm (southwest quarter of section number twenty-seven, Washington township), for which they paid the sum of two thousand dollars. This piece of land was rented the first year to Nathaniel Wingate and Benjamin Lockwood, for the sum of one hundred and seventy-two dollars, and it was one of the provisions of the lease that the commissioners were to be allowed to begin building on said farm at any time they saw fit. At a special meeting of the board, held February 3, 1837, proposals for the erection of a poor-house previously advertised for, were handed in as follows:

Samuel Robertson presenting The lowest bid, the board agreed to enter into contract with him if he could enter into the proper security, but as he failed to do so, the job was set up at public auction on the same day. Joseph Wilson and David V. Stephens making the best bid, the job of building the infirmary was struck off to them at the sum of four thousand three hundred and thirty-nine dollars, and the said Wilson and Stephens entered into bond for the faithful performance of their work, in the sum of eight thousand six hundred and seventy-eight dollars. The specifications called for a brick building one story in height, with suitable arrangements and furnishings, and it was made a condition of the contract that the building should be finished by September, 1838. On the first of September, according to agreement, the building was completed and officially accepted by the commissioners. This building, with a second story added, is the one now in use as an infirmary.

As has been heretofore stated in this volume, the territory now constituting Preble county was, prior to its independent organization, included in Montgomery and Butler counties. Only a narrow strip belonged to Butler county and all of the remainder to Montgomery. It was organized into a township by the name of Hardin, and this great township gradually reduced in size by the establishment of others, existed for some time after the organization of Preble county. The whole of the first range was called Israel township, for a time after the county was organized, and the whole of the second range was at the same time called Somers township, while all of the the third range north of the present north line of Lanier township was called Twin, and that south of the line Hardin. The first changes in the lines were those which were made when the numerous townships of Washington and Jefferson were established, each of them sixteen miles long by six in width, and therefore containing ninety-six square miles of territory.

The following entries made in the commissioners' records May 7, 1809, and the first which appear, detail the boundaries:

Ordered, that Somers township, in this county, be divided as follows ; beginning at the northwest corner of the ninth township in the second range, running thence cast with the county line to the line dividing the second and third ranges, thence south sixteen miles to the fourth tier of sections in the seventh township of said range, thence west to the line dividing the first and second ranges, thence sixteen miles to the place of beginning, and the township contained within the foregoing bounds shall be called Washington, and the place of holding elections for said township of Washington shall be at the house of Samuel Hawkins, esq., in the town of Eaton.

Upon the same date as the above, and in similar manner the original township of Israel, including the present territory of Israel, Dixon, Jackson and Jefferson, was divided by a line running east and west, eight miles north of the southern county line. The township thus set off in the first range, sixteen miles long from north to south, was called Jefferson. It was ordered that elections should be held in this township at the house of John Marks.

It was ordered that the southern parts of the first and second ranges in Preble county, not included in the townships of Jefferson and Washington, should be called respectively Israel and Somers townships.

At the meeting of the commissioners on March 4, 1811, it was ordered that all of that portion of the third range comprised in the fifth township, as originally surveyed, be set off and organized as a new township. This township was named after Alexander C. Lanier.

On the same day, it was ordered that all that part of the third range being within the bounds of the fourth original surveyed township, be declared a new township, by the name of Gratis, and that an election be held therein at the house of Silas Gregg. The origin of the name of this township is thus accounted for.. The resi-

dents of the fourth original township, in the third range, it seems regarded Lanier township, as it stood in 1810, as too large for the convenience of the people. They had to go too far to the polls, and to transact their other business. Their petition was overruled, but resolving to make another attempt, they went personally before the county commissioners and argued in favor of the measure. Samuel Stubbs, the spokesman of the party, concluded his appeal by saying : "Now, friends, we think we are right in making this request, and we think we ought to have a township gratis." The clerk of the board, as the speaker finished, exclaimed: "Let him have it, and call it Gratis." The commissioners assenting, the township was established under that name.

At the annual meeting on the third of March, 1812, Jefferson township was divided by a line running east and west through the center of said township. The south end of the territory, thus divided, it was ordered should he known as Dixon township. The name was given in honor of Eli Dixon, one of the commissioners. It was further ordered that all that part of Israel township lying north of the southern line of the seventh township (original survey) be thrown into Dixon township.

It was ordered, June 5, 1815, that Somers township be curtailed within the bounds of the sixth surveyed township of the second range, and the balance of said township shall be added to Washington.

The same year as the above, it was ordered that Twin township be divided through the center with the line dividing the sixth .and seventh townships, the south township to be called Twin and the north Harrison.

December 18, 1816, it was ordered that the eighth township in the first range be incorporated into one entire township for county and other purposes, and that the same be known as Jackson township. The first election was held at the house of Adam Starr.

September 29, 1817, it was ordered that the ninth township in range second should be established as an entire election township, and known as Monroe. The first election was ordered to be held the second Tuesday in October following, at the house of Richard Shourd.

Washington township, at first sixteen miles in length, and afterwards increased to eighteen, was finally cut down to twelve by the organization, in 1817, of Monroe. Some time later than this (the records do not show just when), the inhabitants of the southern end of Washington township, thinking they had too far to go to the voting place (Eaton) petitioned the commissioners to create a new township. Their desires were not immediately gratified, but finally a pertinacious old German, named Gasper Potterf, succeeded in obtaining the necessary order from the commissioners. Twenty-four sections were dissevered from the south of Washington, and created into a separate township, with the name of Gasper, after the gratified German.

It is obvious that the townships of Jefferson, Jackson, Monroe, Washington, and Harrison were named after the Presidents. Lanier, Dixon and Gasper were named after citizens of the county, as has already been ex- plained; and the incident which gave Gratis its name has been related. It only remains to be said that Twin was so named from the creek which flows through it, and that Israel and Somers received their names in honor of two commodores of the United States navy.

THIS chapter includes the names of those men whom Preble county, from 1808 to 1880, has contributed to the civil service of the State, or elected to county offices. The list comprises the successions of State senators and representatives in the legislature, together with those from other counties in the same district with Preble, one judge of the supreme court or Ohio, common pleas, president, and associate judges, clerks, sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, probate judges, auditors, treasurers, recorders, county commissioners and coroners.

In a few instances the records are incomplete, and the bonds which would supply needed dates and names are missing. For a small number of names the historian has relied upon the memory of old residents who have been familiar with public affairs, but the greater part of the roster has been compiled through hard labor and diligent search of county records, and therefore the roster which we here present is, it is thought, almost exactly correct. If errors occur they are to be discovered only in the lists of minor officials.

In this list we have seen fit to insert not only the names of men elected to the State senate from Preble county, but those of other counties which have been associated with Preble in district affairs. The dates are those of the years when the elections were made.

1808, Daniel C. Cooper, of Montgomery; 1810, David Purviance, of Preble; 1816, Thomas W. Furnas, of Miami; 1820, William L. Henderson; 1821, Walter Buell (in place of Henderson, resigned); 1822, Thomas W. Furnas, of Miami; 1824, David F. Heaton, of Preble; 1826, John G. Jamison; 1828, David F. Heaton; 1832, John M. U. McNutt; 1834, James Steele, of Montgomery; 1836, Elijah Vance, of Butler; 1838, John Saylor, of Preble; 1840, Robert Hazletine, of Preble; 1844, James B. King, of Butler; 1848, George D. Hendricks of Preble; 1850, Moses B. Walker, of Montgomery; 1852, David A. Cox, of Preble; 1854, Henry Shidler, of Montgomery; 1856, Felix Marsh, of Preble; 1858, Henry Shidter, of Montgomery; 1860, Ftetcher F. Cuppy, of Montgomery; 1862, Lewis B. Gunckle, of Montgomery; 1866, A. S. Harris, of Preble; 1868, Jonathan Kenney, of Montgomery; 1870, Peter Odlin, of Montgomery; 1872, John D. Kemp, of Montgomery (seat contested by, and given to, James Sayler, of Preble); 1874, David B. Corwin, of Montgomery; 1876, Abner Haines, of Preble; 1878, George A. Grove, of Montgomery.

In this list are included some members of the legislature from other counties than Preble, counties which were in the same legislative district during early years. Montgomery and Preble formed a legislative district for quite a period, and afterwards Preble was connected with other counties. Where not otherwise indicated, the representative is from Preble county.

1808, Philip Guckle and Edmund Munger, both of Montgomery; 1809, Joseph H. Crane and David Purviance, Preble; 1810, George Newcomb and David Hoover, both of Montgomery; 1811, Abraham Edwards and George Newcomb, both of Montgomery; 1812, John Meroney; 1815, Joseph C. Hawkins; 1818, John Pinkerton; 1819, Cornelius Vanausdel; 1820, Daniel Saylor; 1822, John Pinkerton; 1823, Jesse Paramore; 1824, John M. Gray; 1826. David Purviance; 1827, David F. Heaton; 1828, John M. U. McNutt; 1830, Lazarus Milter; 1832, George D. Hendricks and Samuel Nixon; 1833, George D. Hendricks; 1834, John Taytor and Richard B. Payne; 1835 (extra session), same representatives; 1835 (regular session), John Saylor; 1836, John M. U. McNutt and John G. Jameson; 1837, John Quinn; 1838, George D. Hendricks; 1839, Lurton Dunham; 1840, Joseph S: Hawkins; 1842, Newton Larsh; 1843, Joseph S. Hawkins; 1844, David Barnett; 1845, Wiltiam Curry; 1846, L. W. Whitridge; 1847, Joseph S. Hawkins; 1848, Fetix Marsh; 1849, Joseph S. Hawkins; 1850, Beniah H. Alexander; 1854, Benjamin W. Hubbard; 1856, Hayden W. Dooley; x858, Martin F. Stephens; 1860, Jesse Stubbs; 1862, Absalom Stiver; 1864, Robert Miller; 1866, Philip Lybrook; 1868, James Sayler; 1872, Joseph Miller; 1874, Griffin H. Eidson; 1876, Albert J. Hawley; 1878, D. C. Stubbs.

1808, Francis Dunlavy, of Warren county; 1817, Joseph H. Crane, of Montgomery county; 1820, Joshua Collett, of Warren county; 1824, Joseph H. Crane, of Montgomery county; 1829, George B. Holt, of Montgomery county; 1836, William L. Halfenstein, of Montgomery county; 1843, George B. Holt, of Montgomery county; 1850, John Beers, of Darke county; 1851, Abner Haines, of Preble county; 1852, William A. Rogers, of Darke county; 1855, Robert B. Harlan, of Preble county; 1857, James Clark, of Butler county; ri857, William M. Wilson, of Darke county (appointed to fill the unexpired term of Abner Haines); 1858, William I. Gilmore, of Preble county; 1860, Alexander F. Hume, of Butler county; 1860, William White, of Butler county; 1864, David M. Meeker, of Darke county; 1866,. William J. Gilmore, of Preble county; 1866, William Allen, of Drake county ; 1867, John C. McKenny, of Darke county (to fill the unexpired term of Judge McKenny); 1873, David M. Meeker, of Darke county; 1875, Alexander F. Hume, of Butler county; -, H. Elliott, of Butler county; 1879, James A. Gilmore, of Preble county.

18o8, Jambs I. Nesbit, John Maronei, John C. Irwin; 1813, Abner Dooley, Alexander Mitchelt, James I. Nesbit; 1816, Jacob Romaine, Abner Dooley, James I. Nesbit; 1819, Peter Van Ausdel, James I. Nesbit, Jacob Romaine; 1822, Walter Buell, Henry Monfort, Peter Van Ausdel; 1829, Samuel Tizzard, James McClurg, Peter Van Ausdel; 1830, John Denney, James McClurg, Peter Van Ausdel; 1832, Henry Monfort, John Denney; Peter Van Ausdel; 1833, John Acton, John Denney, Henry Monfort; 1834 George Taylor, John Acton, Henry Monfort; 1835; Robert Martin, John Acton, Henry Monfort; 1838, William Curry, Robert Martin, John Acton; 1840, Peter Shindle, Robert Martin, William Curry; 1844, Samuel Robertson, Robert Martin, Peter Shidler; 1845, William Hall, Robert Martin, Peter Shidler; 1846, James Gardner, William Hall, Peter Shidler; 1847, Benjamin Neat, James Gardner, William Hall.

1808, Joshua Collett; 1818, David F. Heaton; 1828, John M. U. McNutt; 1833, Solomon Banta; 1834, John C. McManus; 1837, Felix Magsh; 1838, Solomon Banta; 1843, Felix Marsh; 1846, George W. Thompson; 1850, Marcus B. Chadwick; 1852, William J. Gilmore; 1854, Marcus B. Chadwick; 1856, Robert Miller; 1862, L. C. Abbott; 1866, John W. King; 1870, I. E. Freeman; 1872, John V. Campbell;, 1874, I. E. Freeman; 1876, Winfield Freeman (W. Freeman resigned and I. E. Freeman filled the unexpired term); 1878, I. E. Freeman (elected), present incumbent.

1808, Jacob Fudge (commission issued by Governor Samuel Huntington in October, 1808):. 1810, Jacob Fudge; 1812, Paul Larsh; 1814, Samuel Ward; 1818, Paul Larsh; 1822, John J. Hawkins; 1826, John L. Dickey; 1830, John P. Wilson; 1832, John Quinn; 1836, John L. Dickey; 1840, George D. Hendricks; 1844, Lot Lee; 1848, James Samson; 1852, John DeGroot; 1856, William Boner; 1860, John R. McCleaf; 1864, Moses Nelson; 1868, John H. Bostwick; 1872, John Townsend; 1876, William H. Snyder.

1808, Alexander C. Lanier; 1816, Walter Buell; 1819, Joseph C. Hawkins; 1833, F. A. Cunningham; 1846, R. S. Cunningham; 1852, Lewis B. Ogden; 1858, C. W. Lamb; 1864; Hiram Shank; 1870, D. B. Morrow; 1873, W. D. Quinn; 1879, John Townsend.

1852, John V. Campbetl; 1858, Ceorge W. Gans; 1864, George W. Thompson; 1870, Jehu W. King; 1876, A. L. Harris.

1820, John N. Gray; 1822, John G. Jamison; 1826, Lazarus Miller; 1830, George D. Hendricks; 1832, Lazarus Mitler; 1840, Hiram Jones; 1842, John R. Stephen; 1850, James Gilmore; 1852, James Albert; 1860, Thomas J. Larsh; 1866, Jarvis N. Lake; 1871, William I. Barnhiser; 1875, Samuel Oldfather.

1808, Alexander C. Lanier; 1818, Isaac Stephens, Hiram Jones; 1841, Isaac Stephens; 1844, Hiram Jones, William G. Banfill; 1850; George Washington Sloan; 1853, Isaac Stephens; 1856, William G. Banfill; 1862, William H. Lough; 1875, Isaac Sriver; 1877, Hiram L. Robins.

1809, William Bruce; 1818, Alexander Mitchell; 1820, Sameul Ward; 1821, Alexander Mitchell; 1845 James Lamson; 1847, John Marsh; 1853, John R. Stephens; 1858, Joseph Brower; 1861, M. F. Stevens; 1865.. Robert Williams, jr.; 1869, A. E. Hubbard (appointed); 1870, E. B. Ebersole; 1872, Franklin W. Whitesides; 1876, S. S. Dix; 1880, D. W. Cooper.

1808, George Shidler, William R. Irwin, Samuel Hawkins ; 1808, (regular election) Alexander Pugh, John Halderman. William R. 1rwin; 1809, Eli Dixon, Alexander Pugh, John Halderman; 1811, James Ireland, Eli Dixon, John Harderman; 1812, same; 1813, John Spacht, Eli Dixon, James Ireland; 1814, James Crawford, John Spacht, Andrew McQuiston; 1816, Frederick Millet, James Crawford, Andrew McQuiston; 1817, Henry Monfort, Frederick Miller, James Crawford; 1818, Jesse Swisher, Henry Monfort, Frederick Miller; 1819, James Crawford, Isaac Stephens, Henry Monfort; 1820, Walter Buell, James Crawford, Isaac Stephens; 1824 William Campbell, Peter Banta, Isaac Stephens; 1822, James Crawford, William Campbell, Peter Banta; 1823, same board; 1824 John Acton, William Campbell, James Crawford; 1825, same board; 1826, same ;Nerd; 1827, same board; 1828, Stephen Long, William Campbell, Richard B. Paine; 1829, William Kendrick, Richard B. Paine, Stephen Low; 1830, Peter Banta, William Kendrick, Stephen Long; 1831, same board; 1832, Thomas Morgan, Stephen Long, Peter Banta; 1833 William Hall, Thomas Miller, Stephen Long; 1834, Matthew McWhinney, elected in place of Stephen Long, at special election. Board consisted of Whinney, William Hall, and Thomas Morgan; 1834 (regular election), Peter Banta elected and served with Thomas Morgan and William Hall; 1835, J. F. Iretand, Peter Banta, William Hall; 1836, James Wilson, D. Barnett, J. F. Ireland; 1837, Peter Stridler, James Wilson, J. F. Ireland; 1838, same board; 1839, same board for part of term, James Gardner, appointed in place of Peter Stridler; 1840, Jacob F. Miller, J. F. Ireland, James Wilson; 1841, same board; 1842, same board; 1843, same board; 1844, same board; 1845, same board; 1846, John Patterson, James Wilson, J. F. Ireland; 1847, Ebenezer Pinkerton, John Patterson, James Wilson; 1848, John Mumma, John Patterson, Ebenezer Pinkerton; 1849, Isaac C. Raitsbach, James Elliott, John Mumma; 1850, same board; 1851, Henry Harter, Isaac C. Raitsbach, James Elliott; 1852, same board; 1853, Moses D. Harris, Isaac C. Raitsbach, Henry Harter; 1854, Absalom Stiver, Moses

D. Harris, Isaac C. Raitsbach; 1855, Jonathan Davidson, Absalom Stiver, Moses D. Harris; 1856, Wiltiam Berry, Absalom Stiver, Jonathan Davidson; 1857, Nathaniel Benjamin, William Berry, Jonathan Davidson; 1858, same board; 1859, Patrick McGraw, Nathaniel Benjamin, Jonathan Davidson; 1860, William H. Smith, Patrick McGraw, Jonathan Davidson; 1861, William Risinger, Patrick McGraw, William H. Smith; 1862, Philip Sybrook, William Risinger, William H. Smith; 1863, Benjamin Deardorff, Philip Sybrook, William Risviger; 1864, same board; 1865, William C. Mills, Benjamin Deardorff, William Risinger; 1866, George Brower, William C. Mills, William Risinger; 1867, same board; 1868, same board; 1869, David G. Prugh, William C. Mills, William Risinger; 1870, Samuel Coovert, Daniel G. Prugh, William C. Mills; 1871, Eli Conger, Samuel Coovert, Daniel G. Prugh, 1872, same board; 1873, Jehu B. Campbell, Daniel G. Prugh, Eli Conger; 1874, same board; 1875, Joseph Mills, John B. Campbell, . Eli Conger; 1876, same board; 1877, D. W. Harshman, Joseph Mills, Jehu B. Campbell; 1878, same board; 1879, Howard Young, D. W. Harshman, Joseph Mills.

1808, Samuel Mitchell (by commission signed by Thomas Kirker, acting governor); 1816, William Brown; 1817, Peter Fleming; 1818, Henry Bresto; -, Henry Monfort; 1823, John Alcorn; 1834, Jonas Albright; 1836, Elias Herdman; 1854, Henry M. Eidson; 1856, Oliver Cleveland; 1858, Isaac L. Johnson; 1862, Benjamin Stover; 1864, Leven T. McCabe; 1867, Joseph H. Quinn; 1874, John H. Bruce; 1876, Warren M. Campbell; 1878, A. H. Stephens.

THE following shows Preble county's official vote from the year r8o8, when the county was established, to and including the year 5879. Except when otherwise indicated the vote is that cast for governor:

PREBLE county was well represented in the war of 1812, but as the records have been kept very loosely, it is impossible to" give the names of all the Preble men who served ``a tour of duty." A portion of those given (Captain Sloane's company) were obtained from the adjutant general's office at Columbus, and the companies of James I. Nesbit and Lieutenant Fleming from an old record. book in the possession of T. J. Larsh, esq. Beside the roster given, there were full companies or companies made up in part of Preble men, under the command of John. Fleming, Joseph C. Hawkins, David. E. Hendricks, Lieutenant Black and Captains Ramsey, Rex and Phillips.

"Captain James I. Nesbit, of New Lexington, built a stockade fort seven miles north of New Paris, and was stationed at that place with a small detachment of Preble drafted men, and upon the siege of Fort Wigs, was ordered to that locality. This left the Settlements at Eaton and about. New. Paris and Richmond, Indiana, exposed to Indian depredations from the northwest. The settlers, as a means 'of safety, built block-houses in many. places. One of them was upon the Brookville road south of Robert Miller's residence, then owned by John Hopkins,

“On Sunday, when many of the settlers had assembled for divine worship, and after the close of a very impressive service, one of the elders proposed to raise a volunteer corps (to be composed of men who were exempt from the draft because of their age), to guard the frontier against the mauranding bands of savages who had recently killed one man on Whitewater, and two men on Twin creek.

"The proposition met with general approval, and about twenty men volunteered. John Goldsmith was first on the tist, and then came Silas Dooley, sr., Moses Dootey, sr., James Crawford, Ellhu Hopkins, William Sellers, Elder George Shidler; John Garter.

"Rev, George Shidler was elected captain, and Moses, Dooley, lieutenant. They garrisoned Fort Nesbit until relieved by Captain Richard Sloan, of Israel township. Lieutenant Black was stationed at Fort Black with one half of Captain Sloan's company."

List of officers and. men called out or the Third regiment of the Fifth brigade of the First division of Ohio militia, agreeable to general orders bearing date the fourteenth of. April, 1812, as returned by Samuel Ward, adjutant:

Henry Banta, Tobias Clapp, Wittiam Hendricks, Walter Goodner, Alexander McNutt, Daniel Lease, Phittip Brett, James McDawee, Baltzer Snyder, Elijah Spencer, Adam Reed, Parson Purviance, Alexander Penton, Jacob Keslon, Levi Gard, William Bishop, Samuel Kercheval, John Kercheval, William Nelson, Smith Charles, Samuel Williams, John McDonald, Charles Demoss, Silas Davis, Jacob Reims, Isaac Harter, Robert Douglass, Daniel Wennoc, John Bell, David Stephens, Abner Dooley, David Brower, Elijah Harshman, Jesse Moore, George. Vance, Christian Saylor, Elisha Davis, James Shannon, Daniel Vanwinkle, Jephtha West, Enos Purse, Mitchel Fleming, Thomas W. Porterfield, Paul Beard, Samuel Case, Robert Gamble, Stephen Rhea.

James Somers, John Somers, Israel Hewit, John Hudlon, William Trollinger, Charles Johnston, Moses Evans, Thomas Smith, Herekiah Powell, Thomas Childre, William Swisher, George Kelley, Daniel Nolling, Christian Halderman, Samuel Caster, Jacob Kinger, William Hold, Abraham Hapner, Levi Purviance, Michael Crowl, Robert McCormack, John. Bridge, Stephen Macey, Jephtha York, Abraham Irvin, John. Douglas, Richard Williams, John Leadwell, John Bishop, John Allen, Thomas Lewellen, Phillip Lewellen.

Upon the outbreak of the war of 1812 Governor Meigs called out the First division of Ohio militia, the response from which, and from other volunteers, was prompt and decided. Several companies in this command were from Preble county, wholly or in part. We present below as many of their rolls as we have been able to procure from the office of the adjutant general of the State and from private sources. The only roll of Preble county men found in the very meagre records of the State office relating to the war of 1812 is that of Captain Sloane's company of Ohio militia, attached to the — battalion, Third regiment, Fifth brigade, First division of Ohio, ordered into the service of the United States for the protection of their frontiers, October 8, 1812, and stationed at Fort Nesbit, under command of Major General. Adams." The expiration of pay upon these rolls is noted at January 7, 1813, four months after the term of enlistment began. The roster is as follows:

Samuel Bloomfield, Jacob Loy, jr., John Benfield, John Ozer, James Small, Andrew Surface, Jacob Shidler, Nathaniel Bloomfield, Samuel Smith, Littleberry Blackley, John Bloomfield, Samuel Bennett, Jacob Shanks, Joseph Singer, John Hutt, James Abbott, James Farris, David Farris, Nathan Ramsey, Andrew Morton, James McGaw, Thomas Hill, John Wotfe, James Moses, Robert Sanders, Benjamin Harris, Asabel Woodward, Eli Woodward, John Reiley, James Sutton, William Mings, Jolin Payton, James Cott, Lemuel Hopkins, Robert Sprawl, Joseph Hawkins, Joshua Cloyd, Enoch Banfield, David Stephens, James Abshire, William Highland, John McNilt, Adam Hallowill, John Menia, Andrew Stone, George Strander. James Killough, Samuel Hamilton, John Harris, James Swaney, George Thompson, Samuel Huston, James Murphy, William Right, William Allen, Levan Right, William Hayre, William Phillips, William Hendricks, Thomas Foster, Joseph Work, David Lyons, Christian Shoemaker.

[THE following rosters of companies and parts of companies enlisted from Preble county in the late war, are copied from the records and rolls in the office of the adjutant general of the State, where every courtesy to this end has been extended by the officers in charge. The records of military service of the State contingents in the various wars of our country are, however, notoriously imperfect, especially in the cases of men in the three months' service, and in the Mexican war, and the war of 1812. Indeed, in the last few instances, the copyist has been unable, from the few rolls on file, to identify a single soldier as a representative of Preble county. And in the immense mass of rolls containing the lists of the late war, it often happens that no means of satisfactorily locating a soldier, or even a company, presents itself. An entire regiment, representing, perhaps, fifty localities, may appear as enrolled at Camp Dennison, Camp Chase, or other place of rendezvous and organization, without any indication upon the rolls, or elsewhere in the office, of the places or counties to which the men should be credited. Even the excellent work of Mr. Whitelaw Reid, "Ohio in the War,"-to which we acknowledge indebtedness for the material of the regimental histories following, is sadly deficient in this particular. Furthermore, it sometimes occurs that names belonging to the State are duplicated in the rolls; so, "Camden," for example, may mean Camden township, Lorain county, and not Camden village in Preble. A man may thus appear upon the Preble county roll of honor, who really belongs to Lorain; or a Preble man may not appear at all, because his enrollment at "Camden" appears in a position with other Lorain county names, and is presumed to belong to that county. If any names therefore are omitted from this chapter which should appear in it, these facts may account for the omission, as also if any appear in the list which should not be there. The spelling of the rolls—which are sometimes strangely inconsistent with themselves—has been followed in the rosters, and upon it must be laid, in any case, the attainment of that peculiar sort of fame which Byron mentions as "having your name spelt wrong in the Gazette." An earnest effort has been made to present a full and accurate record—an effort which it is believed has been measurably successful. When not otherwise specified, it will always be understood that the service was for three years, or during the war.]

The Twentieth Ohio was organized in May, 1861, for the three months' service. Captain-John C. Fry, with his company joining the three years' organization, was made colonel of the regiment in January, 1864. At the time of its re-organization for three years, Colonel Charles Whittlesey of Northern Ohio was put in command. A graduate of West Point, eminent as engineer and geologist, he could well carry forward the defenses of Cincinnati begun by General O. M. Mitchel, and then in progress. During the winter of 1861-2 batteries were guarded in the rear of Covington and Newport, and in February of that year the regiment, with the exception of company. K, embarked for the Cumberland river. At Fort Donelson, on the evening of February 14th the Twentieth had its first experience of battle. It was placed in reserve at the extreme right, and, after the surrender of the fort, being sent north with prisoners, was scattered all over the land. By the middle of March seven companies had come together, and early in April, at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, the regiment had its share in the loss of members, and no less in the glory of the victory that closed the day. Lieutenant Colonel Force commanded during the engagement, Colonel Whittlesey being at the head of the brigade. On the sixth of June, 1862, the regiment became a part of the garrison at Bolivar. . August Both the rebel General Armstrong was held in check with such success that Colonel Force, Major Fry, Captain Kaga, Adjutant Owen, Lieutenants Ayers, Hills and Millick, of the Twentieth, were mentioned with especial honor in Colonel Leggett's official report. Having assisted in driving Price from Iuka, the regiment, now a part of Logan's division, marched southward till the capture of Holly Springs, when, facing about, by. slow steps January 28th it received a reinforcement, at Memphis, of two hundred men. In February the regiment went to the relief of Porter's fleet, blockaded in Steele's bayou. In May, moving in advance of the Seventeenth corps as it approached Raymond, Mississippi, a loss was sustained of twelve killed and fifty-two wounded. In January, 1864, two- thirds of the men present re-enlisted and joined the cele-

brated Meridian expedition. In the spring the regiment went north on veteran furlough, and after thirty days at their homes, rendezvoused at Camp Dennison. In July, before Atlanta, the Twentieth lost forty-four killed, fifty-six wounded, and fifty-four missing. During the engagement instances of personal daring were numberless, and not a few have been recorded as worthy of especial distinction. On the thirty-first of August followed the battle of Jonesborough, and October 5th began the pursuit of Hood. The middle of November saw the regiment with Sherman's army en route for Savannah. Doing some excellent work at Beaufort, South Carolina, the Twentieth remained in camp until the thirtieth of January, when it started on the Carolina campaign, which ended in Johnston's surrender. Leaving Raleigh May 1st, the joyful men marched to Washington by way of Richmond, were at the grand review of the twenty-fourth of May, and on the twenty-fourth of July arrived in Columbus, where they were mustered out of service.

The following named Preble county boys in company B, were mostly or all of them students at Miami university, Oxford, at the outbreak of the war, and joined a company raised at once from the classes of that school, commanded by Captain Ozri Jamison Dodds, then a student at the university from Cincinnati.

Thomas J. Brown, Jacob P. Bohm, Christian H. Cook, Rich. Foinshall, Harvey Harris, Dillon H. James, John W. Neff, Henry Neff, Eli A. Patty, Francis L. Raikes, Robert Williams.

William Alexander, Joseph P. Acton, Franklin Adams, Balentine D. Carl, Michael Bartley, John Baxter, Henry Becker, Lewis Becker, Benjamin Beeson, George H. Bennett, Philip Bladener, Amos Bodley, William H. Brennan, Thomas Brennan, John Brennan, Henry Bechtel, Samuel B. Campbell, John W. Christman, Elias Clear, John W. Costingham, Joseph B. Crubaugh, John M. Davis, Martin Davis, Clay I. Day, Henry Davinney, E. P. DeCamp, W. H. DeGroot, Anderson A. Dinkins, Thomas Doherty, D. C. Donallan, Peter S. Eikenberry, Joseph D. Emory, Joseph Englehart, William H. Espich, William H. Focht, R. V. Freeman, John Gassett, John G. Grace, Adam Green, Lewis E. Grupe, James R. Hamilton, James Harbaugh, Hugh H. Harper, James W. Henkle, James A. Huganin, Clayton C. Johnson, R. I. Johnson, Foster Kelly, Henry H. Kline, John Mayer, Ephraim Mikesell, Albert Mills, William M. Morrow, Thomas Mulharen, I. McChristie, M. C. McMakin, Joel Nation, Thomas A. Nation, Wilbur C. Nelson, Thomas A. Pollock, John H. Poyner, Wiltiam B. Pryor, Hiram Rathbun, Daniel W. Ridenour, James Russell, Andrew J. Saylor, David A. Saylor, Wittiam H. Seibert, Witliam Shiers, Samuel Sixsmith, Walter Smiley, Charles W. Smith, Joseph S. H. Smith, Oscar M. Thayer, Lewis Thompson, Richard C. Truitt, Christian Uhlman, Charles I. Vanausdal, John Wilkins, Joseph Wright, Adam Zeek.

Marcus Austin, Isaiah Adams, John W. Anderson, W. H. Benson, John W. Burns, S. D. Brawly, Leander Buman, P. H. Bowman, Archie Bell, W. A. Bromes, James Benner, John Caughy, William F. Davis, J. W. Dinkins, Thomas C. Douglas, Theodore Edmunds, Samuel Foster, Leopold Faulchafer, J. H. Fluhart. Walter C. Fleming, David Guthrie, Henry Gardner, Thomas Harvey, Nanim Hodge, J. N. Hunter, J. M. Irwin, D. P. Ireland, O. E. Jones, Jerome Jorden, W. H. Kirkpatrick, S. K. Kessler, Samuel King, Joshua Kaulsimer, Adam Lonk, David Lonk, Joseph Larison, John Miller, William Myers, W. A. Morrison, T. J. McKee, Westley McWhiney, William McWhinny F. H. Marsall, James McClafterly, Amos Mills, John A. Miller, Adam Neff, James Ogden, C. H. Potterf, Alfred Robinson, William P. Reed, Henry Ray, Adam Rantsaw; J. N. Shelly, E. T. Snider, William Shewman, Martin Shewman, William Samuels, S. T. Steppy, L. P. Thompson, C. H. Thompson, Jasper Thompson, Thomas Todd, W. H. Turner, S. A. Wrinkle, Benjamin Warner, William Winson, Albert Williams, David Weisick, W. D. Thompson, Charles O. Teas, Thomas Zeph.

Many of the Preble county volunteers in these companies enlisted in the Twenty-second regiment, for the three years' service.

This regiment was one of the offshoots of the appointment of Major-General John C Fremont to the command of the western department. Although its ranks were mainly from the Buckeye State, and officered by Ohio men, its place of organization near St. Louis and Missouri gave it for a time the name of " Missouri Thirteenth." On the twenty-sixth of January, 1863, the regiment received orders to proceed to Cairo, Illinois, and there report to Brigadier General Grant. On its arrival, it was first ordered to Smithland, Kentucky, then. toward Fort Henry, from which point an immediate return was ordered. This lengthy march was the regiment's first experience in field service, and, owing to a sudden change of weather from summer to winter, the initiation was very severe. The regiment took its first taste of warfare before Fort Donelson, but the surrender of that work occurred without its having any decisive part to perform. Its first action of any account was at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing. During the two days' fight, the regiment lost, in killed and wounded, eighty-nine officers and men. The brave Lieutenant Colonel St. James fell the first day. Captain Wright was afterward promoted to fill his place, and Capoin Wood to the place of Major C. W. Anderson, resigned. Surgeon

Bell had resigned, and his place was filled by Dr. Henry E. Foote, of Cincinnati.

On July 7, 1862, the Secretary of War issued an order transferring this regiment to the State of Ohio, where it properly belonged, to be named the "Twenty-second." The resignation of both superior officers left the regiment, on the sixteenth of September, under the command of Major Wood. While at Trenton, Tennessee, a detachment was successful in capturing the notorious guerrilla chief, Colonel Dawson, who afterward died in the State penitentiary at Alton, Illinois. Following this, we hear of the Twenty-second at Jackson, Corinth, Memphis, Haine's Bluff', Helena, and finally at Little Rock. In February, 1864, one hundred and five officers and men re-enlisted as veterans, and the regiment received eighty-one recruits.

October 26, 1864, orders were received that the regiment should report at Camp Dennison, Ohio, to be mustered out of service. This was completed on the eighteenth of November, after a faithful service of a few days beyond three years.

William H. Akill, Jacob Akill, William Alexander, Henry C. Azdelott, Franklin Adams, Benjamin Beeson, Aaron Brower, James Brannan, George Bennett, John Bloom, Whitfield M. Button, Thomas M. Button, Henry Bechtol, William H. Bailey, Amos Bodley, Samuel F. Blythe, Thomas Doherty, Thomas L. Donnallon, David C. Donnallon, William Elliott, Charles Evans, Theodore E. Edmunds, Jerome Frazier, Adams Green, Richard S. Holt, John S. Hawkins, Henry Hubbard, Amos Hubbard, Hugh H. Harper, Peter Jones, Samuel Johnson, Charles Kaner, Lewis Kean, John Loots, John Longnecker, William Longnecker, Lewis Mitchell James Mitchell, Thomas H. Marshall, Ephraim Mikesell, James McCafferty, William Myers, Calvin M. Hotter, Patterson Mehaffie, William K. Nace, William Norwood. Francis Nagle, Clinton C. Nelson, Miller C. Nelson, George D. H. Preble, William Price, Thomas A. Pollock, Daniel W. Ridenour (became sergeant-major of the regiment, and after wards second lieutenant), Francis C. Ryan, Joseph Stirling, Abraham L. Scott, Joseph M. Smith, Archibald Smith, William H. H. Saylor, David W. Saylor, John W. Saylor, Jacob Saylor, William M. Swain, Francis M. Truax, John H. Truax, Daniel W. Trussler, Samuel Upham, Charles). Vanausdal, Lucian B. Vanausdal, Samuel Witt, Joseph Wisemiller, William Wilson, Samuel L Johnston, Peter Jones, William F. Swain.

The Thirty-fifth Ohio was organized at Hamilton in August and September of 1861. Its members were mainly young and intelligent men. At the beginning it numbered, all told, less than nine hundred men. The Thirty-fifth participated in some of the skirmishes during the siege of Corinth, and was among the first to enter the works at that place. Shortly after commenced the race between Buell and Bragg, the goal being Louisville. In the movement on Bragg, the fight at Perryville, and the pursuit to Crab Orchard, they bore an honorable part. All through the campaign which began at Murfreesborough and closed at Chattanooga, this regiment was in the front of the marching and fighting. In July of 1863, Major Boynton was promoted to fill the place of colonel, left vacant by resignation, and from this time the regiment was under Colonel Boynton's command when he was able for duty. In the two days' fight at Chickamauga, the Thirty-fifth lost just fifty per cent. of those engaged. Scarcely one was taken by the enemy-they were killed or wounded. Colonel Boynton was conspicuous during the whole fight for his gallantry and skill, and the regiment was highly commended in the reports of that action. During the autumn of 1863, the Thirty-fifth lay with other regiments at Chattanooga and engaged in frequent skirmishes before that place. They were on the front line at Mission Ridge. In February, 1864, this regiment was in the first battle of the Atlanta campaign, at Buzzard's Roost. It was with Sherman from the initiation of his Atlanta campaign till the expiration of its term of service, while lying before Atlanta. They were engaged at Dalton, Resaca, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw, Peachtree Creek, and in several other of the fights of that bloody contest. The mustering out occurred in August, 1864, at Chattanooga. During the three years of service, its gallant men could say that they had never been driven from a field.

Marcus M. Austin, Philip Bladner, Volney M. Braffett, William Bowles, Martin L. Bowner, Joseph M. Brown, Reuben Bridge, Daniel I. Beaver, John Caughey, George Clatterbuck, Crittenden A. Cox, John W. Cottingham, Levi Craine, Asbury Dinkins, Uriah Bowler, Frederick Ewalt, David Everts, Watter C. Fleming, John Evans, Donnell C. Folkner, Isaac L. Fisher, James K. P. Garver, Henry Gardner, Charles C. Gavin, Hiram B. Hyde, Francis M. Hyde, Thomas F. Harriman, David Jackson, William D. Jones, Polk King, Benjamin F. Kemp, Tunis W. Kettle, Joseph Larrison, Thompson Light, William McLaughlin, John Miller, John A. Mitter, Isaac McDivitt, Wiltiam Morrow, Samuel D. Macky, William A. Marshall, William A. Morrison, William B. Miksell, David A. Miksell, David McFadden, David P. Ogden, Benjamin F. Pippin, John W. Porterfield, Frederick W. G. Ridgely, Frederick Rosenbush, Levi A. Sliver,Isaac Shumaker, William Shumaker, Solomon A. Spellman, William Shires, Isaiah Surface, James Shumaker, George M. Showalter, John H. Spiles, Andrew J. Slakebake, Henry H. Slakebake, John Sindall, Samuel Sands, Henry Shields, Jesse Thompson, Charles H. Thompson, Isaiah Tracey, Moses Thompson, Benjamin Warner, John Wilt, William S. Ware, William Wilson, Moses I. Whetzel, John A. Wheaker, Daniel Venetia.—Wagoner, Albert Ince.

Joseph Durkell, Joshua Davis, Martin Dayhoff, Witliam R. Flack, Samuel Grosch, Christ Gugel, Harry Howell, Charles M. Kissinger, Albert Lane, Christ R. Moser, William Mudford, Levi Noll, Calvin I. Schmutz, George Schadwick, Louis P. Snyder, Christ Sherer, William McKean, Isaac Andrew, Lewis A. Byers, John Foster, David Hegel, William H. Watts, John Dorse, Joseph Ray, Emberson McGriff, Jerome B. Jessup, David D. Samsell, Charles S. Weston, William 0. Creager, Charles Dexter, John B. Focht, Charles Krebs, John I. Mikesell, Francis Quin, Newton Thompson, Thomas C. Sheldon, Elias Barbe, John H. Bowman, Christ Ayer, Benjamin Anderson, John Albright, John Beng, Martin Betts, George Bate, John A. Berry, James Caughill, Daniel Cooper, Hezekiah Campbell, Peter H. Capp, John M. Davis, Wiltiam Darrah, John Rutter, Goolely Fort, John Flanegan, Joseph Fitch, Matthew Fitch, Chas. Fitch, David Hanes, George Henis, Andrew J. Hatl, Franklin Kinler, Joseph Robinson, Thomas St. John, Martin Soam, Isaac A. Shaffer, Henry S. Snivety, William C. Smith, George H. Shearer.

This regiment was one of the first supplied by the Buckeye State. Its organization was completed at Camp Dennison, August 13, 1861. Thirteen nationalities were represented in it, and Frederick Poschner, jr., a native of Hungary, formerly an officer in the Prussian army, was elected its colonel. General Rosecrans was commanding in West Virginia then, and the Forty-seventh was here made ready for war. September 24, the brigade advanced on Big Sewell mountain, encamping on an opposite peak to the rebel fortifications. While here the soldiers suffered almost beyond description. The heavy and continuous rains swept away bridges and rendered roads impassable, so that the supplies were nearly all cut off. On quarter rations, without clothes and tents, their earlier experiences of warfare were painful in the extreme. On the thirtieth of December, 1862, the regiment embarked on steamers for Louisville and Memphis. Here they became a part of the expedition against Vicksburgh. In the march that ended at Walnut Hills, behind Vicksburgh, May 18, 1863, many prisoners were captured from General Loring's forces. On the nineteenth and again on the twenty-second, Colonel Perry led an impetuous assault on Cemetery Hill. Each time he gained a footing close under the works, and held it for a time. The loss, however, was severe. Soon after the Forty-seventh was dispatched after Johnston's forces. It had a part in the attack and capture of Jackson. Colonel A. C. Perry was made provost marshal, and his regiment destroyed the rebel fortifications and the railroad track about the city. Afterward we hear of it honorably, in Vicksburgh, Memphis, Germantown, Corinth, Iuka, and Tuscumbia.

October 21, 1863, the regiment arrived opposite Chattanooga, and three days after the whole army advanced and opened the battle of Chickamauga. Following this battle the Forty-seventh was made a part of the force sent to General Burnside's relief at Knoxville, and on January 30, 1864, joined an expedition against Rome, Georgia. March sixth of the same year, three-fourths of the men re-enlisted, and on the twenty-fifth of April, after a month's furlough, they re-assembled, to a man, at Camp Dennison, and on the third of the following month were again in the army at Stevenson, Alabama. In the Atlanta campaign that followed, this regiment bore no inferior part. November 15th saw them off with Sherman's army in its memorable "march to the sea." On Monday, December i3th, the assault on Fort McAllister was made, the Forty-seventh in the advance. At the successful issue, it was found that the colors of this regiment were the first planted upon the fort. On Christmas, Savannah was occupied. Shortly after followed a march through the rebel capital to Washington, which ended in a participation in the grand review.

When the Forty-seventh entered the field, it numbered eight hundred and thirty men; at the end of the Atlanta campaign only one hundred and twenty remained. It was subsequently reinforced by four hundred drafted men and substitutes. It served as a part of the "army of occupation" till August 24th, when the men were paid off and discharged, having served four years two months and nine days, and in all the slave States except Texas, Florida and Missouri.

John H. Bistick, James L. Brown, William J. Brown, Joseph Bedell, Jacob Ballinger, William M. Bushman, Thomas M. Cook, John Cook, Asa Cook, Samuel F. Goldsmith, Elias Dinkelbeyer, William A. Douglas, Stephen Fay, William Fleming, Benjamin F. Graham, John Gorden, William R. Hamilton, Jerome Hill, John Hoffman, William Highland, James Marshall, Philander McQuiston, Samuel McCracken, James McClanahan, James C. Magee, William J. McBurney, Theopholus M. Magaw, Wiltiam M. Miner, John C. McQuiston, Andrew J. Parker, James B. Porter, Robert Potts, Joseph Ramsey, Andrew B. Park, James B. Ramsey, William H. Smith, George S. Sayres, Isaac U. Sliver, Augustus I. Troth, Solomon C. Wilson, Jonathan P. Weed.

This regiment was organized at Camp Dennison, and mustered into the service August 27, 1862. It num-

bered an aggregate of nine hundred and sixty-four men, gathered from the State at large. The Fiftieth was assigned to the Thirty-fourth brigade, Tenth division, McCook's corps. On the first of October it moved out of Louisville, and on the eighth went into the battle of Perryville. In this engagement a loss was sustained of two officers killed and one mortally wounded, and one hundred and sixty-two men killed and wounded.

During the army's advance on Nashville, the regiment was at Lebanon—then the base of supplies. We afterwards hear of it in pursuit of John Morgan, and still farther, in the building of Forts Boyle, Sands, and McAllister. On Christmas day, 1863, it was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee. The route lay eastward to Somerset, Kentucky, and thence southward, crossing the Cumberland river at Point Isabelle. On the first day of the year 1864, movement began across the mountains. In the severest winter weather, the men dragged the artillery and wagons over the mountains by hand, slept on the frozen ground in rain and snow without shelter, and subsisted on parched corn. Soon atter arriving at Knoxville, it received orders to join General Sherman's army at Kingston, Georgia.

From the twenty-sixth of May until after the siege of Atlanta, the regiment was almost constantly in line of battle. It shared in all the movements of the campaign, and participated in the actions at Pumpkinvine Creek, Dallas, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Culp's Farm, Nicajack Creek, Chattahoochie River, Howard House, Atlanta, and Jonesborough. During this campaign the ranks of the regiment were sadly thinned. Following the battle of Jonesborough, in pursuit of Hood's army, the regiment passed through Marietta, Kingston, Rome, and at last halted for a few days on the Coosa river, at Cedar Bluffs. On the thirtieth of November it arrived at Franklin, Tennessee. It went into the battle that followed, with two hundred and twenty-five men, and came out with one hundred and twelve. It fell back with the army to Nashville, and in the engagements that occurred there on the fifteenth and sixteenth of December, lost several more of its men. The regiment followed the retreating rebels as far as Columbia, Tennessee, where it was consolidated with the Ninety-ninth infantry, the name of the Fiftieth being retained.

We now hear of the newly consolidated regiment in Clifton, Tennessee, at Fort Fisher, Wilmington, Kingston, Goldsborough, Raleigh, Greensborough, and at last in Salisbury, North Carolina, where it was mustered out on the twenty-sixth of June, 1865. On the seventeenth of July, the regiment reached Camp Dennison, Ohio, where the men were all paid and discharged.

Austin Colwell, John Aldridge, Samuel Bealman, William Billy, William A. Batten, John Bronley, Philip Carr, Adam Cobleus, John F. Curry, Albert Cook, William Collins, George Cook, Theo. H. Cook, George Conover, David Deardoff, John Deardoff, Andrew Dunham, John F. Irwin, John Elliott, Clinton A. Fleming, James M. Foster, Theo. P. Fleming, Charles Graham, Henry I. Gephart, Thomas Garrison, Henry Horton, George H. Hildebrand, John T. Hazeltine, John Hattersley, John Hagarman, William D. Jaynes, Joseph Kincaid, Uris Kizer, William L. Karshmer, Daniel Leeks, Benton Lee, William Mills, James Manzy, Enos Marshall, Matthew McCawley, George March, Henry Miller, Samuel C. Mackey, John H. Manzy, Alfred B. Murray, Henry Mullholland, Alfred K. Miller, James M. Pittman, Cyrus Pence, Hugh S. Rogers, Christopher Ray, John Rayburn. Jos. D. Stephenson, George W. Severer, Andrew J. Simms, James K. Sample, John Sample, James Sullivan, James Kimball, Thomas M. Tenell, John B. Thompson, William A. Tenell, John Vanzant, James Wooston, Samuel Werts, David Werts, John N. Williams, James Walker.

Recruiting for this regiment began late in the summer of 1861. It was organized at Camp Dennison, where it remained for drill the following fall and winter. It went into the field the seventeenth of the following February, with an aggregate number of eight hundred and fifty men. The first engagement was in the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, April 6, 1862. At the end of the two days' fighting a loss was sustained of one hundred and ninety-eight men killed, wounded and missing.

On the twenty-ninth of April, movement was made upon Corinth. On the morning of the evacuation, the Fifty-fourth was among the first to enter the town. It was afterwards designated to perform provost duty, the commanding officer of the regiment being appointed commandant of the post of Corinth.

During the summer there were several short expeditions. At Chickasaw Bayou, December 28th and 29th, in an assault on the rebel works, there was a loss of twenty men killed and wounded. The first of the year 1863 we hear of the Fifty-fourth in the capture of Arkansas Post.

On the sixth of May the regiment began its march toward Vicksburgh, engaging in the battles of Champion Hills and Big Black Ridge on its way. In a general assault on the enemy's works, on the nineteenth and twenty-second of June, it met with a loss of forty-seven in killed and wounded men. During the entire siege of Vicksburgh, this regiment was continually employed in skirmishing and fatigue duty, except six days consumed in a march of observation toward Jackson, Mississippi.

It was engaged in the battle of Missionary Ridge, November 26th, and the following day marched to the relief of the garrison at Knoxville, Tennessee.

organization January 22d, and at once started to Ohio on furlough. In April it returned to camp with two hundred recruits, and at once entered on the Atlanta campaign. It participated in a general engagement at Resaca and Dallas, and in a severe skirmish at New Hope Church. In the general assault upon Kenesaw Mountain, June 27th, there was a loss of twenty-eight killed and wounded, at Nicajack Creek thirteen killed and wounded, and in the battle east of Atlanta, July 21st and 22d, ninety-four killed, wounded and missing.

Following these, it was in the heavy skirmish at Jonesborough, and acted a part in the pursuit of Hood, till the march for Savannah was begun. Its last battle was at Bentonville, North Carolina, March 21, 1865.

Moving by way of Richmond, the regiment arrived in Washington city, where it took part in the grand review. In August it was mustered out. The aggregate strength of the regiment at that time was twenty-four officers and two hundred and thirty-one men.

Frank B. Adams, Elijah Athey, James W. Armstrong, Jacob Barber, Alexander W. Boyer, Cyrus Ballard, Thomas J. Brown, Nicholas Barber, Christian W. Baker, John M. Breeder, Charles K. Bennett, Thomas Bennett, Jacob Campbell, James Cavener, Christopher H. Cook, Samuel Cook, Andrew J. Clark, James M. Casselman, Henry W. Carroll, William G. Cochran, John H. Cochran, Albert G. Cochran, Thomas Davin, Jackson B. Ford, John Frazier, Samuel Glunt, Jesse Glunt, John Glunt, George W. Gordon, Peter Haines, John Hawk, Joseph Huffman, George Haughn, Lewis Huffman, Nathan H. Henderson, Francis V. Hale, Joseph Haines, Henry D. King, Alonzo D. Kimball, Allen H. Lowe, Thomas J. Mitchell, Nathan D. Mitchell, George W. Miller, Henry Marshland, Wittiam H. Moravy, John W. Neff, Mitton U. Neff, Albert S. Robinson, William H. Robinson, James H. Robinson, William H. Runyan, Hiram Seas, Samuel Smiley, Wiltiam F. Smiley, John Spellman, Joseph Scott, Joseph Tipton, John W. Thompson, Elias Vanatta, George W. Wilson, Richard C. White, Lyndon Walker, Joseph Wright, John Wingler, James Wingler, William C. Wilson, Franklin W. Whiteside.

The organization of this regiment took effect early in the year 1862. April 19th it was ordered to report for duty at Nashville, Tennessee, where it arrived five days after.

The first action was with Morgan's men near the town of Gallatin. Here one man was killed. When Bragg's army attempted a flank movement toward Louisville, the Sixty-ninth was left at Nashville as a part of the garrison for the city. On the thirty-first of December, the first day of the battle of Stone River, the regiment with its brigade was engaged with the enemy, taking position in the advance line of General George H. Thomas' Fourteenth corps. It became involved in the disaster on the right, and was compelled to fight its way back, suffering severely in killed and wounded.

January 2d the Sixty-ninth was in the brilliant but desperate charge across Stone river, in which the rebels were driven back with heavy loss. On June 24, 1863, the Tullahoma campaign began. It was also in the battle of Mission Ridge, and was among the first to reach the top of the mountain. Major J. J. Hanna, then in command, received much commendation for his efficient and brave conduct.

The re-enlistment of the regiment and its succeeding furlough of thirty days but gave new inspiration for work, and on May 14th occurred the engagement with the enemy near Resaca. Between this time and the fight at Jonesborough we read of several engagements and many killed and wounded. This battle caused the evacuation of Atlanta, and the National forces occupied that city.

The regiment participated in the subsequent chase after Hood, after which it returned to Atlanta and joined Sherman's march to the sea. The last battle in which it had a part occurred near Goldsborough, North Carolina, March 19, 1865. Then came the march through Richmond, the grand review at Washington, the transfer at Louisville, and lastly the muster out of service, on the seventeenth of July, 1865.

Abram Baker, John C. Caskey, Harrison Garland, Benjamin F. Darland, William Y. Hahn, William H. Harvey, Henry Hildebrand, Stiles C. Ireland, John A. Irwin, William G. Jordan, Jerome Jordan, James R. McGill.

The organization of this regiment was completed at Camp John McLean, near Cincinnati, December 18, 1861. By the first day of spring a prolonged march in West Virginia fairly initated the men into the hardships of a soldier's life.

they received a spirited attack from the enemy. The Seventy-fifth, being in the advance, stood its ground manfully, and the enemy finally gave way. Shortly after this, in an attempt to guard the stores accumulated at McDowell, a little village at the foot of Bull Pasture mountain, a severe battle occurred with the rebel General Jackson. At the close, so severe was the loss of the enemy, that he reported it as "the bloodiest of the war for the number engaged." No prisoners were taken on either side. The Seventy-fifth gained especial laurels to its name under the immediate eye of General Milroy, who warmly congratulated Colonel McLean on the gallantry of his regiment

Following a number of engagements which our space will not permit us to describe, came the relieving of General Fremont, when Major General Pope took command; and the next affair in which the Seventy-fifth faced the enemy was at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, on the eighth of August, 1862. During the week that followed, there were frequent engagements, and at Freeman's Ford there was a heavy loss.

Jackson finally flanked Pope, got in his rear, burnt his wagon-trains and three trains of cars, and was again attacked by General Pope at Groveton, near the old Bull Run battle-field, August 28, 1862. Fora time the fighting was bloody in the extreme, and the Seventy-fifth lost one hundred and fifteen in killed and wounded. It was observed, as an evidence of the severity of the fire, that ninety shots took effect on the colors of this one regiment, during the battle.

Nothing of importance now occurred in the history of the regiment until the second of May, 1863, at Chancellorsville. The history of that battle is well known. The Eleventh corps, surprised and overwhelmed by the impetuous rebels, fell back in almost complete demoralization. Yet McLean's Ohio brigade, a part of that corps, merited the highest praise for the cool, steady manner in which it received the enemy under the most trying circumstances. In the short space of one-half hour, one hundred and fifty men were killed or wounded.

After this battle, the Seventy-fifth returned to its old camp near Brook's station, when it became a part of the force that confronted the enemy at Gettysburgh, on the first of July, 1863. The regiment was under fire every day of the battle until its termination. Of sixteen officers that went into the engagement, three were killed, seven dangerously or fatally wounded, and four taken prisoners. Of two hundred and ninety-two enlisted men, sixty-three were killed, one hundred and six wounded, and thirty-four taken prisoners.

On the sixth of August, Colonel McLean, with the Ohio brigade, consisting of the Fifty-fifth, Seventy-third, Seventy-fifth, and Eighty-second infantry regiments, was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, and on the eighteenth went into the trenches on Morris Island. The duty here was severe in the extreme, owing to the intense heat and the impossibility of getting even temporary relief. More men died from disease than were killed by the enemy's shells.

Early in the year 1864, the regiment was mounted, and was afterward known as the Seventy-fifth mounted infantry, performing all the duties of a regular cavalry regiment. Immediately after this, we hear of it, broken into sections, being sent in different directions to hinder blockade running, to bring cattle needed by the National army that had been driven away by their owners, to protect the Unionists from rebel persecutions, and to repel threatened attacks. Frequent skirmishing with the Second Florida cavalry was ended, on the tenth of August, 1864, by General Birney being relieved of his command by General Hatch. The expedition that followed, into the interior of Florida, ended disastrously in the capture of about half the command.

In October and November of the same year, six companies were sent to Columbus, to be mustered out, their term of service having expired.

After the fall of Savannah, the Seventy-fifth was sent to Jackson, Florida, to organize a veteran detachment. This was accomplished on the fifteenth of January, 1865. In August, 1865, it retired from service with honor to its members and to their State.

The colonel of this regiment during a large part of its service—Andrew L. Harris, originally captain of company C, from Preble county, now auditor of said county —was specially distinguished for his bravery and efficiency in service, and received particular notice for his daring in leading a desperate charge during the service of the regiment in Florida.

Robert Appleby, Alexander Appleby, John Brasier, William C. Brown, William Bell, Henry Becker, John Brennon, Samuel Baughman, Milton Brower, Abraham Brubaker, Michael Bartley, Joseph Crabaugh, Elias Clear, Raymond Clear, Absalom G. Collins, William A. Castor, Jeremiah N. Crabaugh, William H. H. Degroot, Henry Dailey, Jacob Detrow, William H. Duggins, John Duggins, William H. Dickey, Washington Emlick, Robert Evans, Jeremiah Foutz, Samuel C. Fisher, Martin Gard, Enoch Gordon, Morris Greenfield, James Hinkle, James Harbaugh, John Hunters, William Harris, Joseph Harris, John Jennibeck, Martin W. Jones, Timothy Kelley, Witliam King, Henry Kline, Jacob Kizer, Timothy Laughlin, Lewis Longnecker, William Leech, Isaac Monaeneith, William Morrow, Delormah B. Morrow, George W. Martin, Thomas Martin, Peter A. Norris, Isaiah C. Price, Thomas Pattinger, Witson Pattinger, John F. Parks, Levi D. Parks, Richard Parks, John Pricey, William Pullen, Simeon Perkins, John W. Quinn, John Quilter, Hayden D. Runyon, Albert C.

Smith, Joseph Smith, William Sliver, John Smith, Marcus Trueaxe, Horatio Thrash, Lewis Wharton, John Ware, William A. H. Zingling.

John Alloway, John Bennett, John Bechtel, Uriah Beall, William H. Brummitt, Andrew Bowers, John Briggs, Benjamin Butt, Alfred Ekes, Benjamin Hornaday, Wiltiam Hornaday, Paul Hornaday, Peter Hamilton, Dennis Keriven, Lindley Meradith, Hugh McLane, Leroy McLane, Leander Mikeswell, Daniel Neff, John Owens, Francis Orebaugh, Jonathan Potts, William Raikes, Wesley Raikes, Elliott Robison, Richard Scott, Thomas Stanton, Salmon Stubbs, Levi Westfall, Simon Walls, Jacob Wysong, William Wadock, William Wyle, William Blossum, William Foultz.

This regiment was raised by Colonel Morton, formerly of the Twentieth Ohio, under orders from General Fremont, as an "Independent rifle regiment," but the organization of that having failed, it was filled up as the Eighty-first Ohio infantry. It rendezvoused at Benton barracks, near St. Louis, in August and September, 1861, and moved to the field during the latter month. It endured much the ensuing winter in pursuit of the enemy and while guarding the North Missouri railroad. In March, 1862, it was moved by steamer to Pittsburgh Landing, and took part in the battle there. In the subsequent action of Corinth, it lost eleven killed, forty- four wounded, and three missing. Its after career brought it into the campaigns through northern Alabama and Tennessee, and to Atlanta with its bloody battles; the triumphant marches to the sea and through the Carolinas and Virginia to the capital of the nation, where it took part in the grand reviews, and after a brief period of service at Louisville, it was finally mustered out at Camp Dennison, July 21, 1865. It had been re-organized as a veteran regiment in January, 1864. During its service thirty-four of its members were killed on the field, twenty-four died of wounds and one hundred and twenty-one of disease, and one hundred and thirty-six were discharged for disability.

D. H. Bush, J. W. Brown, W. F. Caskey, Arthur Hall, John Loots, Hugh McKinstry, Fidillis Ott, Benjamin Pippin, James W. Swain, Sampson Swain, Harvey Shutts.

Forman Andrews, Charles Campbell, Isaac I. Clair, Milton Hapner, William R. Lea, James Cuahalser, John R. Peters, Reeder Sherman, Clinton Sherman, William Shewman, Henry Studybecker, Benjamin F. Saylor, William Shelly, Andrew Thompson.

William A. Burns, Frederick Bennett, William D. Clear, Joseph Cail, Benjamin Gardner, Samuel Huess, Alonzo Monderneith, Peter S. Miller, David Monasmuth, Hiram Nace, Thomas A. Nation, Martin Shewman, James Shewman, John Smith, Lemuel Stevenson, Asbury L. Stephens, William H. Nomer, Richard C. Miett.

James Brown, Henry Baker, Aaron Bunyer, Samuel Bunyer, Henry Bunyer, Thomas Doyle, J. F. Farlow, James Gunning, Abraham Hoover, John Hoover, John Job, Lewis Overholtz, Frank Ridenour, William D. Stephens, John W. Teaverbaugh, Noah Wehrty.

This regiment was recruited originally for the three months' service, and then reorganized for six months' service. The former organization was effected in May, 1862, under a special call to repel Jackson, who had defeated Banks, and was threatening to invade the North. It aid guard duty at Grafton, Virginia, Parkersburgh, and other points, and moved to Beverly and elsewhere to repel an enemy which did not exist. The regiment was mustered out at Camp Delaware, at the expiration of its term.

The six months' regiment was raised by a number of officers of the old organization, headed by Major (afterwards Colonel) Lemert, of Bucyrus: It.was moved to Zanesville, to join in the pursuit of Morgan, then on his raid through Ohio; but was too late to be of much service. Returning to Camp Tod, it was in August ordered to Kentucky, as a part of the expedition against Cumberland Gap, which was taken by the Federal forces. The Eighty-sixth took possession of and "held the fort," remaining there as a garrison, subsisting scantily off the country, and skirmishing often with guerillas, until its term of service was over, when it returned to Ohio and was mustered out at Cleveland February 10, 1863.

James L. Brown, James T. Barkelow, Samuel H. Bell, Samuel Y. Early, Ezra Eddy, Robert Graham, Oscar F. Hill, James F. Johnston, Henry H. Kemple, Nathaniel K. Lindsay, Thomas A. Newton, Joseph Y. Ramsey.

Alfred J. Case, Linton Fornshell, Henry C. Fomshell, John Hirshman, Edward Lloyd, John Pitz, George Stiezenbach, Isaac A. Witey, Moses Zeigter.

Joseph P. Acton, William C. Acton, George Acton, John B. Turner, Isaiah N. Welch, William H. Stevens.

William M. Ammerman, Washington Eddy, Robert N. Grayham, James F. Johnston, William A. Kemple, Samuel Moore, Thomas A. Newton, Joseph T. Ramsey, William Wright.

Richard H. Brownage, Abner Haynes, William Nicholson, James Nicholson, Abel R. Nixon.

This regiment was regularly organized at Camp Dayton, near Dayton, during the latter part of the summer of 1862. It numbered, at the beginning, thirty-nine officers and nine hundred and twenty-nine men.

The Ninety-third moved with the army to Nashville, and, in December, while guarding a forage-train, was attacked by the Rebels, and, in this, its first engagement, it lost one killed and three wounded. Suffering severely in the battle of Stone River, it afterwards encamped for a time south, and then west, of Murfreesborough. Thence it is heard of at Liberty Gap, Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Bellefonte, Stevenson, Lookout Mountain, and Chickamauga. At the last place there was some severe skirmishing on the eighteenth of September, and on the following day orders were received to join General Thomas, from which time, until the first of October, the Ninety-third acted no unimportant part in the prolonged contest.

November 23d, a charge upon Orchard Knob ended with a loss of eleven killed and forty-nine wounded. Six men were shot down while carrying the regimental colors, and three days after this time, in an assault on Mission Ridge, came another loss of eight killed and twenty wounded.

The last of November the Ninety-third started for East Tennessee. The campaign of this winter was most severe; at one time the regiment was reduced to four officers and ninety men.

After much time spent in marching and countermarching, on the third of May the regiment started on the Atlanta campaign, with an aggregate of three hundred men. On the way they met with numerous encounters, among others the battle of Resaca. It was in reserve at the battle of Jonesborough. The three following months send news of the Ninety-third from Atlanta, Gailsville, Chattanooga, Pulaski, Columbia, Franklin, and Nashville.

During the winter nothing of great importance occurred until the middle of March, when the regiment left for East Tennessee. It went to Bull's Gap, thence to Greenville, where it arrived about the first of May. On the eighth of June the muster-out took place, at Camp Harker, near Nashville. The men proceeded at once to Camp Dennison, Ohio, where they were paid, and received their discharges by the fourteenth of. June.

Prior to the muster-out of the regiment, eight officers and two hundred and forty-one men were discharged for disability; four officers and two hundred and four men were accounted for as "died of disease, wounds, and killed in action." The surviving members have an association for preserving the memory of olden times. But no such association is needed to keep fresh the sufferings or the glory of the many engagements in which the brave Ninety-third had a part—the records of Stone River, Chickamauga, Brown's Ferry, Orchard Knob, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Kenesaw, Atlanta, Jonesborough, Franklin, and Nashville, are the records of a nation that has a future, as well as a present and a past.

Milton E. Bazzle, John W. Bates, George W. Bickle, Samuel Bell, Mordecai Bralton, George W.. Castle, Peter Case, Samuel G. Crothers, Daniel Cramer, John B. Cramer, Elias Cramer, George Cook, Thomas D. Boner, David Barnet, James Bulton, John M. Brown, Martin Barnet, Ashny Delamors, Morris Doty, John Eberts, William Fleming, Benjamin Foster, Samuel C. Foster, John H. Gibbons, George S. Hamilton, John Hixon, James D. Herron, James W. Johnson, John Jones, Charles A. Kirkpatrick, James Kennedy, Harvey Kitson, John A. Kindell, George W. Kinney, Jonas Lesh, William Lewis, James Loman, William H. Laird, Henry B. Moren, John Mendenhall, Isaac S. McCracken, John R. McMillen, John W. Mohler, Joshua Moren, Thomas C. Murray, John Murphy, Harmon Miers, Isaac W. Newton, Nathan W. Neal, George Asbaugh, Richard Overhotts, Carlisle Platt,. George Pozner, Valentine Paullus; Alfred Potts, Harvey A. Price, John Q. Pottmyer, David H. Phillips, Robert C. Porter, Thomas Pickens, Hiram L. Robbins, Joseph A. Ramsey, Wiltiam Reed, George A. Saylor, John H. Spessard, Harvey Storer, Andrew Storer, John Sedwick, D. W. C. Stubbs, John Tingle, Winfield Stickers, William Albright, John T. Witt, Henry C. Williams, John Wagoner, George Wright, John F. C. Wright, Horace T. Witt, Gilbert Wilson, Robert Wright, Peter Zimtherman, Christian Volk.

Capius Alexander, William Aker, Smith Andrews, Philip H. Albright, Edward Borden, Samuel W. Barnes, Edwin Bayett, Samuel L. Brown, William E. Biggs, Theodore F. Brower, Thomas E. J. Berry, Hiram J. Crowell, William H. H. Cooper, Franklin Couts, Jacob A. Charles, Jesse Dehay, John Dieffenbaugh, Henry Devinney, Abraham Eikenberry, Reuben Eikenberry, Joseph Eikenberry, David Fouts, Norman Fancher, John Guard, Granville Grine, James Gibbons, Israel Holtand, Samuel J. Hickman, Henry Heckman, George Hoerner, Henry Hoerner, Allen Hem, Simon Hart, William H. Huffman, Aaron B. Lorgh, Alvin Laird, Julius Lehman, Andrew Mikesell, William McHenry, Elwood Morey, Samuel J. Myers, William B. Nelson, Andrew Norris, Francis M. Oblinger, John Pollock, Jamison Pollock, John M. Patterson, Albert C. Quilling, John S. Reynolds, James M: Sloan, Alfred C. P. Thistler, Joseph Shewman, John H. Shuorf, George Studzbaker, John Snyder, Thomas E. Spittman, Thomas K. Spillman, Calvin T. Thorp, Isaac N. Schuorf, Joshua Tillman, William A. Tillman, Lewis Utz, Marcus A. Webb, John M. Wellborn, Lewis White, Benjamin F. White, John Werts, Harrison Yost, Samuel R. Jaqua, Henry Keltner, Henry Myers, Henry Siler.

The organization of this regiment was not completed. The company to which the following named Preble county soldiers belonged (Captain George Wightman's), was transferred to the Sixty-third Ohio infantry soon after enrollment, and mustered into the service "in the field, in Kentucky," September 13, 1862:

Thomas Allen, Moses M. Davis, John Focht, Henry W. Geeding, Samuel Gregg, George W. Hanger, Levi Hays, Eben Kaylor, Jacob Longman, Henry Lands, Isaiah Moore, John W. Scott, James M. Wander, Joseph Wright, Peter Young.

John W. Austin, Harvey Bell, Thomas Brown, John Berry, Benjamin Graham, Harvey Graham, Nathaniel Lindsey, John McDill, James Marshall, Thomas A. Newton, David C. Ramsey, James M. Sliver, William H. Sprowle.

This regiment was organized at Camp Dennison on the fourth of May, 1864, by the consolidation of the Thirty-fourth regiment with the Eightieth and Eighty-first battalions Ohio National Guard. The regiment was mustered into the United States service with an aggregate of eight hundred and sixty-four men.

On the twentieth of May, companies A, B, C, D, E, F and H proceeded to Cincinnati, where they performed guard duty, companies G, I and K remaining at Camp Dennison on guard and patrol duty, until Morgan appeared in the vicinity of Cynthiana, Kentucky, when they were sent to Falmouth, in that State. The seven companies remained on duty in Cincinnati until July 18th, when the entire regiment was brought together at Covington and moved to Paris, Kentucky. The regiment was soon ordered to Cumberland, Maryland, to resist the rebel invasion, and, proceeding by way of Cincinnati and Parkersburgh, it reached that place on the thirty-first of July, and went into camp on the hill southeast of the city. On the first of August, at three o'clock, P. M., the regiment moved on the double-quick through the town and out the Baltimore turnpike about three miles, near to Folch's Mills, where it met the enemy under Generals McCausland and Bradley Johnson.

The One Hundred and Fifty-sixth, although exposed to a severe fire of artillery and musketry, maintained itself well, and sustained but slight loss. The engagement began at four o'clock, P. M., and ceased at nine o'clock. The regiment lay on its arms at night, but daylight showed that the enemy had retreated. General Kelley, in a letter to Colonel Marker, complimented the regiment upon the steadiness of its line, and on the accuracy with which it returned the fire of the enemy's sharp-shooters.

After this engagement, the regiment remained on duty at and near Cumberland until the twenty-sixth of August, when it was ordered to Ohio for muster out. It was mustered out at Camp Dennison on the first of September, 1864.

W. C. Appleby, S. N. Appleby, Robert Appleby, T. E. Battinger, Nathaniel Bell, William Bell, Charles Ballentine, J. H. Brown, M. Brown, S. H. Brown, Matthew Brown, D. M. Bower, J. P. Buck, W. H. Charles, T. J. Cisle, J. M. Cook, John Cramer, Henry Eticker, J. C. Elliott, J. E. A. Elliott, Ezra Eddy, Washington Eddy, N. H. Foster, J. T. Farris, A. H. B. Gray, J. J. Gillmore, Harvey Graham, B. F. Graham, Robert Graham, James Gordon, J. G. Harper, S. Hamilton. John Hamilton, James Hamilton, John Hawley, S. Ingersol, J. Jeffers, J. B. Johnson, J. F. Johnson, Mark Kingery, W. A. Kempbell, Thomas McQuiston, S. D. McQuiston, A. C. McQuiston, H. A. McQuiston, U. P. McQuiston, John Montoith, J. M. Collems, Patrick McCoy, Matthew Marshall, J. W. Marshall, William McCan, J. B. Magaw. G. M. McMillen, Robert Niccum, W. H. Newton, J.

C. Orr, R. Paxton, R. H. Pinkerton, J. Ramsey, J. A. Ramsey, W. A. Ramsey, J. M. Ramsey, S. R. Ramsey, W. Raynolds, W. H. Shera, B. C. Swan, J. A. Smith, Francis Wright, John Wright, William Wright, John C. Windialt, William Burch, M. W. Charles, H. L. Cramer, A. Greenfeld, J. L. Marshall, Alexander Porter, J. N. Robinson, J. S. Rankins, J. C. Steel, J. M. M. Wilson.

Israel B. Adams, G. W. Adams, Levi P. Armatrout, James N. Boner, William L. Bunyer, Andrew A. Bunyer, John R. Brown, Philip Coons, Henry Cosairth, Solomon Creager, Robert Collins, John

L. Clark, Michael Conk, William Crisler, William Clark, T. J. Dowler, Samuel Davidson, Francis Davidson, Wilson B. Fouts, Henry M. Fidge, Brookfield Guard, S. P. Geeting, Adam Geeting, Jonathan Hill, William Hill, Daniel Henry, Charles Hanaman, Jonathan Hefner, Henry H. Hefner, Harvey Henderson, John Jarrett, A. J. Jarrett, Levi Juday, John Q. Juday, J. H. Juday, Daniel Juday, Josiah Jones, William Kimmello Jacob Kimmel, Francis King, John King, jr., Joseph Lee, George Longman, W. H. Law, Lemuel Munay, John McDonals, John F. McCabe, Samuel McCoy, John Mills, Thomas Pierce, Frederick Price, Charles Porter, Allen Shewman, James B. Stevens, Hiram Studybaker, Andrew Surface, Noah Surface, Noah Sayring, Christian Shewman, Monroe Shewman, William Shelly, Peter Swain, James Samuels, McMin Sterling, Comelius Shewman, Marcus Ullom, Frederick Wyrick, Wesley Whearley, Nelson Wheartey, Eli Whearley, Jacob Young, Thomas J. King.

William H. H. Aydlott, Benjamin Aydlott, George W. Anderson, William F. Ackman, Abraham Brown, Daniel Brown, Noah Besixeker, William Bimger, David L. Brown, Jacob Bish, John P. Banker, Eli Brown, William H. Brower, James Bulger, Benjamin Bowman, James W. Corwin, John W. Chase, William H. Clevenger, William H. H. Clevenger, Wiltiam F. Chase, Allen Chrisler, Benjamin F. Davis, Etihu Davis, David A. Detamore, George W. Emmons, John W. Faubler, John A. Fleagle, William Feel, John A. Faneisu, William Griffith, Cornelius H. Grimes, Anderson D. Harris, Adam Hart, Cornelius Horn, Levi F. Horn, William House, James B. Hapner, Wiltiam Hapner, Nathan Hapner, George Hall, Paul Kalter, Joseph C. Klinger, Charles Lynn, Michael L. Long, Leas Levi, Isaac Lusk, William Murray, Oliver P. Miller, James McDermott, Cornelius Mickesell, Squire Mickesell, Henry C. Michael, Michael G. Pipinger, Henry Rookstool, Jacob Rookstool, John Routsong, James M. Russell, Charles J. Read, Eli Studybaker, Joseph A. Studybaker, James F. Shields, John E. Schlosser, William H. Schlosser, Perry Shelt, Jeremiah Shank, Jacob F. Wieland Thomas Weaver, Franklin H. Wolf, Henry L. Taylor, Jacob Y. Yingling.

Ezra C. Albright, William Acton, John Acton, Joseph P. Acton, James Acton, William Armstrong, Robert A. Boner, Edward M. Bloomfield, George Buntin, Evans Buntin, William Bristow, Henry Brimmerrnan, N. C. Bernard, Samuel S. Beech, George M. Crum, Henry Covman, John Clark, Elias Dillman, Amzia B. De Groat, John V. Donohoe, M. S. Dooley, Doctor Evans, Elam Fisher, James H. Gardner, John F. Gardner, Thomas Harris, Elias Herdman, B. F. Homan, Martin Hersh, C. J. S. Kumler, Henry Karns, F. M. Klinger, E. P. Lockwood, John L. Lockwood, Robert Larrimer, Oliver Lay, Reeder McCabe, George Mehaffy, William Morton, Albert Minshall, Joseph McCright, John Minis, Samuel Morris, Henry Morris, William Neal, Benjamin Neal, James Plummer, Lewis Plummer, W. W. Pugh, James L. Quinn, Samuel Quinn, C. B. Richardson, Isaac Rogers, Samuel Rogers, W. M. Railsback, John Richardson, Samuel Shields, William Swain, John Bailey Stephen, John L. Stow, William Shinn. Jacob Shinn, W. W. Sheeler, Jacob Stum, T. T. Stroud, George Smith, W. A. Scott, Joseph Tracy, George Truitt, John Upham, B. F. Vanausdal, David Williamson, F. H. Weaver, Joseph Walters, Eli Wolff.

Sergeant John Q. Pottinger. Corporal William Barnet. Corporal J. W. Reed. Corporal G. W. Tucker. Corporal Thomas Griffin. Corporal I. S. Campbell, Corporal Benjamin M. Fornshall.

J. P.. Acton, T. C. Ancky, Stephen Bailey, Nelson Bennett, John I. Brown, James W. Brown, D. S. Bostick, Josiah Bookwalter, John Bookwalter, Levi Bookwalter, James Busenbook, Jefferson Clatterbuck, S. B. Campbell, Stephen Davis, John W. Decamp, B. A. Duggins, R. A. Douglas, Alexander Decker, Jonathan Decker, Morris Doty, John P. Elliott, J. P. Fomshell, Thomas A. Fornshell, David Fleming, Charles Falk, Lewis E. Grupe, Allen E. Huffman, Thomas Huitt, Philip M. Homer, John W. Jones, Finley Kincade, William A. Knidle, Peter Kimmel, Jacob Kinsey, James Kirkpatrick, John Kearns, Henry Keplinger, Benjamin Lamb, John N. Longnecker, John Leach, Samuel Maddock, A. D. Mills, Marquis Murphy, W. B. Mendenhall, William More, Lewis Overholts, James Pottinger, Alexander Pottinger, Daniel Pottinger, John S. Peters, Aaron Peters, Daniel Peters, H. H. Payne, Gasper T. Potterf, James Potterf, John C. Patterson, Jonathan Payne, Isaac Pugh, Henry Poffenbarger, Samuel J. Reed, Isaac H. Reed, M. S. Randolph, James Randolph, Michael Shannon, Aaron B. Simpson, William H. Sellers, James A. Samuets, Levi Stubbs, Daniel Trussler, John M. Teague, Frank Taylor, Peter J. Walker, William M. Walker, John Shrods, John Williams, William Walls, James Wright, Nathan Hornaday.

J. H. Adams, William Austin, J. W. Aker, N. W. Burnan, James D. Brown, Clinton Brown, Robert F. Brown, Lucas V. Brown, Thomas C. Bronley, H. C. Brontey, Joseph. Burgoine, John M. Burnow, George L. Brutch, John W. Barnett, Charles W. Brown, William H. Bell, John Birbee, T. L. Bradstreet, Isaac Cooper, Newton Cooper, David Emerrick, Thomas W. Ervin, D. P. Edwards, Samuel Fudge, Andrew Fisher, Cornelius Hilton, Abner D. Harvey, William Halter, Eli Huffman, J. J. Hurman, Fleming James, John B. Jagna, Hiram Johnston, John W. Judy, James A. Kessher, Clinton King, Samuel King, C. R. Letwich, Henry Longman, James D. Morrison, William V. Mitchell, A. Commal Mikesell, Peter Mikesell, John A. Mackey, James Murry, Joseph Murry, W. A. McDowland, Thomas McClelland, John Miller, Lewis Mackey, Jacob Nickademus, James H. Paul, T. L. Porterfield, James C. Rayburn, George W. Reinheimer, Jeremiah Snyder, John Stakebeck, Samuel Skeles, John M. Stubbs, William Sparkling, W. C. Street, George W. Thompson, J. G. Thomas, Peter Wortening, W. T. Whitridge, Edward Whitaker, Cyrus Young, Samuel S. Dicks, Asbery Morse, Andrew Scott, Abram Norris.

D. Ammerman, W. Ammerman, E. B. Aker, J. Brower, W. A. Bailor, J. Bougher, W. Brown, P. Cline, J. E. Daily, J. E. Daily (second), J. W. Daily, J. Danner, J. H. Elliott, T. Friend, P. T. Gans, J. Grey, J. Greeding, W. Greenfield, A. Hilderbolt, D. W. Harris, H. Huffman, J. G. Huffman, W. Hambridge, J. Hornaday, W. Jellison, J. Kelley, Isaac Lewellen, J. R. Larsh, N. G. Larsh, L. A. Larsh, N. McClellan, J. S. Mills, S. Morris, H. Miles, B. F. McWhinney, J. McWhinney, H. C. Murry, J. Morrow, J. McComas, F. B. Norris, F. Newton, J. C. Patterson, H. Pottenger, Isaac J. Penny, G. W. Runyon, J. C. Rhea, J. J. Silvers, J. S. Shaw, Oliver Silver, M. N. Surface, A. Surface, P. Surface, J. Surface, J. M. Swain, G. W. Smith, T. B. Stiorr, W. Skillman, D. Suffrins, J. W. Shealer, D. H. Shealer, A. Stick, N. Turner, J. Thompson, J. Turner, G. G. Taylor, Amos Taylor, Israel B. Taylor, A. Tosh, G. A. Wiley, J. P. Wisor, D. Wintz, John B. Parker, Thomas Slick.

The work of raising this regiment was begun early in August, 1861, under the direction of Major General Fremont. The first name, "Second Ohio Cavalry," was changed to "Fifth " by Governor Dennison, upon the removal of General Fremont. From the first of November to the February following, the regiment remained at Camp Dennison, engaged in preparation for active service. On the twenty-sixth of this month, marching orders arrived for Paducah, Kentucky. Although poorly equipped, the orders were joyfully obeyed, and, after reporting to Brigadier General W. T. Sherman at Paducah, it proceeded to Fort Henry, thence to Danville, and finally up the river to Savannah. Previous to the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, the battalion was on numerous scouts, and had several skirmishes with the rebels in the vicinity of Purdy. Early on the morning of the sixth, while the men were preparing breakfast, the rebels began a storm of attack. The cavalry were soon the aim of the enemy's artillery, yet not a man of this raw cavalry regiment, in this the first fight—and that fight Pittsburgh Landing—failed to stand his ground. In fact, the behavior of officers and men throughout this closely-fought and trying battle was highly commended by Generals Grant and Sherman. The Fifth advanced with the army in the slow siege of Corinth. The first and second battalions brought on the battle of Metamora. They fought bravely, capturing many prisoners. The third battle was with General Rosecrans at Corinth, and the command again behaved well. A part of it checked the advance of Van Dorn's ten thousand in the battle of Davis' Mill.

The conduct of this heroic handful of men shone so brilliantly, in contrast with the shameful surrender of Holly Springs, that it caused General Grant to recount their valor in general order, requesting the whole army to follow their example, and ordering that the "Fifth Ohio Cavalry inscribe on its colors, in addition to "Pittsburgh Landing," the name "Davis' Mill." On the twenty-first of March, the regiment moved from Germantown to Memphis, and again picketed that city. While here, numerous expeditions were made southward against the enemy's cavalry, by which the regiment sustained some heavy losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The corruption at Memphis was indescribable, and the men, in spite of discipline, would find ways of reaching the city. At length orders came, and the command moved toward Camp Davis, Mississippi, where it was joined by the Third battalion, under Major Smith, which had been detached for more ,than. a year. While this battalion was acting independently, it was engaged in forty-seven skirmishes and actions. It captured more than three hundred prisoners, and as many horses and mules. It marched over fifteen hundred miles. In all, the number of killed and captured did not exceed twenty five. Resting but one day after the union of the three battalions, the work of the regiment was entered upon—the protection of Corinth. In anticipation of spending the winter at Camp Davis, a complete camp had been built, when from Major General W. T. Sherman came the order "March at daylight (October 17, 1863) toward Chattanooga." 'There was skirmishing on the twentieth at Cherokee station; the twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth were likewise employed. Arriving at Chattanooga, a part remained there and at Mission Ridge, guarding trains, while a part served upon the field, and followed the retreating rebels as far as Ringgold. After this time this command is heard of at Knoxville and other important points, bearing no small part in the service of suffering and enduring, as well as acting. During the spring of 1864, the regiment effected a veteran organization. July 13th, it reached Cartersville, and remained the rest of the summer, protecting the railroad from the incessant attacks of the rebel cavalry. On the seventh of November, it was transferred to General Kilpatrick's cavalry division. Here the work of concentration had been going on for some days; but so short was the time allowed that hundreds of men were necessarily organized into a dismounted brigade. The First Ohio squadron, Captain Dalzell, was here attached to the Fifth. The cavalry arrived at Atlanta, November 14th, and the following morning commenced the "March to the Sea." The Fifth was in all the operations of the command, many of them arduous and dangerous, until after the fall of Savannah, when it was placed near King's Bridge. On the twenty-eighth of January, 1865, the command, for the first time, trod the "Sacred Soil" of chivalric South Carolina. On the eighth of February, the Third brigade, of which the Fifth was now a part, completely routed General Hagan's brigade of six regiments, capturing five battle-flags and a number of prisoners. After further marching and skirmishing for more than a month, it was temporarily stampeded with its brigade, March loth, in a night attack, by three divisions of the rebels under Wade Hampton, losing seventy-three killed, wounded and missing. It was in the final actions of Sherman's army at Averysborough and Bentonville, and was the first regiment to enter Raleigh, and restore the National flag to the dome of the capitol. After the close of the war, it occupied western North Carolina, preserving the peace in the turbulent districts, until October 3o, 1865, when the glorious career of the gallant Fifth ended, and its members resumed their places as citizens of the commonwealth.

James W. Aker, John R. Bowerox, Frank Braddick, Charles H. Brawley, Jacob B. Boyer, James M. Conway, John Cronen, Daniet Crickenbeyer, Wittiam Cullins, Thomas H. Cullins, George Disher, Lewis E. D. Enochs, Lewis Fawble, Michaet Froyd, Holly H. Fleming, Wheeler Fum, Leopold Fothopper, Enos Gilpin, James F. Grayhann, William B. Harreman, Moses Harreman, Hiram Hepner, Adam Hapner, Henry Hapner, Gottrieb Hershman, Elias Heilman, Richard Henderson, John N. Judy, John Kitson, Benjamin King, Thomas Loom, James Lynn, Robert T. McKee, Cyrus Miller, Alexander McCowen, John C. McCowen. Alfred Mills, John J. McPherson, Charles H. McManus, John W. McWhinney, William McWhinney, Marcus D. Purviance, Elihu Paxton, Cornelius Reese, Patrick Ryan, Daniel Reid, Jacob F. Rough, William P. Reid, Elias Smith, David Smith, William S. Spencer, Martin Spencer, Henry Spencer, Anderson Spencer, Lemuel J. Spencer, Mark Spencer, Barton Swerer, Walter B. Swain, Martin A. Swain, Balsar Shaffer, Frederick Strasser, Dewit C. Stout, James H. Tucker, Arthur L. Vanausdal, Albert Williams, Alexander D. Williams, Joseph Wolf, Jacob C. Walls. Ebenezer Wilt, John Wolburn, George Winning.

Joseph Adams, Jerry Achey, John W. Blair, Thomas M. Brock, William L. Campbell, John W. Christman, jr., John D. Christman, Thomas P. Cooper, William H. Colbill, Squire L. Collum, Atlen Christman, William Collins, Nathan C. Emerson, Kilian Ghret, Gayland W. Harris, James Hulburt, John Horin, John F. Homer, John. Hinkle, James M. Jarrett, John Kenedy, John W. Knisly, David King, John Lazro, David Lonk, John McCauley, Edward F. Mites, John Mugavin, George W. McGrew, Samuel Miles, William H. Patterson, John H. Robinson, Willson Randall, Asa B. Randall, John H. Ridgeley, Jeremiah T. Simpson, John F. Shippy, William Samuels, Alfred Stephens, Richard L. Shelly, Peter Schotsman, Sylvester T. P. Shippy, Matthew Tracy, Charles W. Town, Albert N. Thayer, Marcius L. Thomas, John Tign, Joseph Vale, Benjamin Wagoner, James Walters, Thomas Y. Waters, John Wampler. .

Besides the service in Ohio regiments and batteries, many Preble county men were in the gunboat service, and others, owing to the proximity to the Indiana State line, entered the service with commands from that State —the Eighteenth, Thirtieth, Thirty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Sixty-ninth and Eighty-fourth infantry, also the Second and Fourth Indiana cavalry, and the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Eleventh and Nineteenth batteries. The names of this, a certainly respectable part of the Preble county contingent in the great war, it is not now practicable to obtain.

Besides all these, and those who enlisted from Preble county in the regular army, whose names, like the others, it is not now practicable to obtain, there was also the noble army of

The dangers threatening Cincinnati in the latter part of the summer 1862, led Governor Tod, (as we shall see more fully hereafter, in the chapter on "the siege of Cincinmati,") to make a general announcement to the men of Ohio, that all who reported with arms in hand would be transported at public expense to that city, and received for the time being, into the service of the State. Telegraphic tenders had already been made to the authorities of that city, of militia, in large numbers, from Preble, Warren, Greene, Butler, Franklin, and other counties; so that thousands stood ready to answer the call without delay. Before daylight of the next morning after the proclamation of the governor, the tread of the advance of the grand army of Buckeye yeomen was heard upon the stony pavements of Cincinnati. As rapidly as possible the thronging hosts arriving were organized into companies and regiments, and sent to the works back of Covington, to the guard stations along the river, or to other posts of duty. The total number known to have entered this temporary service from the State at large is fifteen thousand seven hundred and sixty- six, which was doubtless exceeded by several hundred, at least—of which Preble county furnished three hundred and seventy-two. To the peculiarity of dress in many of them, and armament of numbers with light squirrel guns, suggested the happy title of "Squirrel Hunters,". for the entire unique contingent, but by whom it was first applied, the historian has failed to learn. The designation has, however, passed honorably into history. The squirrel, amid appropriate scenery, and the squirrel hunter, in fitting costume, and in the act of loading his firearm, appear in good style upon the discharge certificates granted the hunters upon the termination of their services; and a spirited page engraving, in the first volume of Mr. Reid's "Ohio in the War," further illustrates and commemorates their personnel and deeds.

The Hunters were not long needed. Their relief from service began within ten or twelve days after they were called out, and by the middle of September nearly all were relieved and had returned to their homes. On Saturday, the thirteenth of that month, Governor Tod telegraphed to Stanton, Secretary of War :

"The Minute Men, or 'Squirrel Hunters,’ responded gloriously to the call for the defense of Cincinnati. Thousands reached the city, and thousands more were en route for it. The enemy having retired, all have been ordered back. This uprising of the people is the cause of the retreat. You should publicly acknowledge this gallant conduct."

At the next session of the legislature, an act was passed, and approved March 11, 1863, ordering the preparation and issue of formal discharge certificates

"for the patriotic men of the State who responded to the call of the governor, and went to the southern border to repel the invader, and who will be known in history as the 'Squirrel Hunters.' " These papers, handsomely engraved and printed, and issued to large numbers of those entitled to them, read as follows:

Our southern border was menaced by the enemies of our Union. David Tod, Governor of Ohio, called on the Minute Men of the State, and the "Squirrel Hunters" came by thousands to the rescue. You, , were one of them, and this is your Honorable Discharge.

This was accompanied, in each case, by this ringing letter from the governor, neatly printed for the purpose:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Ohio, That the Governor be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate out of his contingent fund, a sufficient sum to pay for printing and lithographing discharges for the patriotic men of the State, who responded to the catl of the Governor, and went to our southern border to repel the invaders, and who will be known in history as the "SQUIRREL HUNTERS."

And in obedience thereto, I do most cheerfully herewith enclose a certificate of your service. But for the gallant services of yourself and the other members of the corps of patriotic "Squirrel Hunters," rendered in September last, Ohio, our dear State, would have been invaded by a band of pirates determined to overthrow the best Government on earth, our wives and children would have been violated and murdered, and our homes plundered and sacked. Your children, and your children's children, will be proud to know that you were one of this glorious band.

Preserve the certificate of service and discharge, herewith enclosed to you evidence of this gallantry. The Rebellion is not yet crushed out, and therefore the discharge may not be final; keep the old gun then in order; see that the powder-horn and bullet-pouch are supplied, and caution your patriotic mothers or wives to be at all times prepared to furnish you a few days' cooked rations, so that if your services are called for (which may God in his infinite goodness forbid) you may again prove yourselves "Minute Men " and again protect our loved homes.

FAIRS or stock shows, in Preble county, date from a period—to the time of which the memory of man runneth not back, we are told, and it comes to us in the shape of tradition, that but a few years after this settlement was christened with the name of Eaton, some of our public spirited men originated the idea of having a "show," by which to display their different possessions, in the shape of stock; and at irregular periods of time, gathered together at some stable, situated on a back

alley in Eaton, and there pointed out the different points of their respective stock. Some years they would hold two of these shows—one in the spring, and the other in the fall, but generally the time appointed was big muster day, and report says that occasionally the exhibitors would become so enthused with the idea that their displays were better than any one's else, that if they were not able to convince them by argument, they used moral suasion, in the shape of a hickory club. Of course, it was not long until the reputation of these shows spread over the county, and the result was the formation of the agricultural society. Of the various places of holding these displays we are not informed, but among the first was one held at the barn of William Bruce, near Eaton, which was said to be grand! Another was held in a stable near the present site of John Neal's stable, south of the Commercial block in Eaton ; but the finest was held at a still later day in the old public church, located near the banks of the raging Seven Mile creek.

At this show there was one stallion named Top Gallant ; a milk cow whom the owner had failed to milk for five days, in order to make her appear fat, and four "elm peeler" shoats. This was held in 1849, and such was the success of this year's display, both in attendance and quantity and quality of the display, that the succeeding year an agricultural society was determined to be formed. We thus see that what is now the pride of every citizen of our county, and is one of the largest and most pleasing organizations of our county, sprang from what would scarcely be called a respectable beginning.

The Preble County Agricultural society was organized on the thirteenth day of April, 1850, under a charter issued by the State. The charter members were Levin T. McCabe, Enoch Taylor, Henry Monfort, Newton Larsh, Jesse Stubbs, Jacob Smith and Peter Shidler. There are but two of them now living-Levin T. McCabe and Jesse Stubbs. The former took a very active part in the society in its incipiency, and aided its advancement not only by his time, but by his money. He still takes great interest in the fair, and is quite proud of the result of such a small beginning. Mr. Stubbs is still living on the same farm on which he resided when he was chosen one of the managers the first year; he still does all he can to promote the interest of the society, by each year displaying quite a large herd of as fine cattle as are raised in the county. No fair was held this year of any consequence, but at the December meeting of the next year, the following officers were chosen: Enoch Taylor, president; Newton Larsh, vice-president; Daniel Lesh, secretary; W. H. H. B. Miner, treasurer, and Jesse Stubbs, John F. Ireland, John Gray, Peter Shidler and J. B. Stephens, managers. It was decided to postpone the fixing of the time for the first annual exhibition fill their next meeting in March, at which meeting they proposed adopting a constitution and by-laws. The constitution prepared, submitted and adopted by the society at their March meeting was short, but met all that was required in those early days. It was as follows:

ART. 2. The officers of the society shall consist of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and five managers, who together shall constitute a board of directors for the general management of the affairs of the society. They shall be elected annually by the members of the society, and hold their offices until their successors are appointed.

ART. 3. Members of the society must be residents of the county or district, and pay the sum ot one dollar annually to the treasurer.

ART. 5. A list of the articles for which premiums are to be awarded by the society must be published in a newspaper or on hand-bills, at least one month previous to the day of exhibition.

ART. 6. All articles offered for premiums must be owned by persons offering them, or by members of their families; and products of the soil, or manufactured articles must be produced or manufactured within the county or district.

ART. 7. Awarding committees of three persons each shall be annually appointed by the board of directors of the society, for finding the different classes of articles offered in competition, and awarding premiums for the same.

ART. 8. The awarding committees must comply with the provisions of the law in requiring competitors for premiums on crops, and other improvements, to furnish fult and correct statements of the process of culture, production, etc.

ART. 9. Competitors for premiums on crops should be required to have the ground and its produce accurately measured by not less than two disinterested persons, whose statements shall be verified by affidavit.

ART. 10. Premiums on grain and grass crops shall not be awarded for less than one acre, and on root crop, not less than one-fourth of an acre. The whole quantity produced on the amount of land specified shall be measured or weighed—root crops to be estimated by weight (divested of tops) sixty pounds to be considered a bushel, and grain crops to be measured or weighed according to the usual standards; the rules in regard to other crops and productions to be agreed upon by the board of directors of the society.

ART. 11. The annual exhibitions of the society shall be held at Eaton on the third Thursday and Friday of October. The premiums of crops may be awarded at a later period if thought necessary.

This last article was amended in a year or two so that the fair could be held at any time between the first of September and the first day of November.

First. The election of officers of the Preble County Agricultural society, shall be held annually on the last Saturday in December, between the hours of ten o'clock A. M. and three o'clock P. M. of said day, in the town hall of the town of Eaton, after twenty days' previous notice being given by the secretary in the county papers.

Second. No person shall be entitted to vote at said election, unless he is a member of the society. All elections shall be by ballot.

Third. There shall be two judges and two clerks of said election, who shall be appointed by the president, and in his absence by the vice-president, and in absence of both, by the members of the society who may be present, by viva voce; and the said judges and clerks before entering upon their duties, shall first be sworn to the faithful and impartial discharge of the same, as judges and clerks of said election.

Fourth. They shall, after duly counting all the votes cast at said election, certify the result of the same, giving the names of those elected, with the office, to the secretary of the society, whose duty it shall be immediately upon receipt of the same, to forthwith notify them so elected ; and it shall also be his duty to enter the result of all elections upon the minutes of the board.

Fifth. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the board of directors, and preserve order and promptly put all questions that may be offered by members of the same; and faithfully and impartially discharge all and singular the duties that are incumbent on a president or chairman. And in his absence the vice-president shall preside, and in the absence of both the board shall appoint a president pro tem.

Sixth. The treasurer shall keep a faithful account of all the receipts and expenditures of said society, and before entering upon his office shall give bond to the society with approved security, in the sum of not less than one thousand dollars, or more at the discretion of the board, and do and perform all the duties of a treasurer.

Seventh. The secretary shall make and keep a faithful record of atl the proceedings of the society, and do and perform all the duties of a secretary.

Eighth. The board of directors before entering upon their several duties, shall first be sworn to faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their said offices to the best of their skill and ability ; and any five of whom shall constitute a quorum to transact business.

Ninth. There shall be four stated meetings of the board in each year. The first shall be on the second Saturday after the meeting of the State board ; the second on the second Saturday in March ; the third on the second Saturday in June, and the fourth on the second Saturday in November, at which last meeting there shall be an annuat settlement of the society, by its officers giving a full statement of the financial condition of the same, which shalt be published as is now required by law.

Tenth. The treasurer shall pay out no money except upon the order of the president, countersigned by the secretary, and no order shall be given for any claim until said claim is first allowed by the board, except the premiums awarded by the society, a list of which shall be made out by the secretary, and examined by the boird, and placed in the hands of the the treasurer, who shall take a receipt of each person to whom he pays the premium awarded, which receipt upon settlement of his accounts shalt be a sufficient voucher for the amount so paid. Eleventh. The executive committee shall consist of three members of the board, whose duty it shall be to carry into effect all arrangements made by the board for annual exhibition or otherwise, and to fill vacancies that may occur in awarding committees, which committee shall or may be chosen annually.

Twelfth. The vice-president shall act as marshal upon days of annual exhibition, and in case he declines, the executive committee shall appoint.

Thirteenth. The executive committee may call meetings of the board in case it should be deemed necessary, and it shatl be the duty of the secretary to notify the members of the board, by written notice, of all meetings at least ten days beforehand.

Fourteenth. The board of directors shalt have power to fill all vacancies which shall occur in this body from any cause whatsoever. Fifteenth. Any officer who shall refuse or neglect to take the oath of office after being legally notified of his election, his office shall be declared vacant.

Sixteenth. Any officer who shall neglect to attend two meetings of the board in succession, his said office shall be declared vacant, if the board see fit so to do.

Seventeenth. The treasurer shall furnish the judges and clerks, on the day of annual election of officers, a list of the members of said society or corporation, which shall be evidence of legal and qualified voters, which list must be alphabetically arranged.

The time for holding their exhibition, according to the constitution, was on the sixteenth and seventeenth of October. The court house was selected as the place for displaying the horticultural portion of the exhibition, and the commons south of town, near the present site of Morgan Huffman's residence, was chosen for the display of stock. The premium list was printed on the large hand-bills, and was considered very large and liberal, still the contents of the horticultural hall could all have been very easily carried in a two-horse wagon, but was thought to be, and in fact was, a very fine display for the first fair. On the commons where the stock was displayed long hitching racks were built, and the stock was tied to them, awaiting their turn to be examined by the judges. No stables or sheds were built for their accommodation, but the owners were expected to look after their own interests, and either take them home in the evening or stand guard over them during the night.

The board met on the twenty-sixth of April, 1851, and adopted a premium list which amounted in the aggregate to three hundred and eleven dollars. The list embraced premiums on field crops of every description, including corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, tobacco, flaxseed,

sweet and Irish potatoes, timothy hay, etc.; also premiums on horses from five years old down to a sucking colt. In the department of cattle, no particular class was specified, as it is very questionable if any pure bred cattle were raised in the county at this time. Premiums in the different departments of sheep, hogs, farming implements, mechanical arts, blacksmiths' ware, including a premium of two dollars for best pair of shovel and tongs, shoemakers' and tailors' manufactures, dairy, baking, fruits, embracing a premium of a diploma offered for the "best barrel of unfermented cider to be drunk by the society," also cooperage, poultry, and on various miscellaneous items, including premiums for the best cultivated farms of forty and twenty acres.

At a meeting of the directors on the twenty-sixth of May, 1851, judges were appointed to award premiums in the different classes. And at a meeting held at the Eaton & Hamilton railroad office,, it was ordered that a premium of three dollars be offered for the best bed quilt, the examination of it to be allotted to the committee on dairy products.

From this small beginning has sprung a department that embraces a greater number of entries at the present time than any other, and attracts as much notice, and adds so much to the beauty of the fair as perhaps any other class. At this meeting the following resolution was adopted :

Resolved, That Enoch Taylor, J. B. Stephens and W. H. H. B. Miner be, and they are hereby appointed a committee on behalf of the board, to make all necessary and proper arrangements for the approaching fair; to get up, publish and circulate hand-bills, prepare and have printed diplomas, and such other matter as they may think proper; to prepare cards of exhibitors and exhibited articles, to prepare grounds, buildings, etc., fitl all vacancies that may occur in any of the various committees heretofore appointed, as the same may occur either before or after the meeting of the fair; appoint a suitable number of marshals, and make alt such other preparations and arrangements for the accommodation of the several departments, including programmes, etc., as they may consider necessary and proper.

Clerks and marshals were appointed from each township at this meeting, and the following speakers were selected to deliver addresses in the afternoon and evening of each day of the fair: James Denniston, David Barnet, Samuel Kessler, Jacob Smith, Jesse Paramore, Newton Larsh, Henry Kisling, and J. B. Stephens. Persons were also selected in all the towns in the county for the purpose of selling tickets and soliciting membership for the society.

Competition at this first fair was not very strong, and the list of awards not very lengthy, but the writer is informed that Newton Larsh received the first premium on a bull, which history calls the "Penneroyal bull," over whom the poet describes the tall grenadier-since a celebrated lawyer of the Eaton bar—standing guard during the long hours of the night of the first day. Wash. Bruce took a premium on a stallion that was considered then one of the finest in this section of the State. Hardin Bruce received four dollars on a four year old mare, and Peter Shidler was awarded two dollars for the best boar. The fair was a very successful one in every particular, giving general satisfaction. The receipts were sufficient to pay all the premiums offered, and left. a small balance in the treasury. The departments all had one or more articles competing for a premium, but the records fail to inform us whether the barrel of cider was furnished for the use of the members of the board.

Thus closed the first exhibition of the Preble County Agricultural society, and at the regular meeting for the election of officers for the ensuing year, held on the last Saturday of December, 1851, the following officers were chosen: James Denniston, president; J. B. Stephens, vice-president; Pliny M. Crume, secretary; W. H. H. B. Miner, treasurer; and Newton Larsh, Peter Shidler, Jesse Stubbs, Archibald Campbell, and William Ireland, managers.

It was determined to add one more day to the fair this year, making it three instead of two as the year before. The time decided upon was the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth of October. The premiums offered this year were the same as the year before, with some few changes.

At a meeting held in April, 1851, the requisitions of competitors on farm crops were decided to be as follows, for the purpose of showing accurately the profits deiived or expected to Be derived, from the mode of tillage or production, and the expenses and value of the same : First, a statement of the previous crop, and how manured; second, the kind and condition of the soil, and location of the farm; third, the quantity of manure on the crop, the manner of its application, and the quantity and kind of seed used; fourth, the time and manner of preparing the ground for, and sowing or planting the crop; fifth, a detailed account of the manner and expense of cultivation ; sixth, the actual yield by weight, grain to be weighed by the usual standard—root crops, sixty pounds to be considered a bushel; seventh, the ground and its products to be accurately measured by not less than two disinterested parties, whose statements shall be verified by affidavits.

The applicants for premiums on fat cattle were compelled to furnish particular statements of the manner of feeding, the kind, the quantity, and cost of food, etc. Persons desiring to compete for premiums on much cows had to first furnish a statement of the food used during the trial, which had to be made for ten successive days, in the months of May, June, or August; also, the age and breed of the cow, and the time of calving, the quantity of milk and butter made during each period of ten days. We thus see that the managers were almost as particular and careful to prevent fraud, and as desirous of general and useful information as they are at the present time, and if each fair would endeavor to improve on its predecessor, as the second did on the first, we would soon arrive at a point bordering on perfection.

Notwithstanding the first fair passed off very smoothly, and to all appearance very harmoniously, we are told that as the time approached for holding the second annual exhibition, there were one or two persons connected with the association who were possessed with the idea that the knowledge of the manner in which a fair should be conducted, had been transmitted to them and to no one else; consequently, when some measure for the pro-

motion of the interests of the society was proposed, it was discovered that there were eight stubborn men and one allwise one, and as a result of this we find the following novel premium offered under the department of "Jacks and Mules":

Resolved, That a premium of three dollars be awarded to the live man who really has no interest in promoting the objects of this society; to be decided by the members and others present, and paid by the treasurer, upon the deposit with him of a daguerreotype likeness of the appticant, for the future reference and use of the society.

The archives of the society do not furnish posterity with the valuable information as to who was the fortunate "live man" who received the three dollars; neither can we find, after a diligent search, any deposit of the "daguerreotype likeness" of the applicants, for the future use and reference of the society, but we are informed that the resolution had the desired effect, and that the society flourished like the green bay tree for several years subsequently; and allow the writer to suggest right here, that if a premium of a similar kind was offered every few years, experience has taught him that it would obviate a great deal of the contention, bickering and strife for petty prominence in a society intended to promote the interest of bulls and boars.

At a subsequent meeting we find that the clerks, judges, and marshals were appointed, the former to be under the control of the secretary, and the latter to obey the president ; that the decisions of the awarding committee were decided to be made out in writing, sealed up and handed to the secretary. Also, at the same time they selected the speakers for the ensuing fair, and we notice that they exhibited the same desire for progress in this matter as in every other branch. The large poster for this year states that tne board have secured the following named gentlemen to address the people at the fair: Governor Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana; Hon. Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky; Colonel Samuel Medary and Professor W. W. Mather, of Columbus, Ohio; and Dr. J. R. Warder, of Cincinnati.

The price of admission was fixed at fifteen cents per day for one person, and families were allowed the privilege of purchasing tickets that would admit the whole flock during one day, for forty cents. Efforts were made to secure the court house, the same as the year before, but on account of court being in session, resort was had to the building situate on Barron street, immediately south of the Eagle hotel, then owned by the vice-president of the society. Rough shelves and benches were erected along the sides of the room, upon which were placed the display of pumpkins, squashes, and big ears of corn; here and there could be seen a bed-quilt and piece of homespun jeans, with a waistcoat, pair of pantaloons, and a pair of woollen socks dangling from nails driven in between the bricks. Conspicuous on the bench devoted to "garden truck," as it was called, was a cucumber fourteen inches in length, which an indiscreet lad, now a prominent dry goods merchant of Eaton, had purloined from his mother's garden, and which she had been anxiously saving for seed. We are told that he received ten cents from the society for his public-spiritedness, and a sound flogging from his mother for his indiscretion. The eight acre commons owned by Captain L. T. McCabe, situate on Barron street in Eaton, immediately north of the old white school-house, answered the purpose for the display of stock this year.

No record of awards are come-at-able, and with the exception of an isolated case, we are unable to state who carried off the red and blue among the stock.

John P. Acton was then as now in the milling business, and had then as now some very fine draught horses, which the society were anxious for him to display, but owing to a press of business, he was unable to enter them in proper time, and happening to drive his mill team past the "commons" on the second day, the judges on horses hailed him, and he hitched his team, unharnessed one of his horses, took him into the fair and received the red ribbon, whereupon he put the harness on him again and went to the country after logs. The fair closed with an address by Colonel Samuel Medary, and the people dispersed to their homes, all delighted with the success of what the year before was considered a very doubtful venture, but which by the success of this year's exhibition was a permanent institution.

Of the fair of 1853 we have no record, and can not obtain any authentic information. We are told that the officers rented four acres of Cornelius Vanausdal, situate on the east side of the Franklin road leading out of Eaton, and immediately east of the present new school house situate in Eaton. The grounds were fenced in with a high paling fence, which was considered quite an improvement over the old commons. The grounds bore at the time, and retained for a number of years afterward the euphonious name of "Vanausdal's park." A few temporary buildings were erected for the accommodation of the articles in the horticultural and mechanical departments, several sheds were built for the stock, and a track forty feet in diameter, was laid off, on which to show the horses. It was a great advancement over the year before, and was largely attended during the three days it was held. But one incident can be called to mind concerning this fair, and that was of Rufus McWhinney showing a horse in harness, hitched to an old fashioned gig. It was the first time that a horse had been displayed with any harness on him other than a halter, and attracted considerable attention. So proud was Mr. McWhinney of introducing this new feature at the fair, that, attempting to drive faster than was prudent, in turning one of the very sharp corners of the track, the horse upset his vehicle, threw the driver against the paling fence, and entirely demolished the gig.

The receipts were ample to meet all the demands of the society, and, we suppose, must have left a handsome balance in the treasury, for in the next year we find the society had taken the advice since given by the lamented Horace Greely, and gone west. At the annual meeting of the members of the society, held in December, 1853, Enoch Taylor was chosen president, G. W. Gans, secretary, J. P. Brookins, treasurer, Oliver Barbour, 0. W. Peck, Archibald Campbell, Henry Harter, Silas Peters, and Ross Conger, managers. It was determined at this meeting to hold the next exhibition at New Paris, Ohio,

and it was called a farmers' festival; the time chosen was the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth of October, 1854. A park of four acres, most elegantly fitted up for the occasion, containing four halls for the different classification of articles, and two rings for exhibiting live stock, was donated by the citizens of New Paris, for the use of the society. Addresses were delivered from the public stand on the last day of the fair by Hon. Abner Haines and General George D. Hendricks. The price of admission to this fair was fixed at one dollar for family tickets, good during the three days, and twenty cents for single admission.

The arrangements which had been made were ample and appropriate, and highly creditable to the enterprising citizens of that pleasant town. There was a large attendance on Thursday, and but for the rain which continued falling during the greater part of the afternoon, the entertainment would have been unusually interesting. The display of superior blooded cattle was the finest ever made in this section of country, there being twenty or thirty large bulls, mostly Durham, and about twice as many cows and calves. There were quite a number of horses exhibited, and some remarkably fine ones. But few sheep were on display, but these were of good quality. The swine were only about an average. The poultry display attracted fully as much attention as any other department, there being some fifteen or twenty different varieties. The other departments were all well represented with the exception of the grain and vegetable products, which, owing to the dryness of the season, amounted to comparatively nothing. There was a new feature introduced into this fair which created considerable bad feeling, and of which a great many disapproved. We allude to the negro performances, and "monkey shows." A great many thought that if the society could not stand upon its own merits, without the aid of such extraneous contributions, its existence had better cease; but be the justice of their arguments what they may, we know that the persons who objected so seriously at that time, now enjoy a good hearty laugh at such performances, as well as the most "hardened sinner"-so much for educating a community. We notice among the premiums that Miss Anna DeGroot received the first premium—a set of silver spoons-for the finest equestrian performance, and Miss Sophronia Holderman, the second—a breast pin. The Eaton Register received two dollars for the best specimen of job printing, and Abraham Norris a diploma for the best cut shingles.

In 1855 the officers elected for the ensuing year were, General Felix Marsh, president; L. T. McCabe, vice-president; G. W. Gaus, secretary; J. P. Brookins, treasurer; John Neal, Jacob May, Joseph Fisher, Silas Peters, and J. H. Stubbs, managers. They determined to purchase grounds, and no longer be under the necessity of renting, and looked at quite a number of tracts that were offered for sale before deciding, but finally purchased, of John Neal, ten acres, situated immediately north of where the present fair ground is. They paid six hundred and eighty-five dollars for it, which was considered rather a large price for a society in its infancy to pay. The ten acres of sward land were enclosed by a tight, substantial board fence. Commodious buildings were erected for exhibition. Stalls and cattle-pens were built, and a well, affording an abundant supply of water, was dug in the center of the grounds. A training track about a quarter of a mile in length was laid off, in the middle of which a lofty flag staff was raised.

On the Saturday after the preparations had been completed a celebration was held on the grounds, at which speeches were made. The Eaton brass band supplied the music, and the Washington guards, under the command of Lieutenant J. J. Hunt, furnished the ornamental portion of the affair. When our rural friends and some good old disciples of Israel discovered a race track as one of the features of the new grounds quite an ado was raised, and they avowed that Satan had certainly gotten a hold on the managers. And one of our county papers, in endeavoring to sooth the pious indignation that thrilled the hearts of some of its contributors, says: "It is nothing more than a piece of ground cleared of the rubbish, and leveled smooth enough to ride over without diffrculty." The premium list this year was greatly enlarged, and was much more extensive than formerly, and the board of managers spared no pains to make it agreeable to all. One thousand dollars was advertised as the amount of premiums to be awarded, and the name of Hon. Thomas Corwin was printed in large letters on the bills, stating that he would positively address the people. Opinions differ in reference to the success of this year, some stating that it had never been excelled, while others say it was a miserable failure, compared to what it should have been, considering the unparalleled opportunities offered. Of this, however, we are credibly informed, that in the horse department competition was strong, the display of cattle large, and the superior specimens found in the different halls indicated that the Preble county fair compared favorably with any of the surrounding counties. Hardin Bruce exhibited two fat cattle that were described as truly enormous, and were called the elephants of the show. The ladies' department was well represented, rich rare and racy. Among the different articles was a chromatic painting— "An Ancient Castle in Ruins"—executed by Miss Julia A. Morgan, which was said to he very fine. There was a very large display of agricultural implements, which attracted a great deal of interest. The ladies' riding match engrossed the attention of every one. Some nine or ten ladies entered the list as competitors for the prize. George Medill was one of the judges in this contest, and after a spirited contest Miss Jose Bruce was the happy recipient of the first, and Miss Anna Degroot of the second prize. The Washington guards served as police, and had the entire control of the ground. The Eaton cornet band played sweet strains of music during the entire fair, which added great enjoyment to the occasion, and the race track was decided not such a terrible immoral affair after all.

At a meeting held on the twenty-ninth of December, 1855, the following officers were elected: James Denniston, president; R. S. Cunningham, vice-president; Joel

W. Harris, secretary; James Albert, treasurer; G. D. Clapsaddle, R. Marshall, J. M. Dougherty, S. Brinley, and J. P. Acton, managers. The fair this year was held on the eighth, ninth and tenth of October, and was a grand success. The attendance was acknowledged to have been larger than the year before, the entries far greater, and the receipts consequently greatly increased. The display of flowers this year was very fine, being the first time that any particular attention was paid to this beautiful department. We notice among the premiums that Eli Conger took first premium on the best boar, Dave Suffrans on a fur hat, and John Neal on his "Jolly Ranter" stallion. The writer has not at hand any statement showing the condition of the exchequer, but from the fact that the society continued to pay its premiums in full, we suppose it must have been good.

The annual election for the year 1857 resulted in the re-election of H. W. Dooley, president; Eli Conger, vice-president: Joel W. Harris, secretary; James Albert, treasurer; Silas Peters, Enoch Taylor, Robert Marshall, Thomas T. Stephens, and J. M. Dougherty, managers. The time for holding the eighth annual fair was set for the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth of October, and the same premium list, as the year before was adopted. The fair this year was not as great a success as the year before, owing to the unfavorable condition of the weather, it raining all day during the first and third days of the fair. The entries were in excess of the previous year, but the attendance not as great. The show of horses was fine, but in the classes of hogs, sheep and cattle, the display was greatly inferior to former exhibitions. H. B. Vanausdal, still retaining his public-spiritedness as displayed in former years, exhibited a pair of Guinea pigs, with a numerous progeny of younglings neatly housed in a tenement of his own manufacture. Mr. E. Wasson received a premium on a monster pumpkin weighing two hundred and two pounds. A jar of sugar, produced from sugar cane, was shown by Mr. Neaff. The, receipts this year were about fifteen hundred dollars. The indebtedness of the society, carried over from former years, was four hundred and sixty dollars, and the improvements this year amounted to three hundred dollars, leaving the society in a flourishing condition. Want of space will not permit the writer to go into the details of the fair as we did in the first few that were held, and hereafter we will endeavor to confine ourselves to as brief an outline of each fair as we possibly can.

On December 26th the election of officers was held for the year 1858, and the following were chosen: H. W. Dooley, president; J. M. Dougherty, vice-president; Joel W. Harris, secretary; James Albert, treasurer; and T. F. Stephens, Daniel Payne, David Swartzel, John Mills, and Jacob McKinstry, managers.

This year the time for holding the fair was earlier than ever before, commencing on the twenty-first of September, and continuing four days. The premium list was enlarged, and every inducement offered to make it a success; but owing to the unfavorableness of the season for the growth of fruits and vegetables, and the extreme dullness in all branches of business, it was not such a success as had been anticipated. Not less than three thousand people were in attendance during the last two days, and the whole number of entries aggregated mine hundred and thirty-seven. Of these, two hundred and thirty-six were on horses, sixty-nine on cattle, thirteen on jacks and mules, and fifty-seven on sheep. The display of horses and cattle exceeded any previous years, but the departments of sheep and hogs were still far behind in proportion to other things. The class of buggies and carriages was well filled by the display of J. S. Ortt, and the department of relics and curiosities being for the first time opened, offered fine amusement for those who enjoy antiquated things. Among the various displays was the first copper tea-kettle ever used in Eaton, exhibited by Mrs. Polly McCabe, and was bought by William Bruce, sr., in 1796; an old table cover, said to be two hundred and two years old, was shown by Mrs. Gray. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted in H. W. Dooley being chosen president; Eli Conger, vice- president; P. R. Minor, secretary; J. P. Brookins, treasurer, and E. Taylor, Jos. Walters, R. Marshall, J. H. Kaylor and Thomas F. Stephens, managers.

At a meeting held in August, 1859, judges for the different departments were chosen, and it was resolved that a test be made of the draught horses by pulling. The horticultural society of Eaton was given charge of the floral department and fruit and vegetable halls at the coming fair. It was decided to hold the fair four days, commencing on September l0th. The weather was fine, and a good attendance was had. The horticultural and floral departments were especially fine, owing to the joint action of the two societies. A balloon ascension was had on the last day, and was the thing. of the fair. Among the premiums we notice Duel Haries received seven dollars for the fastest trotting horse—time, three minutes and one second. G. D. Clapsaddle took the sweepstakes on bulls, and W. B. Silvers on a boar. J. H. McWhinney received five dollars for the best specimen of plowing three horses abreast, and Ben. Fleming on the best farm wagon. The premium list this year amounted to eight hundred and ninety-eight dollars and thirty cents, and the receipts, two thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars and seventy-two cents. The society paid two hundred dollars for the balloon ascension, and fifty dollars to the secretary. The balance left in the treasurer's hands was three hundred and sixty- eight dollars, and twenty-one cents.

The society held its election this year on Dec. 31st, and chose H. W. Dooley, president; J. M. Daugherty, vice-president; J. Eastman, secretary; J. P. Brookins, treasurer, and Enoch Taylor, Frank McWhinney, J. A. Kaylor, David Patton and S. B. Duffield, managers. At this meeting the time decided for holding the next fair was the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty- first of September, and a committee consisting of David . Patton, J. A. Kaylor and J. M. Daugherty, were appointed to look out the best site for a new fair ground, and ascertain what can be obtained for the one now in use. It seems by this, that what but a few years since had been considered a very large tract was now entirely

too small, and they must advance with the times. The time for holding election for officers was also changed at this meeting to the third day of the fair. Preparations were made to make this fair the most successful one that had ever been held. The balloon ascension had proven such an attractive feature the year before, that the board this year resolved to have two ascensions-one on the third, and the other on the last day of the fair. The horticultural society offered separate premiums, distinct from the agricultural society, and consequently the display in this branch was greatly increased. The best laid plans of men will some time fail, and this year the old adage proved too true. The inclement weather contributed its share towards disappointing the anticipated success, but the principal feature that caused so much dissatisfaction was the failure of the aeronaut to put in an appearance with his magnificent balloon, till about five o'clock in the afternoon of the ,last day, when most of the people had left the grounds in not a very good humor. They voted that what was expected to be the most successful exhibition was the most successful "sell." We have not at hand the receipts of this year, but are told that they were in excess of the year before owing to the advertised attraction which did not materialize.

The election for the year 1861 resulted in H. W. Dooley being chosen president ; Enoch Taylor, vice- president ; J. Eastman, secretary ; J. P. Brookins, treasurer, and M. Dasher, S. S. Richie, Daniel Payne, David Swartzel and J. P. Acton, managers. The board this year erected a dinning hall on the grounds.

The committee appointed to look for a site for the new grounds, had not yet reported, and nothing was done in the matter for several years. The fair was held on the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth of September, and was not so good as the preceding year, either in attendance or the exhibition of articles, owing, perhaps, partially to the dissatisfaction of the year before, but mostly on account of the excitement of the unpleasantness with our southern brethren—still it was much better than had been expected. The weather the first two days was rainy and gloomy, but on Thursday and Friday it was clear, and the attendance fair in size. The exhibition of stock was on an average, and the horticultural hall as usual proved very attractive. The exhibition closed with a drill given by the boy soldiers of this place, after which Father Charles Swain delivered an address. We notice tat H. W. Dooley received five dollars for the best essay on wheat, and James Denniston a diploma for the finest display of fruit trees.

The board for the next year consisted of H. W. Dooley, president; J. M. Daugherty, vice-president; John Eastman, secretary; N. B. Stephens, treasurer; M. Disher, Robert Marshall, William Berry and J. P. Acton, managers. The thirteenth annual fair was held on the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth of September, 1862. The premium list this year was increased, and with the erection of new buildings on the ground, it was hoped to regain their former standing in the county; but as the time for holding the fair approached the outlook was not encouraging, and the prospect poor for having any fair at all, owing to so many of our farmers having enlisted in the army, and those at home at this time did not feel like exerting themselves in any manner except to save the country; so it was decided to postpone the fair to the next year, continue the same officers and managers, and hold it on the twenty-ninth and thirtieth of September and first and second of October. The weather seemed to frown upon the undertakings of the board in the past, and this year it treated them no more leniently, as it rained a large portion of the time, cutting down the receipts to five hundred and two dollars and fifty cents, causing the board to only pay a per cent. of the premiums offered. Considerable dissatisfaction was caused by this, it being the first time they had not received their full amounts. In comparison with other fairs held in the adjoining counties this year, considering the condition of the county, our fair was in every way creditable.

The managers did not realize all they had hoped, still all the thinking and sensible people were in a great measure satisfied. The board, after paying the obligations of the society that had to be met in full, found they had sufficient left to pay sixty-five cents on the dollar of the premiums offered. It left a balance of twenty- three dollars and eighty-two cents in the treasury, smaller than it had ever been, and was rather discouraging.

The same president and vice-president were continued in office, and Isaac S. Morris was chosen treasurer, J. Albert, secretary, P. McGrew, M. Misher, Benjamin Deardorf, Robert Marshall and J. B. Gentle, managers. This year, for the first time, they rented the ground during the summer months for pasture, and realized enough to pay the interest on their indebtedness.

The fair was again postponed this year. Among the various reasons assigned, the principal were, that many of the patrons were away in the one hundred days' service, and would not return home in time to prepare anything for exhibition, and a great many would not even have time to attend in consequence of the pressure of their fall work; the draught was so severe this year that the exhibition, either stock or vegetables, would have been far below that of other years. The officers and managers of the preceding year were continued in office, and this year they resolved to hold the fair on the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth of September, 1865. This year a new fence and buildings were erected, and the grounds cleared of a great many trees. Contrary to the expectations of a great many, the fair was a decided success. The weather being favorable all the week the people were out in large numbers, and on the third day they might have been numbered by thousands.

The horse department surpassed any previous year, likewise the cattle, but the display of hogs and sheep still kept behind. The ladies department was well filled and the specimens of grain were fine. This year the speed ring was well filled, and attracted a great deal of attention.

The premium list was not large this year, amounting to only seven hundred and ninety-two dollars and twen-

ty-five cents, the total receipts aggregating one thousand seven hundred and forty-three dollars and one cent, which, after paying off the indebtedness of the society, left a balance of two hundred and fifty-seven dollars and twenty cents in the treasurer's hands. The election for the year 1866 made some changes in the board, still, however, continuing their worthy president, H. W. Dooley, but electing J. T. Deem vice-president, J. Albert, secretary, Joseph Fisher, treasurer, and Benjamin Deardorf, J. B. Gentle, J. L. Chambers, Thomas F. Stephens, and Eli Conger, managers. This board determined, if possible, to ascertain what their indebtedness was, and instructed the treasurer to find it out, which was reported to be only one hundred dollars, which they immediately paid off. The old question of selecting new grounds was agitated, and a new committee appointed with that end in view. They reported at the next meeting that they had examined several places, viz.: The old "Garrison" Aukerman's farm, east of Eaton, and a tract belonging to James Bruce, but were unable to decide.

After discussing the matter for some time, they enlarged the committee and determined to hold the next fair on the second, third, fourth and fifth of October. At a meeting held in May, 1866, the committee on purchasing ground reported several new tracts, among them that of Mr. James Golliday, southeast of town, which consisted of twenty-three and one-half acres, and could be purchased for three thousand dollars.

The board, after consulting with the county commissioners, agreed to purchase this tract and have the title placed in the commissioners' hands, and the board should put up the buildings. They also agreed to purchase twenty acres of Hardin Bruce for three thousand six hundred and ninety-one dollars. They sold the old fair ground, consisting of ten acres, to Mr. Jacob Nation for one hundred and eleven dollars per acre, also four and four-tenths acres of the Bruce tract to Mr. Eli Fisher for six hundred and sixty-one dollars and twenty- one cents. They realized one hundred and sixty-eight dollars and twenty-five cents from the sale of the fence around the old grounds and. the crops that were sown therein.

New buildings were erected, stables and cattle pens were built, a tract laid off, and the new grounds placed in a very fair condition. The premiums offered in the speed ring were greatly enlarged, although creating some dissatisfaction, and everything was done to make the dedication of the new grounds an entire success.

About a month before the time for holding the fair it commenced raining, and continued almost incessantly up to the time appointed by the board when the new grounds should be opened. In consequence, a postponement was had until the twenty-third of October, and the result proved that the board were not very good weather prophets. Tuesday and Wednesday were cool, the latter especially, as a little snow sifted quietly down in the morning and there was a very heavy frost, and on Thursday, and all Thursday night, it rained; still little things like these did not deter the people from turning out in great numbers. Over one thousand three hundred entries were made, and the success of Preble county fairs was an established fact. Over one hundred and fifty entries were made in the horse department; among the cattle quite a number of fine blooded ones were to be seen. The raisers of hogs and sheep redeemed themselves and made a fine show. All the other departments were full, and everything passed off to the satisfaction of not only the board but the exhibitors.

The receipts amounted to two thousand two hundred and eighty-four dollars and twenty-five cents, far exceeding any previous year. The same officers were continued this year by election, and the managers consisted of W. W. Danford, J. B. Gentle, E. Taylor, Joel Simpson, and P. McGrew. The board this year offered premiums for sheep shearing and plowing matches. They raised the admission this year for single admission to fifty cents, which proved so unpopular that they were compelled the next year to change it.

This year they held a fair in the spring, commencing on the thirtieth of May, and continuing two days. Very fair premiums were offered in the different departments of horses, and the venture proved somewhat of a success, leaving a little balance in the treasury.

The regular exhibition was held on the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth of September of this year. Two or three new wells were dug on the grounds this year, as the supply of water the year before had been very limited. Quite a number of stalls and sheds were erected, which were also very much needed. The weather was very fine, the attendance good, and everything tended to make this the grandest success so far, in the society's history. About eighteen hundred entries were made, and the total receipts were three thousand two hundred and eighty-six dollars and forty-one cents-quite an increase over the year before; still, the board had been so liberal in its offer of premiums, that but a small balance was left after paying off the claims.

By election the same board were continued in office, and the fair decided to be held in September, commencing on the twenty-second, and continuing four days. The usual rain and cold weather proved no exception this year. On Tuesday a cold, steady rain set in, and continued until Thursday evening; consequently a "damper" was thrown over everything, and the attendance very small—only six hundred member tickets were sold, and a correspondingly small number of single admission tickets. The number of entries was very small, and taken altogether, the seventeenth year was not much of a success. The total receipts from every source this year only amounted to fifteen hundred and eighty-six dollars,—the total expenditures twelve hundred and sixty-two dollars and ninety-one cents, leaving only three hundred and twenty-three dollars and nine cents with which to pay the premiums awarded, and as a consequence, the board were compelled to "scale" the awards, and settled by paying the enormous sum of seventy dollars in premiums.

The officers for 1869 were H. W. Dooley, president; J. M. Daugherty, vice-president; Robert Williams, treasur-

er; W. A. Swihart, secretary; William Campbell, Daniel Peters, Levi Young, H. B. Vanausdal, W. H. Campbell, J. B. Gentle, Thomas F. Stephens, and J. L. Chambers, managers. This year there was so much dissatisfaction over the amount of premiums paid at the last fair, that the treasurer was ordered to publish a list of all moneys received and paid out by him. It was determined to hold the fair this year on the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth of September, and October first, and it was a decided success in every. particular, not only in entries, which numbered two thousand one hundred and forty, but in attendance, which on Thursday was estimated at seven thousand. The total receipts were three thousand four hundred and ninety-one dollars and fifty-one cents, being larger than ever, and the premium list this year was paid out in full.

We have thus far given a detailed account of nineteen fairs in succession, and scarcity of time and want of space will prevent us going into detail up to the present time. With what we have written, a general idea can be formed of the fairs of this county. Of course, the nearer we approach the present time, the more successful are the undertakings of the board. The subject is necessarily dull and uninteresting, owing to a similarity of the subject matter running through the whole period over which this article extends. Apologies are very seldom allowable, but in the present instance we think it no more than justice to say that the writer has labored under great embarrassments in preparing this chapter, owing to the fact that all of the records of the society, prior to x859, were burned the preceding year, and he was unable to obtain any data except from a few old fair bills, and what information he could obtain from old settlers and members of the board. Matters of this kind naturally slip from the memory of the most careful person, and in detailing the above incidents, and in giving some of the dates, we possibly may have been in error, but if we have we hope our apology above will cover all such.

In conclusion, we will add but few things concerning the present condition of the society. It has continued to hold, without intermission, a fair every year since 1869. At that time it was considerably in debt, owing to its recent purchase of grounds, and the necessary improvement of the same. They erected a large amphitheatre and floral hall a few years since, and in the spring of 1879, when the following board took charge of its affairs, they were about fifteen hundred dollars in debt, and a great many improvements needed: J. N. Lake, president; J. A. Kaylor, vice-president; Frank G. Thompson, secretary; W. C. M. Brookins, treasurer; Philip Miller, Benjamin Deardorf, H. Maton, Abram Vantrump, M. Disher, D. Bixler, M. Swisher, Henry Miller, Robert Bell, A. Yost, managers. Mr. P. Miller was given charge of the grounds, and owing to his careful management and untiring industry, they were placed in a condition far superior to what they had ever been before.

The fair of this year was a grand success—so decided by every one who attended it; the receipts were good, the entries large, the attendance immense, and the dis play the finest ever witnessed at any fair. This year, by the good financiering of the board, they were able to place themselves free of debt, and once more commenced on a firm basis. To the energy displayed by Mr. Miller, a great deal of the success of this year's exhibition is due.

The society was fortunate in selecting the present location; the grounds were beautifully situated, and have become valuable. There may be larger county fair grounds in the State, but none better adapted for holding a county exhibition, and when the water from the flowing wells near Eaton is carried to the grounds, which at the present time is very strongly agitated, we can say, without fear of contradiction, that we will have the nicest grounds irf southern Ohio. And now the debt being removed, improved and more appropriate buildings can shortly be erected, and the organization will be in such a position that every member will not only appreciate, but be proud of it, and in the next decade it will become more efficient and consequently more useful and beneficial to the agriculturists, horticulturists, mechanics and stock raisers of Preble county.

IT would be a difficult task—perhaps an impossible one—to detail all the vicissitudes of the newspaper press in this county. The first attempt to establish the institution was made by Messrs. Blackburn & Daly, in the year 1816. They were young men of some energy and brains, but without capital. Cornelius Vanausdal furnished the means to buy an old style Ramage press (perhaps the only style then known), and type enough for the publication of a small sheet. With these materials was commenced the publication of the Western Telegraph, a weekly publication, on a demi-sheet. It is very doubtful if there is a complete file of that paper in existence at this time. Considering the paucity of mail facilities existing at that time, the isolated situation of the village, and the unsettled condition of the county, the conjecture would not be unreasonable, that the paper itself was of limited interest, and its patronage on the same scale.

The publication did not continue very long under the auspices of Messrs. Blackburn & Daly. Mr. Blackburn's health failed, and he finally died of consumption, and Mr. Daly was unable to continue the publication alone. John A. Daly, esq., was an Irishman by birth, highly educated, and a lawyer by profession. Soon after the failure of his newspaper enterprise he became deranged. For many years he was, literally, a wanderer upon the earth, roaming from place to place, as fancy might direct, occasionally visiting this place. His last appearance here

was in the year 1827. His last departure from here was toward the south—it was never known what became of him. He was the elder brother of George W. Daly, so long known in this county as a school teacher.

After the failure of Blackburn & Daly, Mr. C. Vanausdal, who owned the printing materials, continued the publication of the Western Telegraph for some time on his own account. Not being a practical printer, and the income from the publication being vastly below the outgo, and his mercantile affairs requiring all his time and care, in.a few months it was discontinued finally.

In the fall of 1819 Mr. Vanausdal was elected to represent this county in the legislature of Ohio, and at the same time Hon. Samuel Tizzard was elected a representative in the same body from Ross county. While serving in that capacity these two gentlemen formed an acquaintance; and Mr. Tizzard being a practical printer, was induced to visit this place in the spring of 1820, with the view of a location here. The result of his visit was, that he was so well pleased with the prospect, that he purchased the printing offrce, and during the ensuing summer commenced the publication of the Eaton Weekly Register. It was for several years published on a medium sheet, subsequently being enlarged from time to time, as the patronage and necessities would justify.

The publication of the Register, under various changes of proprietorship and editorship, has continued to the present time a period of sixty years, and has always been deemed the leading newspaper of the county. It would probably not be of much interest to the reader of the present day, to note all the changes and transfers of ownership of the Register. It may be proper to say, however, that Mr. Tizzard continued the publication up to the year 1830, and then sold out to Mr. Enoch Edmonson, a young man, printer by trade, from Washington city. Mr. Edmonson conducted the paper a couple of years, and then made a trip to the east, to visit his home and relatives, and on his return west, somewhere in the Alleghany mountains, he was killed by the upsetting of the stage coach.

After the death of Mr. Edmonson the paper changed hands several times, but continued to be published uninterruptedly. During the year 1839 Mr. Tizzard again became its publisher, and so continued up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1844. Succeeding this event, William B. Tizzard became proprietor, by whom the publication was continued for some years, when it passed into the hands of William F. Albright. The next proprietorship was that of Messrs. W. B. Tizzard and Isaac S. Morris, under whose management and control it continued until the year 1874, when it passed into the hands of W. F. Albright and Colonel Robert Williams, under the name of W. F. Albright & Company. At present (1880), it is published by W. F. Albright & Sons. It is proper, and may be of interest, to say that Mr. Albright has been connected with the Register office as apprentice, journeyman, partner, or proprietor, for about forty years, or more than the average length of human life.

It will not be deemed out of place here, to recall the names of those who have from time to time had control of the editorial department of the Register. After the elder Mr. Tizzard, and Mr. Edmonson, General G. D. Hendricks conducted it some time. John Vanausdal, esq., Francis A. Cunningham, esq., and Cornelius Dug- gins, each successively had control. David Johnson, W. B. Tizzard, John P. Charles, esq., G. W. Thompson, esq., Thomas J. Larsh, esq., Isaac S. Morris, and Colonel Robert Williams, also, for longer or shorter periods, occupied the editorial tripod. In addition to these parties, each of the above named proprietors was to a considerable extent identified with the editorship.

In the year 1827, the publication of The Star in the West was commenced in the Register office-Samuel Tizzard publisher, Rev. Jonathan Kidwell and Dr. Daniel D. Hall editors. This was a religious paper, published monthly, in the interest, and to propagate the doctrines of Universalism. The publication of the Star was continued here, in its original form (eight medium octavo pages), for three or four years, and was then removed to the city of Cincinnati. There it was pretty soon consolidated with a similar publication called the Sentinel, and became a weekly paper. It has continued to be published there, with one or two short migrations,. to the present time, and has long been considered one of the leading journals of the Universalist denomination.

In the beginning of the year 1840, in the midst of the heated political contest of that year, between the Whig and Democratic parties, an association, or stock company, was organized, a press and type purchased, and the publication of the Eaton Democrat commenced. Many changes of publishers and editors, frequent interruptions of continuity—some longer, some shorter—and various vicissitudes have attended the issue of the Democrat. A short time after the close of the war of the Rebellion, the establishment came into the possession of L. G. Gould, since which time its issue has been uninterrupted. It is printed on a large imperial sheet, has a liberal advertising patronage, and its editorial department is conducted with considerable ability. It manifests evidence of prosperity and permanence and exerts a fair share of influence upon the business prosperity of the country.

Frequent efforts have been made, from time to time, for the establishment of other newspaper enterprises both here, at the county seat, and at other points in the county, sometimes with evanescent show of success, but usually with feeble and short-lived vitality. There is at this time, however, a newspaper, published at the village of Camden, by Mr. E. M. Kennedy, called The Gazette, which gives promise of greater permanency than some of its predecessors. The first number of this paper appeared January 15th, 1880, and was published by E. M. and L. E. Kennedy.

The policy which has ruled in the conduct of the paper, has been that which aimed at the production of a good, newsy local paper, devoted to the interests of Camden and Preble county, and eschewing politics. The circulation of the Gazette has been very general throughout the southern part of the county, and reasonably good in all parts. of Preble and in adjoining coun-

ties. It has a circulation of about six hundred copies. The paper was published every Thursday by E. M. & L. E. Kennedy until July ro, 1880, when L. E. Kennedy retired from the firm. Since then, the paper has been carried on by E. M. Kennedy. It is an eight-column folio, ready print outside. The size of the paper, its advertising patronage, the ability displayed in its editorial department, its mechanical execution, all bear testimony to enterprise in the management, and are the harbingers of stability.

As an interesting historical fact, it may be stated that in the year 1824, an original school arithmetic was printed in the Register office, compiled by John Graham, called "Graham's New Arithmetic," which was the first publication of the kind in America that entirely omitted mention of sterling money, or the English system of computing money by pounds, shillings and pence. This work was the most extensive job of book printing ever done in the county. The letter press was on small pica and long primer type, and the press work done on an old Ramage or screw press, at the rate of two hundred and fifty sheets per hour, with the labor of two men, the forms being inked with old style buckskin balls.

It may be truthfully said, that the patronage extended to the newspaper press, by the citizens of this county, has always been liberal. Not only the home papers have been reasonably well sustained, but a very large number of leading. journals of Cincinnati and the eastern cities have always been taken in the county. Our people are distinctly a reading and intelligent people; and it would be diffrcult to find, anywhere in or out of the State, an equal number of newspapers taken and read by an equal population.

Here we might descant upon the utility and influence of the newspaper press, but it is a hackneyed theme, and we could only repeat what has been a thousand times said before, and in better phrase than we could use. Without intelligence and virtue, no people can become prosperous, or make the best of life. Especially in a Republican form of government is it important that virtue and intelligence should pervade all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Only where ignorance and superstition predominate with the masses, can the arts of the demagogue be successfully wielded. The fathers of the Republic understood this matter thoroughly, and made liberal provision, wherever possible, for the education of the whole people. In the first organic law of our State it is declared that the security of liberty is in the virtue and intelligence of the people, therefore ample provision shall be made by the State for the education of all the youth of the State. The newspaper, dealing as it does with the current events and transactions of to-day, and discussing the questions of present daily moment and importance, affords a truly indispensable medium of enlightenment and knowledge. The family or community that enjoys the advantages of a well conducted newspaper, is always far in advance, in point of intelligence and prosperity, of one deprived of such advantage. Besides its superiority as a medium of education, it is the cheapest source of knowledge ever enjoyed by any people. Remote be the day when our newspaper press shall descend from the standard of excellence which it at present occupies; and may the time speedily arrive, when the poorest cottage and the grandest mansion shall alike be supplied with the well conducted daily journal.

PRELIMINARY to any account of the members of the bar of Preble county, it would not be out of the way to notice the organization of the courts. From the records it appears that the first court of common pleas held in Preble county convened at the house of Samuel Hawkins, in the town of Eaton, on the twenty-third day of August, 1808. Hon. Francis Dunlavy, of Lebanon, was the president, and James I. Nesbit, John Merony, and John C. Irvin, associate judges; Alexander C. Lanier, clerk pro tem.; Samuel Mitchell, coroner and acting sheriff.

Joshua Collet, of Cincinnati, was appointed prosecuting attorney for the term. Alexander C. Lanier was appointed permanent clerk.

The following are the names of the first grand jury empanelled in Preble county: John Halderman, George Maxfield, William Milner, Simeon Van Winkle, Smith Charles, Hezekiah Hardesty, William Goodwin, Hezekiah Phillips, James White, Henry Kisling, John Pottenger, William Sellers, Isaac Patton, Samuel Holliday, John Ware.

At the time this court was held there was no attorney resident of the county. In fact, it was several years thereafter before one was located here. Attorneys from Dayton, Lebanon, Hamilton, and Cincinnati, usually came here with the courts, attended to the business of the term, and returned to their respective places of abode. No records exist from which a catalogue of such attorneys could be derived.' The following, among others, are remembered as pretty constant attendants at the courts of this' county, viz.: Joseph H. Crane, Henry Stoddard, Peter Odlin, Geo. B. Holt, Thos. Ross, Jacobus Halleck, John Woods, Nicholas Longworth, Jacob Burnet, Joshua Collet, Warren Munger, Joseph H. Benham, John McLain, Charles Hammond, and others. These names present an array of legal talent and forensic ability that will compare favorably with that of any other equal number to be found in any other state in the Union. Nearly all of these lawyers acquired national reputation; and it is not too much to say, that some of them, at least, occupy the very front rank in public estimation, as to talent and ability as lawyers, orators, and statesmen.

John A. Daley, esq., mentioned in another place, in the history of the newspaper press of the county. The next member of the bar claiming our attention is

DAVID F. HEATON, ESQ., who was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on the thirtieth of June, 1792. Nothing is known of his parents, except that they were emigrants from the State of New Jersey ; but whether natives of that or of one of the more eastern States is not known. It is to be inferred from the subsequent career of Mr. Heaton, that his parents were not blessed (or cursed) with a superabundance of this world's goods, but they were at least able to give him such an education as the very meagre facilities of that day furnished. When it is remembered that during his childhood and youth, almost the entire State of Ohio, together with the whole of the Northwestern territories, comprising the States, of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and all beyond the great "Father of waters," was an unbroken wilderness, where roamed the wild elk, buffalo, deer, wolf, and the equally wild and savage red man, it will readily be understood that schools, and means of instruction in the liberal arts and sciences, were few and imperfect.

In early life Mr. Heaton was apprenticed to the tailoring business, which occupation he followed only a few years. When about twenty years of age he went to Franklinton, Ohio, and opened a shop for the prosecution of his trade. He had not long resided at that place, however, when he was offered a position on the staff of General McArthur, commander of the troops called into the service of the United States during the War of 1812 with Great Britain, and attached to the Northwestern army. This was in the year 1813, or beginning of 1814. He made one or two campaigns in the Northwest during that war, undergoing all the dangers, hardships, and suffering incident to a campaign in the wilderness, and swamps, and fastnesses, over which the armies had to pass to strike the enemy. A few—alas ! how few—of the participants in those fatiguing and dangerous exploits yet linger amongst us, and only they can understand and appreciate the hardihood, endurance, heroism indeed, required to achieve what was accomplished by the Northwestern armies during that war.

From the fact that immediately after the war Mr. Heaton located himself at Lebanon, in Warren county, it is conjectured that in his campaigns he made the acquaintance and formed intimate friendships with some of the leading men of that then prominent place. Here he engaged in the study of law, in the office of the late Thomas Ross, esq., who was at that time, and ever afterwards, one of the leading lawyers of the State. He had for a fellow student the late Governor Thomas Corwin, who read law at the same time and under the same- preceptor. About the close of the year 1816, or beginning of 1817, Mr. Heaton was admitted to the bar, and soon afterwards located at Eaton to practice his profession.

Anterior to the settlement here of Mr. Heaton, all the legal business in the courts of the county was transacted by members of the bar from adjoining counties. The courts of that day, be it understood, were quite different from those of the present day. Courts at that day were held by a president or circuit judge, and three associates. The circuit judge was elected by the legislature, and was uniformly chosen on account of his erudition as a lawyer, and his urbanity and dignity of deportment. The associate judges were chosen by the legislature, also, and were generally the best informed, most sensible, and most highly esteemed farmers or mechanics of the county. For many years after the organization of the county, the courts seldom, if ever, occupied more than two or throe days at a session or term. The business of the term was judiciously arranged and transacted promptly. The judges not being dependent upon popular elections for their places, were not careful to conciliate votes rather than a faithful and diligent discharge of their duties.

On the nineteenth day of September, 1817, as appears upon the records of the court, David F. Heaton was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county, and on the seventh day of September, 1818, the board of county commissioners granted him an order upon the county treasury for fifty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, to compensate him for his services for one year. Mr. Heaton continued in the office of prosecuting attorney, by re-appointments or election, for some eight or ten years. The office at that day was not lucrative, but was desirable only as an endorsement and recommendation, so to speak, for other legal business.

On the thirtieth day of April, 1818, Mr. Heaton was married to Miss Celia Coggswell, daughter of Dr. Coggswell, of Kentucky, and sister-in-law of Dr. Walter Buel, then a citizen of Eaton. Miss Coggswell was a beautiful, refined, and highly accomplished young lady, and was universally recognized and spoken of by the people of that day, as of surpassing beauty of person and loveliness of character. She, however, lifed less than a year after marriage, and died March ro, 1819. Mr. Heaton's second wife was Miss Mira Shannon, of Lebanon, Ohio, to whom he was married, in the month of November, 1820, and with whom he lived fifty-one years.

At the October election, in the year 1824, Mr. Heaton was elected a member of the senate of Ohio, from the district comprising this county and all the counties on the north of it to the Michigan line. In 1827 he was elected a member of the house of representatives from this county, and in 1828 was again elected to the senate, to which he was re-elected in 183o, thus serving six years in the senate, and one year in the house of representatives of the legislature of the State. He always took an active interest in the politics of the country, and wrote many able articles for the papers in advocacy of his particular views. He was an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, and was earnest and untiring in advocacy of the claims of the Great Commoner to the Presidency in 1824. Being of an active, persistent, and earnest nature, he was able to impress his particular views and opinions, to a very marked extent, upon the people with whom he came in contact. His unbounded admiration for Henry Clay, and his views of governmental policy, were consequently to a large extent propagated among

the then citizens of the county; and it is not too much to say that the continuous ascendancy of Whig and Republican principles in this county is very considerably attributable to the efforts, at that early day, of David F. Heaton.

In the legislature he was a diligent worker, ever striving to carry forward measures for the advancement of the interest of his immediate constituents, and of the State at large. Many leading and important State roads, traversing the then almost unbroken wilderness of the northwestern counties of the State, owe their existence to the foresight, energy, and diligent labors of Mr. Heaton. These roads, thus opened up by the bounty of the State, became avenues for emigration and forerunners of civilization.

About the year 1836 Mr. Heaton removed to Washington city. For some two or three years previously he had passed most of his time in that city, whilst his family still remained here. Prior to the removal of his family, he had received an appointment to a clerkship in the land office department of the general Government, and was assigned to the bureau of Virginia military land claims. He remained in this position until 1845, when he returned to Ohio, taking up his residence at Portsmouth, in Scioto county, where he again resumed the practice of his profession. Whilst in the land office department at Washington, he became thoroughly conversant with the laws and rules regulating land titles in the Virginia military land district, and was thus enabled at once to enter upon an extensive and lucrative practice in Scioto and adjoining counties. In the year 1838, whilst residing in Washington city, he had been admitted to practice in the several United States courts.

Mr. Heaton died at Portsmouth on the third day of November, 1871, in the eightieth year of his age. One son—Leonidas Heaton, esq., of Portsmouth-and his wife survived him.

Lawyer Heaton was below a medium size—indeed might be called small in person, not weighing, in the prime of life, above one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and thirty pounds. He was a symmetrically proportioned man, muscles well knit, straight, elastic, and active as a cat. There were but few men of his day who could outrun him, or beat him leaping, or throw him in a wrestle. He was very fond of feats of activity, and delighted in gunning and the sports of the field and forest. In his personal habits, he was fastidiously neat and particular, and it was a very rare occurrence to find him, at home or abroad, alone or in company, in slovenly attire. He was extremely social in disposition, fond of jokes and hilarity, and an excellent conversationalist. In his youthful days, it was the prevalent fashion for men of any pretension to wear their hair in a cue, which style he adopted, and adhered to it for many long years after the custom had been abandoned by all others. The style was very common during and directly after the close of the War of 1812, but has long since entirely disappeared. There are, perhaps, a few persons yet alive who remember to have seen Mr. Heaton, Judge Holt, and perhaps one or two others, at the Eaton bar, wearing cues up to the year 1824 or 1825—but Mr. Heaton continued the practice much later.

David F. Heaton, esq., saw and knew, and was an active participant in the wonderful and amazing progress of the State of Ohio for a period of about sixty years. When he arrived in the State, no more than sixty years prior to his decease, its population, confined mostly to its southern and eastern borders, but little exceeded one hundred thousand souls, and at the day of his death was but little short of three millions—increasing almost thirty fold in that short period. In material development, and the advancement of all the arts of civilization, the progress was still more marked and wonderful. Those who have lived long enough to compare the present condition with that of sixty years ago, can appreciate the tremendous development that has been wrought by the busy hands and earnest purpose of the hardy pioneers of the west.

CEPHAS D. MORRIS, ESQ.-On the thirtieth day of June, A. D., 1821, Cephas D. Morris was admitted to the bar, as attorney and counsellor at law, by the supreme court setting for Preble county. Nothing is known of his history.

JONES A. MENDALL.—On the twentieth day of June, A. D., 1823, Jones A. Mendall was admitted to the bar, etc. Mr. Mendall was a native of the State of Connecticut, born about the beginning of the present century. He was a ripe scholar, a graduate, it is believed, of Yale college, and of uncommonly bright intellect. He came to this county, and taught school in the neighborhood of Judge Van Ausdal, in Lanier township, during the winter of 1820-21. His superior ability and qualifications as a teacher very soon attracted the attention of the people throughout a wide scope of country; and the result was that he very soon had a large class of young men in his school, earnest seekers after knowledge, gathered from various parts of the county. Mr. Mendall was so popular as a teacher, that his patrons insisted that he should teach a second term the next winter (1821-22). He was patronized in this second school by most of the same pupils that attended the first one, with several additional young men. No more successful school was ever taught in the county; and there yet linger, here and there, some of the old boys who look back with delight upon the time spent under the tutelage of Master Mendall.

In the summer of 1821, whilst reading law in the office of Lawyer Heaton, Mr. Mendall was prevailed on to take a class of thirteen boys, from the ages of twelve to eighteen years, instructing them in Latin and Greek and English composition. This class was conducted in one of the upper rooms of the old court-house. The teacher was most diligent in his duties, and the pupils, without an exception, made most rapid progress. The following are the names of the members of this class, so far as now remembered, viz: John Van Doren, John Van Ausdal (son of Judge Peter Van Ausdal), William Worthington, Jacob Monfort, John L. Bruce, Newton Larsh, Thomas J. Larsh, Joseph S. Hawkins, George Miller, Felix Marsh, Harvey Buell—the only one of whom now living is Thomas J. Larsh, esq.

Before his admission to the bar Mr. Mendall made a journey of exploration into the States of Indiana and Illinois, being absent several months. Soon after admission he again went west, and it was reported that he located in one of the Wabash counties. He never rementurned to this county, nor was any authentic information received from him. As his health was rather delicate, and he was somewhat reckless in his habits, it may reasonably be conjectured that his life was not long.

LAZURUS MILLER, esq., a native of Greene county, and who had read law and been admitted to the bar at Xenia, Ohio, came to Eaton late in the year 1821, and established himself in the practice of the law. He was at that time quite a young man, perhaps not above twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, and unmarried. The profession of law at that date was by no means a lucrative one. Mr. Miller very soon secured a reasonable share of the sparse business of the courts, and won the confidence and esteem of the community.

On the second day of January, 1823, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Fanny Buel, daughter of Dr. Walter Buel, the first physician located in Eaton.

On the twenty-ninth day of October, 1824, the county commissioners appointed Mr. Miller to the office of auditor of Preble county, to fill out the unexpired term of John G. Jamieson, esq., who, having been then recently elected to the State senate, had that day resigned said office of auditor. He immediately entered upon the discharge of the duties of the said office, and also continued in the practice of his profession. At the October election, 1826, he was re-elected to the same office, for the term of two years from the first Monday of March, 1827; and at the October election, 1828, he was again re-elected to the same office for the term of two years from the first Monday of March, 1829.

During the whole period of his occupancy of said office he performed the duties thereof promptly, efficiently, and to the entire satisfaction of the public and those having business therewith. Having been elected at the October election, 1830, a member of the house of representatives in the legislature of Ohio, he thereupon resigned the said office of auditor, and John C. McManus, esq., was appointed to fill out the unexpired term until the ensuing March. Having served in the legislature during the session of 1830-31 acceptably to his constituents he was re-elected to the same office, October, 1831. As a legislator Mr. Miller was laborious and efficient, prompt in attending to the interests of his constituents, and securing the confidence of his colleagues.

At the October election in 1832, he was again elected to the office of auditor of the county, his term to commence on the first Monday of March, 1833, and was continued in said office by subsequent re-elections until the first Monday of March, 1841, when he was succeeded by Hiram Jones, esq., who had been elected to said office at the preceding October election. Subsequently Mr. Miller was twice appointed to the office of postmaster of Eaton, but on account of political complications, and perhaps personal animosities, he was each time removed after a few months incumbency. Mr. Miller was a very active and zealous politician, and after a few years service in public offices paid but little attention to the practice of his profession. He was ardent, sagacious, incisive, persistent and tireless as a politician; and perhaps few men in the county ever wielded a greater influence than he did when at the summit of his popularity. He had many friends who were warmly attached to him, and toward whom he was equally devoted. He was esteemed a faithful friend and an unrelenting foe.

Some little time after being removed from the post office the second time, which occurred under the Tyler administration, Mr. Miller left this county, and removed with his family to Warren county, Indiana. He was in his new home not above a couple of years until he was elected auditor of that county. He was retained in said office until his death, which occurred some three or four years after his first election.

JOHN C. MCMANUS, ESQ., who was the third attorney at the Eaton bar, and really the second one permanently located here, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, near the city of Chambersburgh, on the twelfth day of March, 1787. His parents came from Ireland' only a year or two prior to his birth. The Northwestern Territory at that time presenting great inducements to emigration, his parents left Pennsylvania when John was not above five or six years old, and located in one of the eastern counties of Ohio, perhaps Carroll or Trumbull. Here young 'McManus, eager for the acquirement of knowledge, availed himself of every facility within his reach for the attainment of an education; and so well did he profit by the meagre opportunities presented that at the early -age of nineteen years he received an appointment from the Government to survey a district of public lands in the then Territory of Illinois. On the completion of this engagement, say about the year 18o8, he went to the village of Schenectady, in the State of New York, at which place there then existed an academical school of some repute, where he remained long enough to complete his classical studies and also to read law. He was called to the bar early in the year 1812, and soon thereafter returned to the west and located at the growing city of Cincinnati, for the purpose of engaging in the practice of his profession. The young and ardent patriot had not been long in this new field of enterprise until the surrender of General Hull, at Detroit, aroused the zeal and ambition of the young men of the western country as perhaps no other event could have done; and it soon found him enrolled as a volunteer in a company of mounted riflemen, organized at Cincinnati for the Northwestern army. He had scarcely got into the field of active service until his superior business qualifications attracted the attention of his commanders, and he was at once employed in the office of the adjutant general; and for some time he served as adjutant of his regiment. During the succeeding year, he was upon the regimental or brigade staff, either in the adjutant's or quartermaster's departments, and acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of his superior officers and with credit to himself.

year 1814, Mr. McManus located at Hamilton, Butler county, and again engaged in the practice of law. Whilst here, in common with other members of the bar, it was his custom to "travel the circuit," attending the courts in this county, as also those in Warren, Montgomery and other counties of the district. This was a laborious and by no means lucrative phase of his professional career. The attorney of that day who travelled the circuit was compelled to go on horseback, there being no such thing known as a public conveyance, and the roads for the most part being impracticable for private carriages. It was then a hard day's travel, for both horse and man, to make the journey from Hamilton to Eaton, often consuming part of the night as well as of the day. There was no great amount of litigation in any of these sparsely settled counties at that day, and it was not every attorney who got even a single fee at every court which he attended.

In February, 1815, Mr. McManus was married to Miss Catharine Miley, whose parents resided near the Miami river, about midway between Hamilton and Middletown. He continued to reside in Hamilton, pursuing his professional labors, until the year 1818. In the spring of that year he removed to Eaton, being the second attorney located in the county, David F. Heaton, esq., having preceded him by less than a year. It is true that John A. Daley was also temporarily here before Mr. McManus, but it is doubtful whether he ever engaged in the practice of the law here; at any rate he was here but a short time.

At this time Mr. McManus remained here only about a year and a half, when the death of both the parents of his wife made it necessary for him to return to Butler county, to take care of the farm and settle the estate and business of his deceased father-in-law. In the spring of 1823, he returned to Preble county—this rime locating himself in the unbroken wilderness of Jackson township, just on the western border of the "Rich Woods," on the same farm on which he continued to reside the remainder of his days, and which is yet occupied by his aged widow. Few people of the present day can appreciate the amount of labor, deprivation, suffering, self-sacrifice, and stern endurance involved in the opening up and establishing of a home in the heavy forests with which this county was originally covered. When he located on this farm, there was not "a stick amiss"—no road to it- no neighbor near it—no attraction about it but the prospect of making a home, where he might rear his family in credit, and pass the closing years of his life in peace.

Mr. McManus being an excellent, practical surveyor, he soon found occasional employment in that line. As such, he located and surveyed a great many of the county roads which traverse the county in various directions. He also served in the office of county surveyor some five years or so, and still continued to practice in the courts of the county. In the month of October, 183o, he was appointed by the board of county commissioners, to the office of auditor of the county, on the resignation of Lazarus Miller, esq., who had been elected a member of the legislature. In the year 1833, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of the county, in which office he served but a single term, declining a re-election. He was several times elected to the office of justice of the peace in his township, serving in that capacity some twenty years—seventeen of which were continuous, immediately preceding his death.

Esquire McManus died on the twenty ninth day of December, 1852, aged sixty-five years, nine months and fifteen days, and was interred in the cemetery near his residence, on the farm of Mr. William Frame. By his kindness of heart, uniform urbanity, and uprightness of conduct, he had gained the respect and esteem of all, and died much regretted.

It is not our purpose to indite an eulogy upon the character of Mr. McManus. As one of the pioneer attorneys of the county, and of the west, he is entitled to a prominent place in the history of his times. As an attorney, he was far more learned in the law than brilliant as an advocate. His education was equal to that of any of his compeers, and he was always in the front rank of the advocates and promoters of common school education. He taught school for many winters subsequently to his location in Jackson township—not unfrequently teaching at a distance of three or four miles from his home, and walking the distance, back and forth, every day. Among his neighbors he was esteemed almost an oracle; and it is greatly to his credit that he was frequently instrumental in reconciling misunderstandings between neighbors, settling difficulties, and suppressing litigation.

A distinguishing trait of his character was his love of literature, displayed in endeavors to promote and disseminate education and knowledge among the rising generation. He let pass no opportunity to encourage the young in their efforts for improvement and the acquisition of knowledge; and was always ready to hear recitations, without fee or reward, of the young men of his acquaintance who were pursuing the study of the higher branches of learning, particularly in classic lore and the mathematics.

Mr. McManus' parents being Presbyterians, necessarily he was reared in that faith; but some few years before the close of his life he attached himself to the Methodist church, and continued a faithful and consistent follower of Christ to the day of his death, departing in full faith of a blessed immortality.

HON. JOSEPH H. CRANE.—Although this gentleman was never a citizen of Eaton or Preble county, but from the fact that he attended the first court ever held in the county, and was a constant attendant of the courts, and a regular practitioner at its bar, up to the year 1817, and then for seven years president judge of the court of common pleas of the county, it is deemed proper to insert the following sketch, prepared by the late Judge Abner Haines, and published in the county papers in the year 1875:

Hon. Joseph H. Crane was born in the State of New Jersey, in the year 1778. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and consequently an ardent Whig, in the struggle of the colonies for independence. He was

badly wounded at the battle of Monmouth, but lived to a good old age, and was peacefully gathered home, after having lived to see the country, for which he had periled his life, an independent and prosperous nation. Thus it will be seen that the subject of this sketch descended from a noble and patriotic ancestry. Mr. Crane received a collegiate education in his native state; where also he read law, and was admitted to the bar in the year 1798. Immediately thereafter he came to the then "Northwestern Territory," and for a short period was located at Cincinnati, then an insignificant village on the bank of the Ohio river. He afterward located permanently at Dayton, Montgomery county, where he resided during the remainder of his eventful life. Dayton had then just been laid out, and contained but a few dozen families, and Mr. Crane was one of the first lawyers who settled in practice at that place. It was then scarcely a town, for its now broad and magnificent streets, existed only on paper, and the site could only be traced by a line of blazed trees in the wilderness. The primitive forest trees then towered high over the locality, and extended their long boughs over the sluggish waters of the great Miami river. The natural scenery of the locality was grand and magnificent in the eyes of the hopeful ,young attorney from New Jersey, and the surroundings must have been delightful to him.

Mr. Crane was a diligent student, and by close application and the aid of a retentive memory, he became a fine lawyer-not so much as an advocate, but as a safe and judicious lawyer and practitioner. He was a thorough master of the science of pleading at common law, and consequently his forms were used as precedents throughout the circuit, and for many years he never missed a court in Preble county. Throughout the circuit he was as well known in one locality as in another, and wherever known he was greatly respected, not only by the profession, but by all with whom he associated.

As a correct business lawyer he had but few equals and no superiors in the State; but he was extremely moderate in his charges, and neglectful in his collections. He had a large practice, but derived a very small income from it in proportion to the amount of business he did. Other attorneys, with half the practice of Mr. Crane, received a larger income than he did. As he advanced in age he was looked upon as the father of the Miami bar. In all matters of professional etiquette he was the umpire, and to his decisions the bar yielded a hearty assent. His special care and supervision-were parentally extended over the younger members of the profession throughout the circuit; and whenever he observed one in a tight place, either before the court or jury, he always came to his assistance with fatherly care and attention. This sort of interference on his part was borne by the bar without the least objection, as each one of them in turn had received the like fatherly care and attention from him on similar occasions. He was a generous coworker throughout the circuit for the young members of the profession, in giving advice and drawing up their pleadings gratuitously.

At the session of the legislature for 1816-17 Mr. Crane was elected president judge of the district which comprised the counties of Montgomery and Preble, with others, and served on the bench many years. In that capacity he gave universal satisfaction, and as a jurist his decisions commanded respect throughout the State. He continued in this office until the year 1827, when he was succeeded by George B. Holt, esq. By changes in the judicial district, however, Preble county was not in Judge Crane's circuit during part of his incumbency, but was in that of Judge Joshua Collet.

At the October election, 1828, Judge Crane was elected a representative in the Congress of the United States, and took his seat in that body on the first Monday of December, 1829. He was re-elected to that office three times serving to the close of the Twenty-fourth Congress, March 3, 1837. He rated as a valuable member and safe counselor among the national representatives. He was not brilliant as an advocate or speaker, but a plain, forcible, logical, influential reasoner. A general scholar, he was not specially preeminent in any one thing; at the same time was weak in nothing. With an evenly balanced mind, his character predominated in all that was good and reputable among men. Where he was well known his great worth and character gave him as much weight before the court and jury as anything he could possibly say. Preeminently a good man, he commanded the confidence and respect of all persons with whom he associated.' Possessing fine conversational powers, he delighted in the associations of his fellow men, and especially with members of the bar on the circuit. Wherever he appeared, his dignified bearing and manners gave a tone to society, and by a chaste and modest mien, he was an ornament to the profession. Open and candid in his manners, he detested anything mean, either in or out of the court room. Judge Crane in early life became a member of the Episcopal church, and died at an advanced age, at Dayton, Ohio.

In person Judge Crane was over six feet high, large and portly, of sanguine temperament and florid complexion. Although somewhat nearsighted in youth, his eyesight did not fail him in his declining years, and he never used glasses. Slightly bald, with a fine forehead, and medium sized brain, large and well proportioned, and courtly in appearance, he presented the true type of an American gentleman in every sense of the word.

MAJOR ALEXANDER C. LANIER.—Although Major Lanier was not an attorney at law, yet as having been one of the pioneers of Eaton, the first clerk of the board of commissioners of the county, and the first clerk of the courts, which office he continued to fill until he removed from the county in 1817, the same considerations that induce us to include Judge Crane in our sketches, also equally justify the following notice of Major Lanier:

Alexander Chalmers Lanier was born in Beaufort county, North Carolina, January 31, A. D. 1779. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Chalmers. She was nearly related to the Chalmers family in Scotland, of which Dr. Chalmers, the celebrated divine, was afterward a member.

was Thomas Lanier, a Huguenot of Bordeaux, France, who had been driven out of that country by religious persecution, near the close of the seventeenth century. He first emigrated to England, and came from that country to this in company with John Washington, or about the same time that he came. He subsequently married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Washington, and ultimately settled in North Carolina. The colonial records at Richmond, Virginia, show several grants of land to Thomas Lanier, by the crown of England, in the counties of Brunswick and Lunenburg, in that state. In his native country he was a man of high social position, and possessed a large estate, a considerable portion of which he managed to bring away with him, although it was confiscated by law. Lewis Lanier, a grandson of Thomas Lanier, and the grandfather of Major Lanier, married a Miss Ball, who was the sister of General Washington's mother. James Lanier, who was a child of this marriage, and the father of Major Lanier (his only child), was a planter. He was a cultivated gentleman, energetic and public spirited, and took an active part in the war of Independence, serving through the whole of it as captain in Colonel William Washington's regiment of light cavalry, which was particularly distinguished for its efficient service in some of the hardest fought battles of the Revolution. It may here be observed that many of the best men of the old colonial times were of Huguenot faith and descent. Their influence can be traced in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, and their valor was conspicuous on many well-contested fields. Louis XIV, by his persecutions, drove the Huguenots from his kingdom, but their spirit returned with increased power from America to inflame the French revolution, which hurled his successor from his throne.

Major Lanier's father, Captain James Lanier, served in General Anthony Wayne's campaign against the northwestern Indians, which not only avenged the defeat of General St. Clair, but completely destroyed the power of the hostile savages, and for the first time gave peace to, and prepared the way for, the settlement of the great Mississippi valley.

Major Lanier married Druzilla Doughty, a native of Virginia. In Washington, Beaufort county, North Carolina, was born to them a son, James Franklin Doughty Lanier, their only child, who is now the senior partner in the long-established banking-house of Winslow, Lanier & Co., New York city. In r8o2 Major Lanier, with his wife and son, emigrated to Bourbon county, Kentucky. There he invested much of his means in lands, which he lost by the defect of title, with which so much of the lands in that state was at that time clouded, and which produced such wide-spread disaster and ruin. In consequence of these losses, in 1807 he removed to Eaton, Preble county.

Upon reaching Cincinnati, on his way hither, he manumitted two valuable family slaves—the only ones he ever held. He was prohibited by the laws of Kentucky from manumitting them there. These slaves constituted quite a considerable portion of his worldly wealth at that time. He afterwards had the satisfaction of seeing them become useful and respected citizens in their condition of freedom.

As previously indicated, Major Lanier served as clerk of the courts from the time of the organization of the county until his removal to Indiana in 1817. Upon the breaking out of the War of 1812 he entered the army, and served until its close. He served under General Harrison, with the rank of major, in his northwestern campaign, and had in charge a long line of defences, extending westerly from Lake Erie and following up the valley of the Maumee, the most important of which was Fort Wayne, named in honor of General Wayne, under whom the major's father had served. Major Lanier's health was so much impaired by the exposure and fatigue of his military service that he was not afterwards able to engage in business to any considerable extent. He removed to Madison, Indiana, in 1817. That state had been admitted into the Union the preceding year, and contained about sixty thousand inhabitants, mostly scattered very sparsely over the southern portion of its territory. At that time the Indian title to the soil had been extinguished only about twenty miles north of Madison.

General Harrison in many ways manifested his high estimation of Major Lanier. His friendship for the father was also shown in acts of kindness for the son, (J. F. D.) who, when a little fellow of fourteen years of age, he invited to be with him and occupy a part of his tent at the important treaty he held with the Indians at Greenville, Ohio ; and long years afterwards, after the general's election to the presidency, and before his departure for Washington to enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office, he went to Madison and passed several days at the house of the son of his old friend, in a vain hope of securing some respite from the importunities of hungry office seekers.

The good example of industry and probity which Major Lanier's life afforded, no doubt had great influence in moulding the character of his son, J. F. D. Lanier, who after practicing law some years successfully, at Madison, became prominently connected with the State Bank of Indiana. Subsequently he removed to the city of New York, and was there for many years in the banking house of Winslow, Lanier & Co., engaged in negotiating western railroad securities ; and by his care, energy and success in this business, contributed greatly to the construction of that net-work of railroads which are now of such infinite value to the West. And although J. F. D. Lanier was too old, when the war of the Rebellion broke out, to take an active part in the field, as his ancestors had done in former wars, yet he was prompt to aid with his means the patriotic cause.

During the war, when on account of political complication, the financial affairs were in a most embarrassed condition, Mr. Lanier advanced to the State of Indiana from time to time, aggregating at one time over a million of dollars, to aid Governor Morton in arming and equipping the Indiana soldiers, and to pay the interest on the funded debt of the State, for which the legislature had failed to make provision.

built, and fine peCsonal appearance. His conversational powers were good, and he delighted in wit and hilarity. It is said it was he who suggested to the board of commissioners the name of Gratis township, from a remark made by Mr. Stubbs in urging its organization. Said Mr. Stubbs " we think we ought to have the township gratis ;" which remark so pleased Major Larnier, that he suggested to the commissioners to grant their petition for a township and call it " Gratis ;" and this incident is the origin of the name of that township.

Major Lanier, in addition to his fine social qualities, was a superior scholar and a remarkably energetic man. He contributed largely to the organization of the county ; and being the first clerk of the board of commissioners, he drew up all their forms, and so admirably arranged all the details of business in that department of county affairs, that the same is substantially followed to the present day. He did the same thing in the office of clerk of the courts, originating his own forms, and arranging the details of the business of the office very nearly on the same basis on which it is conducted at the present time. With no precedents before him, he originated all his own forms from the nature of the business in hand, and the old records yet attest his admirable executive ability. In this respect he was the master pioneer of the county, and its present inhabitants should hold him in grateful remembrance for his early and almost gratuitous labors.

Major Lanier died on the twenty-fifth day of March, A. D., 1820. The name of this worthy man and prominent pioneer stands perpetuated in the county, in the name of "Lanier" township, which his fellow citizens gratefully bestowed as a tribute to his memory. This early token of respect for the man, in all probability will perpetuate his name in all time to come ; for being connected as it is with one of the territorial divisions of the county, it is in the most desirable form to be spoken of and referred to by all future generations. It is a standing monument to his memory, more lasting than a granite or marble shaft.

Major Lanier, it may be of interest to say, in conclusion, erected the first brick building in the town of Eaton. It was a two-storied house, and stood on the site where the residence of Major H. B. Van Ausdal now stands. But the old house has passed away, with its proprietor, and not many years hence they will be none in the land of the living who ever saw either.

Hort. JOHN M. U. McNurr.—On the first day of July, A. D. 1825, John M. U. McNutt was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counsellor at law, by the supreme court for Preble county, Judge Jacob Burnet presiding.

Mr. McNutt was a native of the province of Nova Scotia, and born on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1802. His parents were natives of the State of New Jersey, and had emigrated to Nova Scotia some few years after the close of the war of the Revolution.

Young McNutt came to this county in company with David Upham, in the year 1822, and first took up his residence at the village of New Lexington, on Twin creek. He was then just out of school, having received a collegiate education. He engaged in the business of teaching soon after his advent into the county. At that day there was no such thing in this State as a common school system. The entire business of education was left to individual enterprise. All the schools of the country were subscription schools. The custom was, when the people of a neighborhood, by general consultation and agreement, had decided to provide the means of education for the rising generation, they first would select and agree upon a location for a school-house-, usually convenient to a spring or running brook—and then the entire neighborhood would meet together on a day appointed, with axes, saws, frows, shovels or hoes, and teams, and prepare logs for the building, haul them to the selected site, pick out a suitable tree and fell it for clapboards for the roof, prepare puncheons for the floor, raise the building, put on the roof, lay the floor, build the chimney, "chunk and daub" the cracks between the logs of the building, cut out a door, make and hang a shutter, and have a comfortable house for use and occupancy as an institution of learning—sometimes the whole completed in a single day, and not often occupying more than two days. There was no attempt at elegance, or the least superficiality in these structures. Comfort was the only consideration thought of in their erection. Not unfrequently a single term of three months school would be the terminus of its occupancy for that purpose. Perhaps a few of the citizens on one or the other side of the district that erected such a house would, before a second school could be organized, unite with a different set of neighbors in another direction, build another such house, and organize another school. But it is not our purpose to go into the history of the school system, or, rather, want of system, in existence at the time mentioned. Our design was to state the fact that all teachers were compelled to rely wholly upon subscriptions, and do their own collecting. The terms of subscription were somewhat variable, ranging from one dollar and a half to two dollars and a half per scholar for three months school, owing mainly to the number of scholars obtainable in the vicinity; but the compensation seldom exceeded from fifteen to twenty dollars per month, and out of that the teacher had to provide his board. The article of boarding, however, was about on the same scale of economy, being from fifty cents to one dollar per week.

Young McNutt commenced the business of teaching under some such conditions as we have attempted to portray, soon after arriving in the county, and continued the business in the village of New Lexington or vicinity, for some two or three years. During this time he was a frequent contributor to the columns of the Eaton Weekly Register, furnishing matter from time to time of very high literary excellence. Being a thorough classical scholar, of fine literary taste and broad intellectual endowment, his contributions to the paper were always received and read with marked interest. Whilst teaching, and during vacations, he pursued the study of the law, with the view of adopting that as a career.

took up his residence in Eaton, and engaged in the practice of his profession in company with his preceptor, Lazarus Miller, esq. In February, 1828, he was appointed to the office of prosecuting attorney, succeeding in that office David F. Heaton, esq., who had been elected a representative in the legislature the previous fall. He was continued in this office until the summer of the year 1833. In the year 1828 he was elected to the house of representative in the Ohio legislature, and again in 1829 he was elected to the same office. In the year 1832 he was elected to the senate of Ohio, from this and Montgomery counties, serving two years in that body. In both branches of the legislature he served with distinguished ability. Although a comparatively young man, but few, if any, of his fellow members exceeded him in influence or practical usefulness in the business of legislation.

On the twenty-eighth day of October, A. D. 1828, Mr. McNutt was married to Miss Jane C. Hawkins, daughter of Joseph C. Hawkins, esq., clerk of the courts of Preble county. One son was born to them, as the fruit of this marriage, to-wit: Joseph Gideon McNutt, who became an attorney after arriving at manhood, and who is also mentioned, in these sketches.

On the sixteenth day of September, 1826, Mr. McNutt was admitted a member of Bolivar Lodge, No. 82, Free and Accepted Masons. The lodge at that time was working under dispensation, but received its charter at the succeeding meeting of the grand lodge. On the twelfth day of May, 1827, the officers of Bolivar lodge were publicly installed, on which occasion Brother McNutt delivered an address prepared and suitable for the occasion. He was also chosen by his lodge to pronounce a eulogy, on the twelfth day of April, 1828, upon DeWitt Clinton, governor of the State of New York, who had died in the preceding month-which duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of the large assembly met to hear him.

After the conclusion of his senatorial term, Mr. McNutt was not again in the public service in any capacity. He died on the twenty-fifth day of September, 1837.his wife having died some year and a half previously.

In person Lawyer McNutt was of medium size, about five feet ten or eleven inches high, symmetrically proportioned, nervous-sanguine temperament, blond hair and florid complexion. Intellectually he was the equal of any of his compeers-exceedingly quick of perception, rapid in his deductions, seizing upon the strong points of his case, and the weak ones of his opponents, as if by intuition. Logical, terse, and compact in his arguments, he was strong, and ready, rather than ornamental in debate or before a jury. He was a thorough scholar, a diligent student, and untiring in the preparation of his cases. Almost from his first admission to the bar, he succeeded in securing a fair share of legal business before the courts, and before his health failed had the most lucrative practice of any member of the bar in the county.

ELISHA EGBERT, ESQ., was a native of Warren county, born about the beginning of the present century, read law and was admitted to the bar in that county in the year 1823 or 1824. He came to Eaton and opened an office for the practice of his profession in the year 1824. He remained here some five or six years, and then emigrated to the St. Joseph country, in the northern part of Indiana. He there married a daughter of General McCartney, and amassed considerable wealth. He was elected to the legislature of Indiana several successive terms. He has been dead several years.

JOSEPH SEVIER HAWKINS, ESQ., was a native of the village of Eaton, born on the twenty-fourth day of October, A. D. 1812. His father was Captain Joseph C. Hawkins, who commanded a company of Preble county militia, in the War of 1812, called out to defend the frontier against depredations of the Indian allies of Great Britain. His grandfather was Colonel Samuel Hawkins, who was with the armies of both General St. Clair and General Wayne, in their campaigns against the Indians of the then northwest, and who received a wound at the battle of Fort Recovery, from which he never fully recovered; and, although he survived some dozen or more years after the battle, finally died from the effects of the wound.

Sevier Hawkins, as he was universally called and known, received a very fair education in the common schools of his day, having the benefits of the instruction of some of the best teachers of his time-among the rest Jones A. Mendall, esq. About the year 1828 he entered as a student in Miami university, at Oxford, where he prosecuted his studies for some years, but did not graduate; on account of some youthful freak, in the last year of his course, he was suspended by the faculty. He was so incensed at what he believed to be the injustice of his suspension, that he refused to return and complete his course; and was never back at the institution until he went there as one of its trustees, many years afterwards.

After leaving Oxford he was employed for some few years in the wholesale dry goods store of Van Ausdal & Gray, in the city of Cincinnati. Subsequently he returned to Eaton, and studied law in the office of his brother-in-law, J. M. U. McNutt, esq. On the twenty- third day of December, 1833, he was married to Miss Lydia Hubbell, of Eaton. No issue was born of this union.

At Oxford Mr. Hawkins had few class-mates, Abner Haines, Felix Marsh, Samuel Parker, late of Connersville, Indiana; Robert C. Schenck, Charles Anderson, and others. He was admitted to the bar at Dayton, at the same time with some of his said class-mates, and it was remarked at the time that all who were then admitted had white hair, and blonde complexions. After his admission to the bar he commenced the practice in partnership with his brother-in-law, McNutt, which arrangement continued until the death of Mr. McNutt, in 1837.

At the October election, 184o, Mr. Hawkins was elected a member of the house of representatives from this county, in the legislature of Ohio, and was re-elected to the same office in 1841. In the year 1843 he was again re-elected to the same office, and again in the year 1847 he was re-elected, and at the ensuing session, he

was elected speaker of the house of representatives. After an interval of one year, he was again re-elected in the year 1849, and on the assembling of the legislature, he was the Whig candidate for speaker of the house of representatives, against Benjamin F. Leiter, the Democratic candidate; but was defeated by a union of the Democratic and Free Soil parties, which elected Leiter on the second ballot. This ended Mr. Hawkins' service as a legislator, having served five years in all. His standing in the legislature, as evidenced by his election as speaker of that body, was of the very highest order.

In the year 1848, his wife having been dead some years, Mr. Hawkins married Miss Cordelia Scott, of Cincinnati. This union was likewise childless.

After the death of his partner, Lawyer Hawkins continued the practice alone until the admission of his brother, A. J. Hawkins, with whom he continued the practice, and with W. J. Gilmore, esq., up to the day of his death, which occurred on the fourth day of August, in the year 1852.

When the Mexican war commenced, Mr. Hawkins recruited a company for service in the army, of which he was elected captain. He marched the company to the rendezvous at Camp Washington, Cincinnati, but was one day too late reporting, as the requisition from this State was filled previous to his arrival, therefore his company was returned home and disbanded.

In person Captain Hawkins was of medium size, symmetrical form, light hair and eyes, nervous temperament, quick and active in movement. Intellectually he had no superior among his cotemporaries at the bar. He was a profound lawyer, able debater, superior advocate before a jury, and well read upon all subjects of general interest, with a retentive memory and good command of language. In politics he was an active and earnest Whig.

ANDREW JACKSON HAWKINS, ESQ., was a native of Preble county, second son of Captain Joseph C. Hawkins, born on the fifteenth day of July, 1815. He received a very fair education in the common English branches, m the public schools of his day. Before attaining his majority he took a position with his brother- in-law, John M. Gray, in the wholesale dry goods house of VanAusdal & Gray, in the city of Cincinnati, where he remained for several years. In the year 1835 his father went to Hagerstown, Wayne county, Indiana, with a retail dry goods store, and the subject of this sketch went with him. They remained there until the year 1841, when the father, Captain J. C. Hawkins, was appointed register of the land office at Fairfield, Iowa, and took his son with him to that place, as a clerk in his office.

After remaining in Iowa a few years, young Hawkins returned to Eaton, and went into his brother's office as a student of law, and after the requisite preparation was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court, at Columbus, and immediately entered into partnership with his brother in the practice, where he remained until his death, which took place at Mobile, Alabama, on the sixteenth day of February, 1849.

On the thirteenth day of February, 1842, Mr. Hawkins was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth De Groot, daughter of Robert DeGroot, of Eaton. One son was the fruit of this union, Mr. Joseph C. Hawkins, a merchant in Eaton.

For a year or more prior to his death, Mr. Hawkins' health had been declining, and in the winter of 1848-9, by the advice of physicians and friends, he was induced to try the effect of the milder climate of the gulf coast. On the journey he was accompanied by his father. Whilst sojourning a short time at Mobile, Alabama, he was suddenly seized with violent symptoms, and rapidly passed away, on the sixteenth of February, as above stated. His remains were brought back to Eaton by his afflicted father, and interred in Mound Hill cemetery, March 4, 1849.

The fatigues of the journey, the care of his feeble son, and grief on account of his decease, were too much for the afflicted father, who took to his bed immediately on his return to Eaton with the remains of his son, and died eight days after the funeral, March 12, 1849.

Andrew J. Hawkins was quite a small man. He was quiet and unobtrusive in manner, not given to much speaking, but fond of the society of congenial friends. He gained a fair reputation and standing as an attorney, and his known character for candor gave his voice great weight with the jury. In politics he was a pronounced Whig, but never held or sought office.

ISAAC F. CASAD and ISRAEL DEWITT were admitted to the bar as attorneys and counsellors at law on the fifth day of July, 1827, by the supreme court for Preble county. These gentlemen came here from one of the neighboring counties, merely for the purpose of being admitted. Neither of them ever lived or practiced- in the county, nor is anything known of their subsequent career.

JAMES E. WALDO was admitted to the bar on the thirtieth day of June, 1828. He also was from a neighboring county, and his subsequent career is wholly unknown.

JOHN VAN AUSDAL, son of Judge Peter Van Ausdal, was admitted to the bar by the supreme court for Preble county, on the sixth day of July, 1829. He was a native of Preble county, born in Lanier township about the year 1806. His education was obtained in the common schools of that day, supplemented by the advantages of the classical schools taught by Jones A. Mendall, esq. In youth he was noted for his fondness of books, and of the classics, especially the writings of Virgil, and Cicero's orations. He was a superior Latin scholar. For several years during his minority he was employed as a clerk in the mercantile establishment of his uncle, Cornelius Van Ausdal, in Eaton; and most of his leisure hours, during that time, were passed with some one or other of his favorite classical authors in his hands.

He studied for the bar in the office of Messrs. Miller & McNutt. Some time after the death of Mr. Edmonson, as noted in the history of the press, young Van Ausdal, in company with Dr. F. A. Cunningham, became connected with the Eaton Weekly Register, as edi-

After disposing of his interest in the Register, Mr. Van Ausdal went to Indiana and located at Logansport, then a new place of considerable notoriety on the Wabash river. Here he engaged in the practice of his profession, but died within a year or so after taking up his residence there.

SOLOMON BANTA,. ESQ., was born on the second day of October, A. D. 1801, in Montgomery county, Ohio. His father, Abraham Banta, was one of the first settlers on "Banta's creek," in Lanier township, he and his brother, Peter Banta, having settled there as early, perhaps, as 1802 or 1803. The subject of our present sketch was reared upon a farm carved out of the dense forests, with which this county was originally clothed, subject to all the hardships and privations of pioneer life. There are not many persons now alive who can remember and appreciate the condition of the pioneer settlers of this county, and the gigantic labors which were required to transform it from a literal howling wilderness to the present state of cultivation and productiveness. Schools, and the source of knowledge and information, were at that day of the most meagre description. Young Banta, being of studious and inquiring disposition, availed himself of every opportunity within his reach for acquiring an education. In another place place his name is mentioned in connection with some account of the best schools that have ever been taught in the county, not even excepting those of the present day, to-wit: the schools under the care of Jones A. Mendall, esq.

By the time our subject had attained his majority, he was well qualified to become a teacher himself, to which occupation he devoted some time. About the beginning of the year 1824 he went to Lebanon, in Warren county, and took up the study of the law in the office and under the preceptorship of the late Governor Thomas Corwin, esq., and was admitted to the bar at that place, June 14, 1827. Soon thereafter he established himself in the practice of his profession in Eaton, and continued here some years. On the twenty-fifth day of December, 1828, he was married to Miss Malinda Small, daughter of James Small, who lived at that time two miles west from Eaton. Within a year or so thereafter he removed to Danville, Illinois, and engaged in the practice of his profession in that, then, new place. While sojourning there, the Black Hawk war broke out and Mr. Banta volunteered in the troops sent out to the frontier to protect the exposed settlements and suppress the Indian outbreak. He remained in the service until after the battle of Bad Axe, which closed the war by the surrender of Black Hawk.

Immediately after his discharge from the army, Mr. Banta returned to his place, where he remained until near the close of his life. Here he engaged assiduously in the practice of the law, and was reasonably successful in view of the crowded state of the profession and the limited amount of business done in the courts. He was esteemed a good lawyer, eminently safe as a counsellor, but never brilliant as an advocate. His knowledge of the law was not surpassed by any of his colleagues at the bar. He was frequently chosen by his fellow citizens to serve on the board of education, in the city council, and as mayor. He also served several years as justice of the peace.

On the fourteenth day of March, A. D. 1835, Esquire Banta was admitted to membership in the Masonic order, in Bolivar Lodge No. 82; of which order he continued an honored, useful and worthy member during the remainder of his days. He had frequent manifestations of the confidence and esteem of his brethren, by being called upon to fill the most important positions in the order.

On the twenty-ninth day of April, 1879, at the city of Topeka, Kansas, Mr. Banta died at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. A. V. Auster. His remains were brought back to Eaton, and buried by the side of his deceased wife, who had preceded him a few years. After the death of his wife Mr. Banta had retired from business, disposed of his property here, and passed the time mainly with his children. He had but three children: James Banta, who lives in Indiana; Elvira J. Auster, wife of A. V. Auster, Topeka, Kansas, and Elizabeth Feris, wife of Dr. A. B. Feris, of New Paris, now deceased.

HON. ABNER HAINES was born on a farm, on Deep river, Guilford county, North Carolina, on the twenty- sixth of March, A. D. 1804. His parents were Friends or Quakers, and his mother quite a noted preacher of that denomination. Abner was the third child in a family of four males and two females—the only present survivors (1880) are a brother and sister. In the year 1808, when Abner was but four years old, his father's family immigrated to Ohio, and after remaining about a year in the vicinity of the mouth of the Little Miami, chose a permanent location on Todd's fork, in Clinton county, about five miles from Wilmington, the county seat. As soon as his years and strength would admit it, the young Abner was put to work, assisting his father and brothers in clearing up and cultivating the farm. His summers were occupied in this employment, and his winters in attending the common schools of that day. In this desultory way, and by study during the interim between school sessions, he attained a very creditable knowledge of the common English branches of education; and before attaining his majority, engaged in the business of teaching.

In the summer of the year 1826, Mr. Haines having made up his mind to obtain a higher education at all hazards, and his father feeling that he was unable, in justice to his other children, to aid him through college, he started out literally "to seek his fortune," with but a few dollars in his pocket, and on foot and alone. Fortune directed his footsteps to Eaton, then a village of some five or six hundred souls. Here he was induced to halt, and make the attempt to secure the position of teacher of the village school. His effort proving a success, he remained here some year or so, and afterward taught in other localities in the county. Having accumulated a small amount of means, he went to Oxford, and entered.

as a student in Miami university, then a first class seat of learning, and applied himself assiduously to the pursuit of knowledge. By teaching during college vacation, and otherwise, he was enabled to remain at the university until he had acquired a good knowledge of the higher mathematics, and of dead languages. He was unable to complete the collegiate course and graduate, but his scholastic attainments were fully equal to those of a great many students who did graduate.

On the first day of October, 1829, Mr. Haines was married to Miss Nancy Thornberry, near the village of Camden. One son was born to this marriage, soon after the birth of whom Mrs. Haines died, living less than a year after marriage. The infant son, now a resident of the State of Kansas, was taken to the home of its grandparents (Haines), and there reared to manhood. Previous to his marriage the subject of our sketch had entered as a student in the law office of J. M. U. McNutt, esq., in Eaton. He continued the study the full term required by law, and was admitted to the bar on the ninth day of July, 1831, by the supreme court for Preble county.

Immediately after his admission to the bar, Lawyer Haines went to the town of Centerville, then the seat of justice of Wayne county, Indiana, and opened an offrce for the practice of his profession. After he had got fairly established as a practitioner there, he entered into partnership with the Hon. Oliver H. Smith, then living at Connersville, afterwards United States Senator from the State of Indiana.

On the twenty-second day of November, 1832, Mr. Haines was married to Miss Lydia Leas, daughter of George and Mary Leas, pioneers of this county, and who then resided on the farm now the Preble county infirmary. Five sons and two daughters were born of this marriage, all of whom, with the mother, are now living.

During the winter of 1831-32 the subject of our sketch was employed by the committee for sufferings of the Indiana yearly meeting of Friends, to perform a service which gave him considerable notoriety. During that winter a couple of strangers travelling on horseback passed through Richmond,. and remained there over night. At that time (and in fact ever since) there were quite a number of colored people living at Richmond, and it happened that a very sprightly colored boy, some twelve to fourteen years old, was employed about the tavern at which these strangers put up. During the night they concocted a scheme to entice this boy away, with the purpose of taking him to Missouri and selling him into slavery. They succeeded on some pretense, not now remembered what, in their scheme, and took the boy away with them, carrying him behind one of them on horseback. By close watching and intimidation and threats, they got safely through to St. Louis, and there sold the boy for three hundred dollars.

It was some time before the boy was missed, the landlord supposing he had gone home, and his parents supposing that he was at the hotel. When it was ascertained that he was gone, immediate search was instituted, and it was soon found that he had been taken away as before stated. Notice was given to the committee for sufferings, one of whom was the late Achilles Williams, and they at once set about measures to pursue and reclaim the boy. To this end they engaged the services of Lawyer Haines, who took with him a young man by the name of Garr, well acquainted with the boy, as-a witness to identify him, and the necessary proof of the boy's freedom, and went on horseback, over roads for the most part in a horrible condition, all the way to St. Louis.

That, let it be remembered, was, no slight undertaking at that time, making a journey of some three hundred and fifty miles, on horseback, at the most unfavorable season of the year. They had no diffrculty in following the kidnappers—their identity, with the negro boy on the horse behind one of them, was never lost.

On their arrival in St. Louis they had some difficulty in finding the boy, as most of the inhabitants were disposed to put obstacles in their way and mislead them., They succeeded in•finding him, however, and immediately sued out a writ of habeas corpus, had it served, and the boy brought into court, where his identity and freedom were established to the satisfaction of the court, and he was delivered into the custody of Mr. Haines, who soon got the boy across the river into Illinois, The journey home was accomplished in good time, and the boy delivered to his parents. It is not known that any effort was made for the capture of the kidnappers. The successful condUct of this affair added very much to Lawyer Haines' popularity, and gave him much business in his profession.

Our subject remained at Centerville until the year 1837, and then for a short time engaged in the dry goods business, in the village of Boston, Wayne county, in company with Lewis Baxter. He was there only a short time, and after disposing of his interest in the store, came back to Eaton, bought property here, and remained here during the balance of his days. He entered vigorously upon the practice of his profession here, and in a very few years became one of the leading attorneys at our bar, extending his practice to the neighboring counties.

When the "Eaton & Hamilton" railroad was first projected and talked of, Mr. Haines took a very active interest in the enterprise, and was one of the "leading spirits" in bringing it to a successful conclusion. He was the second president of the company; and it was under his administration that active operations in its c instruction were commenced. Before its completion, however, finding that he could not give it the attention that was r ecessary, on account of the demands of his law practice, he resigned the presidency of the road, but abated nothing in his interest in the work.

At the October election in the year 1851, our subject was elected circuit judge for this sub-district. He occupied the bench with credit and distinction between three and four years, but resigned before the expiration of his constitutional term.

Politically, Judge Haines was identified with the old Whig party, up to the year 1844 or 1845, when, on account of some disaffection, he held aloof from politics

for some few years. Finally, he cast his lot with the Democratic party—still maintaining, however, the antislavery proclivities of his early Quaker training. He was a member of the Democratic convention of 1848, and was the author of the celebrated "mitigate and finally eradicate" resolution passed by that convention, which was the means of effecting a temporary union (or junction rather) of the Free Soilers with the Democrats.

His kindness of heart, generous temperament, and the remembrance of his early Quaker training, could not do otherwise than impel him to take a rigid stand against the demon of slavery, and when that hideous question began convulsing our devoted land, Judge Haines naturally drifted into the Republican party upon its first organization, in 1856. He predicted the awful result which finally grew out of the attempt to nationalize slavery; and whilst the Rebellion was being born, the judge was often heard by his family, in a semi-darkened room, in the night time, predicting the fearful calamities which he saw coming apace. But with the portentous results in view, he was still the colored man's true friend, and many a poor black man received substantial aid at his hands.

He continued a true and loyal Republican, giving the weight of all his talents and influence in behalf of the prosecution of the war, until the end in the triumph of the Union arms. In 1872, however, believing that he was thereby aiding in bringing about a speedier adjustment of differences between the sections, he cast his in fluence in favor of Horace Greeley and Gratz Brown.

In the year 1876 Judge Haines was elected a member of the senate of Ohio from the senatorial district composed of Preble and Montgomery counties, on the Democratic ticket. Although being afflicted with Bright's disease of the kidneys, and being in constant pain, he served in the sixty-second general assembly up to the time of his death, with credit to himself and his constituency. His death, which occurred at Columbus, Ohio, on Monday night, March 19, 1877, at his boarding house on East State street, was a tragical end for a quietly spent life. He had been in the room of one of his brother senators, in consultation with him and others. Judge Haines' room was on the first floor, and the room of his colleague was on the second floor; and in passing from the stairway down which he had to go on the way to his room, he passed through a dimly lighted, narrow hall, from which hall a steep stairway led down to the basement story. This stairway was usually closed by a door, but on that particular night it was left open; and the narrow hall leading to the judge's room being immediately beside and beyond this stairway, in feeling his way through the darkened passage-way when the judge came to the open stairway he supposed he had reached the hall-way to his room, when, turning to the left and making a step forward, he pitched head foremost down the stairway to the bottom, and his neck was broken in the fall. His death was instantaneous, and his face wore a calm and peaceful look—a look something akin to a smile, when his body was found at six o'clock the next morning, the disaster having occurred about midnight. Senator Haines had often talked of death and dying, to his intimate friends, and always expressed the wish that his death might be instantaneous and painless, and he had his wish.

He died as he had lived, with enmity toward no man, and with the ill will of none. In person he was above medium size, full six feet high and rather heavy made—weighing usually above two hundred pounds. He had light hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, and sanguine-lymphatic temperament. In his latter years he was disposed to corpulency, weighing above two hundred and fifty pounds. It would be difficult task to give a correct analysis of Judge Haines mentality. He was certainly a man of strong intellectual power; but not easily so aroused as to exhibit his full strength. He was a sound lawyer, and an able advocate. He possessed a retentive memory, was well versed in both modern and ancient history, and fond of literary pursuits. He was very social, fond of the company of friends, full of anecdote, and an entertaining conversationalist.

GENERAL FELIX MARSH was born in the county of Essex, New Jersey, July 21, 1806. When quite young, in 1809, he with his father, Squire Marsh, removed from the State of New Jersey, to Preble county, Ohio, and settled in Camden. Here he obtained the rudiments of an education in the common schools of that period. The limited advantages afforded by them did not satisfy his ambition, and in 1824 he commenced the study of Latin under the preceptorship of a fine classical scholar, and in 1826 entered Miami university at Oxford, where he pursued his studies for several years. He was an apt scholar, excelling in the languages, and early in life gave evidence of his power as an orator, for which he was afterwards distinguished. When at Oxford he took a leading part in the Erodelphian society, and participated in all the college exercises, rarely, if ever, being found deficient. He read law at the law school in Cincinnati, and was admitted to the bar in 1834 and soon became a good lawyer and a fine advocate. He represented the county as prosecuting attorney, and as representative and senator in the Ohio legislature two terms, each with credit to himself and entire satisfaction of his constituents. General Marsh was a man of cultivated literary tastes, and was well versed in ancient and modern history.. He was a persuasive and convincing speaker, and possessing a brilliant imagination, these gifts combined to make him one of the most successful of jury lawyers. He was engaged in an active and lucrative practice for over thirty years, and was one of the most prominent members of the Eaton bar.

November 17, 1836, he was married to Rachel Bloomfield, of Eaton, and raised four children, two daughters and two sons, all of whom, with his wife, survive him. General Marsh died at his residence in Eaton December 6, 1872, after a very short illness.

WILLIAM CRANE, son of Judge Joseph H. Crane, was admitted to the bar on the twenty-first day of June, 1833, by the supreme court for Preble county. He was a citizen of Dayton, where he continued to reside. He never lived or practiced his profession in Preble county.

WILLIAM C. WOODS, son of Hon. John Woods, of Hamilton, was admitted to the bar on the thirtieth day

FRANKLIN GALE was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court in Eaton, on the fifteenth day of June, 1836. Nothing is known of his residence or subsequent career.

JOSEPH H. BERRY was admitted to the bar, on the fourth day of June, 1839, by the supreme court in Eaton. Nothing is known of his history.

VINCIT MITCHELL was admitted to the bar on the sixth day of June, 1842. Mr. Mitchell was born in the State of Kentucky, about the year 1800. He was an elder brother of General Ormsby M. Mitchell, the celebrated astronomer of the Cincinnati observatory, and who lost his life by accident while in the United States service as brigadier general of volunteers during the war of the Rebellion. The family, including Vincit, were among the pioneers of Miami county, having settled at Piqua a short time subsequent to the War of 1812.

Not much is known of the early life of Mr. Mitchell. He was twice, married, his first wife having died in the year 1833, while he was living at Liberty, Union county, Indiana. Previous to that time he had resided in Middletown, Ohio, and in Cincinnati, but in what years, or how long, is not known. He resided and kept a hotel at Liberty for some years, and while there was married to his second wife. From there he removed to Winchester, in this county, and was living there when he was admitted to the bar. Within a year or two after his admission, he removed to Eaton, and engaged in the practice of his profession, in which he never attained any considerable eminence or emoluments.

Mr. Mitchell remained in Eaton, with his family, until some time after the revolt of the southern States. Meanwhile he was employed at different times, in one capacity or other, in the construction of railroads—at one time on the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville line, at another for a year or more, on the Ohio & Mississippi road. Some year or so after the beginning of the war of the Rebellion, through the influence of his brother, General 0. M. Mitchell, he obtained a captain's commission and was detailed to the quartermaster department.

He remained in this position only about a year, when his health failed. Meantime his family had removed to Dayton, to which place he returned, and died soon after his return, some time in the year 1864.

Mr. Mitchell's education was superior to that of most persons of his age. He was very fond of reading, and was well informed upon almost all subjects that engage the attention of advanced minds. His intellectual endowments were fair—more notable for quickness, versatility, elasticity, so to speak, than for profundity. He was deficient in stability and self-reliance. He was of medium size, compactly built, sanguine-nervous temperament, with light hair and florid complexion.

HAMPTON HALL was admitted to the bar May 3o, 1844, by the supreme court at Eaton. Mr. Hall was the son of William Hall, esq., and was born at Camden, Preble county, about the year 1822. He studied the law, and was called to the bar at the same time with Benjamin Hubbard, esq. Shortly after his admission he opened an office in Eaton for the practice of his profession; but being a very young man, and the business in his department being neither flush nor lucrative, it proved an up-hill business for him to gather a living practice. Within a few years thereafter, Judge Hall came into possession of the Pottey mill, in Gasper township, and Hampton engaged in the running and management thereof, as a partner with his father.

MAJOR FRANCIS ALANSON CUNNINGHAM was born in Abbeville district, South Carolina, November 9, 1804. When a small boy, his widowed mother emigrated with her young family to Kentucky, where she married her second husband. This lady's maiden name was Cunningham, but in no way related in blood to her first husband, and her second husband's name was also Cunningham, but not a relative by blood either to herself or her first husband. Soon after her second marriage, the family emigrated to Warren county, Ohio. Judge George Kisling, of Lebanon, was appointed the guardian of young Cunningham, and took a great interest in his education and welfare. After leaving school, his guardian procured him a situation in a dry goods store, in which business he continued until his twenty-second year. In the year 1826 he came to Eaton and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Jesse Paramore. While pursuing the study of his profession, he taught school in several localities in Preble county. In the year 1829 he was licensed as a physician and surgeon; and on the seventh day of July of that year he was married to Miss Maria Campbell, only daughter of Captain William Campbell, of Lanier township. In a short time after his marriage, Dr. Cunningham located at Portland, Fountain county, Indiana, on the Wabash river, where he engaged in the active practice of his profession. Not being satisfied with the prospect and condition of things there, however, he did not remain long, but returned to Preble county and settled at West Alexandria, where he successfully pursued the practice of his profession for several years.

In the year 1833 Dr. Cunningham was appointed clerk pro tem. of the courts of Preble county, afterward receiving the appointment for the regular term of seven years. Subsequently he was appointed for a second term of seven years, but before its expiration he was elected, in the year 1844, to a seat in Congress as Representative from the Second Congressional district, for the Twenty-ninth Congress. He was a candidate for re-election, but in the meantime the district having been changed, he was defeated by General Robert C. Schenck.

On the twenty-third day of June, 1847, Major Cunningham was admitted to the bar by the supreme court for Preble county. About the same time he enlisted a company for service in the Mexican war, but before his company was fully organized and mustered into service, he received a commission from President Polk as an

additional paymaster in the regular army, and was assigned for duty with the army in Mexico, where he remained until the close of the war. Upon the re-organization of the pay department of the army, he was retained in the service, and in that capacity served in New Mexico, Texas, and all along the frontiers where troops were stationed. In the year 1861 he had his headquarters at San Antonio, Texas; and when the war of the Rebellion broke out, he, with the troops at that place, was taken prisoner by General Van Dorn. Immediately on his release he reported for duty at Washington, and was stationed at St. Louis, Missouri. There he served about a year, when he was relieved on account of disability and put upon the retired list at half pay. Major Cunningham died at his home in Eaton on the sixteenth day of August, 1864, from the effects of paralysis, with which he was attacked whilst at Wilmington, Delaware, just one year previously. He was the father of three children, two sons and a daughter, all of whom are dead. His widow is yet living (188o) in Eaton, at the age of seventy years, and is reasonably stout for one of her years. Events immediately following the major's admission to the bar prevented him from engaging in the practice of the law as a profession, and his appointment in the army opening a new channel for the exercise of his talents, the diversion was permanent-he never entered the practice.

In person the major was of medium size, compactly built, with a slight stoop of the shoulders, and capable of great physical endurance. He was of florid complexion, with light hair and blue eyes. He was eminently social in disposition, fond of society, an entertaining conversationalist, and warmly attached to friends. On . the first day of March, A. D. 1828, he was initiated in the Masonic order, in Bolivar Lodge, No. 82, at Eaton, and continued his membership in said lodge during life, and was buried with the honors of the order.

HIRAM JONES, ESQ., was a native of Butler county, Ohio, and in that county was educated, grew to manhood, qualified himself for the practice of law, and was there admitted to the bar. About the year 1835 he came to Eaton, and established himself in the practice of his profession. In the year r84o he was elected to the office of auditor of Preble county, which office he retained but for a single term of two years, and was succeeded by John R. Stephen, esq.

In the year 1844 Mr. Jones was elected to the office of recorder of Preble county, and served in that office six years. He never attained any great prominence as an attorney, but was esteemed a good and sound lawyer, and safe counsellor. After the expiration of his term as recorder, he emigrated to the State of Illinois, and located near Brimfield, Peoria county. After remaining there a few years, he went to Knox county, in that State, and improved a large tract of prairie land which he had purchased. He died on his farm in Knox county, some years ago, honored and respected by all who knew him.

Lawyer Jones was a man of fair capacity, a ripe scholar, genial companion, fond of society, and of the most amiable disposition. Perhaps the most marked trait in his character, was his uniform candor. Everybody that knew him had full confidence in whatever he might say. Honesty and integrity in all business transactions and relations he never lost sight of.

JESSE B. STEPHENS, ESQ., was born on the fifteenth day of February, A. D. 18o2, in the State of Tennessee. He was the ninth in a family of ten brothers. His father and mother were natives of Virginia, and had emigrated to Tennessee some twelve or fourteen years before Jesse was born. In the year 1808, the family left Tennessee and took up their residence in this county, on a farm some three miles southwest from Eaton, on the old Brookville road. During his youthful years, the subject of this notice, in addition to his labors in assisting to clear up a farm in the heavy primeval forests, availed himself of every opportunity of attending the schools of that time, and gained a very fair education in the common English branches. During his minority he also learned the trade of brick making and bricklaying; and in that capacity assisted to make the brick and lay up the walls of the old court house-the one torn down and replaced by the present structure. He also, in the year 1824, carried up the east front wall of the three-story building at the northwest corner of Main and Barron streets, erected by the late Cornelius Van Ausdal.

Mr. Stephens was employed for many years as deputy recorder, under his brother Isaac, and also did a large amount of writing for the clerk of the court. Many of the old books in these offices attest the excellency of his penmanship. During most of the period from 1825 to 1837, he served, under appointment of the the court of common pleas, as commissioner of insolvents.

In the year 1830 Mr. Stephens was married to Miss Eliza A. Brown, of Hamilton county. One child, a daughter, was born of this marriage, who died with cholera in the year 1849, at the age of about sixteen years. In the year 1842 Mr. Stephens removed to the city of Cincinnati, and was there admitted to the bar, as an attorney and cousellor at law, having previously studied the profession pretty thoroughly under different practitioners here, and attended a course of lectures in the law department of Cincinnati college. He remained some two or three years in the city, in the practice of his profession, and then returned to Eaton, in 1844 or 1845.

Very soon after the beginning of the Mexican war, Mr. Stephens received a captain's commission in the United States army, from President Polk, and was assigned to duty in the quartermaster's department of General Taylor's army. He served in this capacity until the close of the war, honorably and satisfactorily to his superior officers. After the close of the war, he engaged in the practice of his profession again, and so continued until he was appointed secretary of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad company, in which position he was retained until the office was removed from this place.

Captain Stephens' law practice being so frequently alternated with other business and employments, he never attained any great eminence in his profession as an attorney. His practice was mostly confined to ex

parte and probate business. He was a man of fair capacity, diligent and careful in business, and of good moral character.

At the second meeting or "communication" of Bolivar Lodge No. 82, Free and Accepted Masons, the petition of Jesse B. Stephens was presented to the lodge, and at the second meeting thepeafter, October 14, 1826, he was admitted to membership in the order. Shortly afterwards he was selected as secretary of the lodge, which office he filled for many successive years; and was constantly, almost, during his membership, entrusted by his brethren with prominent and responsible positions and duties in the lodge. He died on the fourteenth day of August, 187o, of disease of the liver, and was buried with the honors of Masonry.

GEORGE W. THOMPSON.—The subject of this sketch, George Waddy Thompson, was born in Bennington, Vermont, on the twenty-first of October, .1818. When young Thompson was three years of age, his parents removed to Columbus, Ohio, and remained there for a period of five years, at which time the mother of Mr. Thompson dying, his father moved to Fremont, Ohio, where he continued to reside for several years.

Being a bright and intelligent boy, young Thompson, at the age of fifteen, was appointed to a cadetship at West Point by General Winfield Scott. He made satisfactory progress in his studies, but owing to an affair of honor occurring with a cadet from the south, young Thompson took his departure from the Military academy. He proceeded to Tiffin, Ohio, where he entered the dry goods business, and successfully remained in the same for a period of several years.

For some time he had contemplated the studying of law, and at last, having decided upon this step, proceeded to Columbus, Ohio, and entered the law office of Noah Swayne, afterward Judge Swayne, of the Supreme Court of the United States, between whom and his student a warm friendship existed up to the time of Mr. Thompson's death. In due course of time Mr. Thompson was admitted to the bar, and at once "slung his shingle to the breezes" in the Capital city, where he practiced for several months. The city being full of young disciples of Blackstone, Mr. Thompson came to Eaton in the year 1840, and opened an office.

Being a stranger among strangers, business did not come in as rapidly as the exigencies of life demanded, and so our young lawyer was forced to teach school, which he did in township, and afterward on the "West road" immediately west of Eaton.

Having the tact about him of making friends and being withal a well read young lawyer, he soon came to be favorably known. In 1845 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Preble county, and filled the office to the full satisfaction of the law-abiding citizens of Preble county. When his term of office expired, he received an appointment in the land bureau of the Interior department at Washington city, where he remained for a period of three or four years. He also acted as editor of the (Eaton) Register for a period of some six years—from 1844 to 1850, a position which he likewise filled with ability.

In 1853 he returned to the practice of his profession in Eaton, in partnership with Joel W. Harris, and succeeded in building up a good practice. He was elected to the office of probate judge in the year 1863, and occupied the same with honor to himself and credit to his constituents for six years. At different periods during the years last, Judge Thompson served as director of the Eaton schools, and safely can it be said that the present good standing of the schools is largely due to the early tireless labors of the judge. Having lots of latent fun about him, he was always welcomed by the scholars. It was his habit to deliver a short, little speech to the pupils in each room, and these were always looked forward to by the young students with pleasure.

It was in the conducting of the office of probate judge in which Judge Thompson displayed his good qualities and his philanthropic feelings, for as all well knOw, the duties of the office are those where the incumbent is called upon to protect and guard the right of widows and orphans. The possessor of a kind heart and just mind, safely can it be said that Judge Thompson at all times guarded with scrupulous fidelity the interests of he widow and orphan. His decisions and books speak, however, more eloquently than anything that can be written.

In the later years of his life he was afflicted with "hay fever," which, during certain months in the years caused him much buffering and inconvenience. Toward the last the disease grew more painful until it took the form of something resembling paralysis of the brain. Never of a vary robust constitution, the decline of Judge Thompson became plainly perceptible. Having business in Lincoln, Nebraska, and thinking that, perhaps a change of climate would give him surcease from the awful pain he was suffering, he took his departure for the above mentioned town on the eighth of October, 1872.

For a couple of weeks he kept his family advised of his condition. Then came a silence of two weeks. On the fourth of November a dispatch came from Lincoln, summoning his wife at once to his beside. She took the next train, but a delayed dispatch came the following morning informing the family that the husband and father was no more. He died of typhoid or climatic fever superinduced, no doubt, by the dreaded "hay fever."

The Masonic fraternity of Lincoln, of which order Judge Thompson was a member in excellent standing, took entire charge of the remains.

During his sickness they tended him with that devotion and tenderness for which this noble order is noted. He was a member of Bolivar Lodge, No. 82, Free and Accepted Masons, which organization published fitting resolutions of respect, as did also the members of the Eaton bar. The funeral services took place from the Methodist Episcopal church, and were conducted by Rev. Mr. Haigh,t assisted by Rev. Mr. Cassatt. The funeral cortege was very lengthy and quite imposing, and was a becoming tribute to the man and his character.

Judge Thompson left a wife, two daughters and a son, who is a young lawyer of considerable ability. The deceased was a kind husband, an indulgent parent and an

honest man—three of the most essential requisites for a good citizen and the highest praise that can be written of the dead.

Joel W. HARRIS was born in Milford township, Butler county, Ohio, on the seventh day of February, 1815, and died in Eaton, Ohio, on the thirtieth day of March, 1866. His father, Joseph Harris, was a native of Ireland, came to the United States in 1797, and lived for some time in the State of Pennsylvania, then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and finally settled on a small farm in Butler county, Ohio. He was married three times and was the father of thirteen children, the subject of this sketch being the second son of his second wife, Rachel (Kornaday) Harris. He worked on his father's farm in summer and attended school in winter until he was about seventeen years old, when he was sent by his father to learn the tailor's trade. After finishing his trade he began teaching school and continued in that occupation until 1838, when he entered Miami university, at Oxford, Ohio, and pursued his studies- there about three years, when, for want of means, he was compelled to leave college and resume his former occupation, teaching school. In 1844, he was engaged in selling dry goods in Darrtown, in his native township, and soon after he was elected justice of the peace. While acting as justice he concluded to read law, and in 1850 he sold his stock of goods and began a regular course of reading. In October, 1851, he entered the Cincinnati law school, where he graduated in April, 1852, along with the Hon. O. P. Morton, of Indiana. In the fall of 1852, he opened a law office in Eaton, and in July, 1853, he and George W. Thompson, esq., formed a partnership and the firm of Thompson & Harris soon became one of the leading law firms of the county, commanding a large and lucrative practice, and was interested in nearly all the leading law-suits of the county. In January 1864, Judge Thompson having been elected probate judge, the firm was dissolved and Mr. Harris continued in the practice until his death. His disease was fistula in ano and for months before his death his sufferings were intense, which caused him in a great degree to abandon his office and seek relief in solitude. As a lawyer, he had no superior at the Preble county bar. He was not an eloquent speaker, but his arguments either to the court or jury, were always a clear, logical and concise statement of the law and the fact on which he rested his cause. He was one of the best pleaders under the code of any lawyer that practiced at the bar. He stood high in the estimation of his professional brethren as a man of honor and integrity. He was always fair and generous to his adversary, and would rather lose his case than gain it by unfair and unprofessional means. He was kind and indulgent to the young and inexperienced members of the profession and was always ready to give them a helping hand and words of encouragement. The following extract taken from the Eaton Register in giving notice of his death may properly be given here as it sets forth in few words the high estimation in which he was held: " In his profession he held a high place among those who knew him best. Very few of his compeers excelled him in legal attainments, being acknowledged as one of the best judges of law in this part of the State. He was a man of extraordinary ability, strictly upright and moral in all his intercourse and dealing with men. He was a man of unobtrusive manners and of the kindest disposition."

He was a great reader and had a very retentive memory, making him one of the best informed men in the county. He died unmarried.

BENJAMIN HUBBARD, ESQ., was born in Princeton, New Jersey, September 16, 1809. His father, Benjamin Hubbard, was a native of the same city, and a pioneer to Hamilton county, Ohio, in 181i. In the year 1832 he came to Preble county, where he died in the year 1848, aged seventy-eight years. His mother was Mary Man- tyre, born in Philadelphia, and died in Eaton, January 14, 1878, at the advanced age of ninety-nine years and eleven months. Young Hubbard's grandfather was John Hubbard, who was a native of Holland, and came to America previous to the Revolutionary war, and was a soldier in that conflict.

Young Hubbard enjoyed no other opportunities for an education in his youth than those afforded by the common (very common) schools of that early day. By his own energy and efforts to satisfy the innate craving for knowledge, he was enabled to supplement the meagre facilities of the common school and gain an advanced education beyond the general average of his time. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the trade of carriage making in Cincinnati, and followed the same until 1840. Whilst plying his trade in the village of Somerville, Butler county, he commenced reading law under the preceptorship of the late Judge A. Haines, of Eaton, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counsellor on the thirtieth day of June, 1844. Directly after his admission he removed his family to Eaton, and commenced the practice of his profession; and with the exception of about two years time which he lived in Greenville, he has been here ever since. Every attorney that was living in Eaton at the time Lawyer Hubbard was called to the bar has since died, which leaves him now the oldest practitioner at the Preble county bar—or the "father of the bar."

Mr. Hubbard was formerly connected with the Eaton & Hamilton railroad company (now the Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago company) as its first secretary. In the year 1853 he was elected to represent Preble county in the legislature of Ohio, serving but a single term of two years, declining a re-election. He also was mayor of the village of Eaton for a time.

On the tenth day of June, 1830, he was married to Miss Minerva Morey, of Butler county, Ohib, and of a family of ten children born to this union only one survives, viz.: Albert Edgar Hubbard, now a justice of the peace in Eaton. Mrs. Hubbard died October 24, 1872. Lawyer Hubbard was formerly a Whig, then for many years acted and voted with the Republican party, but of late years has voted independently; but now is a stalwart Prohibitionist.

ville, Butler county Ohio, on the eighth day of October, A. D. 1822. He was the son of the late Judge William Hall, one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas for Preble county. When Hampton was but six years old his father moved to Camden—then called Dover—in this county, where they resided some seven years, and then went onto a farm immediately south of and adjoining Camden. During the minority of the subject of the present sketch he attended the common schools of the time, during portions of the year, intermitting his school attendance with work on the farm and other occupations, as occasion required. He in this way succeeded in qualifying himself to take charge of a school.

When no more than eighteen years of age he commenced teaching, which he continued for some two or three years. By diligent study at home, and close and careful application at school, and under the instruction of educators at hand, he had attained a higher degree of scholarship than was common at that day, or even at this time, by young men of his age having no greater advantages than he had.

About the time of his attainment of majority Mr. Hall commenced the study of law with the late Judge Haines of Eaton. On his admission to the bar, in the year 1844, he opened an office for the practice of his profession at Celina, Mercer county, Ohio. Here, alternately wrestling with the ague and attending- to his professional duties, he continued until the fall of 1845, when he left Celina, and returned to Preble county.

He next opened an office in Eaton, where he continued about three years, and then removed to Camden and engaged in other business. In the fall of 1848 (November i3th), he was married to Miss Mary Jamieson. In the year 1849 he and his father bought the mill property on Seven-mile creek, about five miles below Eaton, built and formerly owned by Caspar Potterf, sr. Mr. Hall now gave up the practice of the law and continued to run and manage the mill until the year 1862, when he removed to Richmond, Indiana, and engaged in the milling business there. In the spring of 1865 he removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he at present resides.

WILLIAM JAMES GILMORE, ESQ., was born in Liberty, Bedford county, Virginia, April 2, A. D. 1821, His parents, both natives of Virginia, were Dr. Eli Gilmore, a physician of distinction in the county of his residence, and Clara Mosby Clayton, a sister of Alexander Clayton, who for many years was presiding judge of the high court of errors and appeals of the State of Mississippi. Dr. Gilmore, with his family, settled in Israel township, Preble county, in the year 1825, and the subject of this sketch, after obtaining such rudimentary education as was at that early day afforded by the pioneer teachers in the log cabin school-house, attended Westfield and Hopewell academies-the latter being then in charge of the Rev. Samuel W. McCracken, who had previously been professor of mathematics in Miami university at Oxford.

Mr. Gilmore commenced the study of law in the office of Thomas Millikin, of Hamilton, and completed his preparatory course in the office of J. S. and A. J. Hawkins, esqs., of Eaton, and was admitted to the bar at

Columbus in the year 1847. After his admission he formed a partnership with Colonel Thomas Moore, and commenced the practice of his profession in Hamilton, Butler county. A year later, this partnership being dissolved, he removed to Eaton, and there opened an office, and in 1849 formed a partnership with Captain J. S. Hawkins, which continued until that gentleman's death in 1852. In that year he was elected prosecuting attorney of Preble county, and was re-elected to the same office in 1854.

In the year 1857, Judge James Clark, of Hamilton, having resigned the office of judge of the court of common pleas, for the first subdivision of the second judicial district, Mr. Gilmore was appointed to fill the vacancy. Having served out the term, he resumed the practice of his profession in partnership with Judge J. V. Campbell, which arrangement continued until 1866, when Judge Gilmore was elected to the common pleas bench, and reelected in 1871. In 1874 he was elected a judge of the supreme court of Ohio. To a clear judgment, quick perception, and great caution, he is mainly indebted for the eminent success which has attended his legal career.

On the seventh of September, 1848, Judge Gilmore was married to Miss Sallie A. Rossman, daughter of William Rossman, of Eaton, and two sons have been the issue of this union. Jackson H., the elder of the two, was educated at Miami university, studied law in the university bf Virginia under Professor Miner, and graduated at the Cincinnati law school. Upon the certificate of the latter institution he was admitted to the bar in the district court of Cincinnati in 1875, and commenced practice in that city with Messrs. Jordan, Jordan & Williams; but owing to failing health he was soon compelled to relinquish business and, go to Colorado, where he spent a couple of years, and then returned to his home in Eaton, very much improved in physical health. The younger son, Clement R. Gilmore, is a student in Wooster university, Ohio.

After the expiration of Judge Gilmore's term of office on the supreme bench he established himself in the city of Columbus, in company with his son Jackson H. Gilmore, in the practice of the law. [Since this was written, the young man has died.]

WILLIAM A. BLOOMFIELD, esq., was born on the fourteenth day of November, 182o, on a farm about two miles southwest from Eaton. Whilst yet an infant he was taken to Montgomery county, a few miles east of Dayton, where some six years of his childhood were passed. His mother, having married Josiah Grace for her second husband, when our subject was some six or seven years old, the family removed to the, then, village (now city) of Indianapolis. His childhood, under the treatment of his stepfather, was most unhappy, and whilst yet almost a helpless infant, being only between seven and eight years of age, and whilst his mother was sick abed, he was literally driven from home, to become a helpless wanderer, without home or friends. He soon, however, found a kind lady by the name of Hawkins, who gave him food and shelter, and he remained under her protection for a few months, when he was so fortu-

nate as to be again brought to Eaton, under the care and protection of his uncle, Joseph Wilson.

When he was but ten years old, and when he had been in Eaton a couple of years, he commenced to learn the trade of a cabinet-maker, in the shop of his uncle, and continued to work at that business until he had attained his eighteenth year. Meantime, whilst working at the bench, having his book before him, and diligently applying all his leisure time in the pursuit of knowledge, almost without the advantages of schools, he had qualified himself for the business of teaching. For several years he was actively engaged in teaching during the "school season," and occasionally working at his trade of cabinetmaking. Meanwhile, as leisure would permit, he read law, under the Preceptorship of Judge Haines, primarily, and subsequently in the office of Felix Marsh, esq.

He was admitted to the bar on the nineteenth day of June, 1848, and soon thereafter opened an office for the practice of his profession. His success in gaining a lucrative business not meeting his expectations or desires, in the spring of 1852 he went to California, by the way of New Orleans, the musquito kingdom, and Nicaragua. The trips at that time, and by that route, occupied some three or four months. He remained in California some three years, one year employed in mining, in the northern part of that State, and some two years engaged in the lumber trade, in the southern peninsula.

After returning from California Mr. Bloomfield conducted the cabinet business in Eaton for a number of years. On the first day of January, 1861, he was married to Miss Sarah J. Sherer, of Somers township, this county. He has been engaged in the family grocery trade for several years.

WILLIAM ALLEN, ESQ., was born in Butler county, Ohio, August 13, 1827. His father, John Allen, was born in Ireland, January 26, 1800, and came to America in 1812. After residing six years in the State of New York, he came to Ohio in 1818, and located in Butler county. In Febyry, 1838, he removed his family into the sparsely settled forests of Darke county, and there erected for their residence a round-log cabin, with puncheon floor and mud-and-stick chimney. He died on the third day of October, 1858, a very much respected citizen. He possessed fine conversational powers, and in the latter years of his life was a preacher of the United Brethren persuasion.

The subject of our present sketch was favored with the advantages of the common district school only, yet by earnest personal application he qualified himself to teach the common English branches at the age of fifteen years, and in this way employed his winters for several years. At the age of nineteen he entered the office of General Felix Marsh, of Eaton, as a student of law, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Preble county, on the fourteenth day of June, 1849, and in the month of October, following, opened an office at Greenville for the practice of his profession. In the fall of 185o he was elected prosecuting attorney of Darke county, and re-elected in 1852.

In the fall of 1858 Mr. Allen was elected a Representative in Congress from the Fourth Congressional district of Ohio, comprising the counties of Darke, Miami, Shelby, Mercer, Auglaize, and Allen, and re-elected in 186o—thus serving in the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses. In the winter of 1865 he was appointed by Governor Cox as judge of the court of common pleas of the first sub-division of the second judicial district of Ohio, composed of the counties of Butler, Preble, and Darke, to fill an unexpired term in the place of Judge David L. Meeker, resigned.

In 1872 Judge Allen was a member of the Grant electoral college, and in 1878 was again nominated as a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket, from the Fifth Congressional district, but declined on account of ill health.

On the thirtieth day of September, 1851, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Priscilla Wallace, daughter of John Wallace, a native of Pennsylvania, and an early pioneer of Butler county, who had settled in Darke county in 1834, and died in the summer of 1863, at the age of about eighty years-esteemed by all as an upright man and excellent citizen. The issue of this marriage was four sons and as many daughters, of whom but one son survives. Four of these children died of diptheria under the most afflicting circumstances, and in the brief space of two months. This occurred in the winter of 1861, when Mr. Allen was summoned home from Washington city to the scene of bereavement.

Of local positions it may be mentioned that Mr. Allen is president of the Greenville Gas company, and vice-president of the Greenville bank, a private enterprise conducted under the firm name of Hufnagle, Allen & Co.

Judge Allen began the world in poverty, was reared in a rough log cabin, and enjoyed none of the golden opportunities for social and educational improvement which are so lavishly bestowed on the youth of the present day. His career as a lawyer has been a success, while his record as a statesman was creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents.

Although he has risen from poverty to affluence by his own unaided exertions, Judge Allen is one of the most charitable of men, and his integrity has never been questioned. While his positive character wins him friends true as steel, it also makes bitter enemies; but even his worst enemies concede to him great ability and unswerving honesty of purpose.

IRVIN E. FREEMAN, ESQ., was born in Franklin county, Ohio, on the fifteenth of April, A. D. 1821. His parents were natives of western New York, and came from thence to Ohio, settling temporarily in Franklin county, in the year 182o. When the subject of this sketch was about three years old, his parents removed to Preble county, and took up their residence in the vicinity of Lewisburg. Young Freeman had no advantages for an education, beyond what were afforded by the common schools of the country.

During his minority he learned the carriage and waggon business, and also wrought some time at the mill-wrighting. After attaining majority he lived for some two

years in Dearborn county, Indiana, and about the same length of time in Champaign county, Ohio. With these two exceptions, his residence has been continuous in Preble county since 1824.

Mr. Freeman read law under the preceptorship of General Felix Marsh and was admitted to the bar, by the Supreme court for Preble county, on the seventeenth day of June, 1850, and at once entered upon the practice, in this and the adjoining counties. After his admission to the bar, he continued his residence at Lewisburg until the year 1858, when he removed to Eaton, where he has remained to the, present time. He has been three times elected to the office of prosecuting attorny, and is now, 1880, serving on his third term.

Lawyer Freeman has been twice married—first to Miss Elizabeth Paine, on the sixteenth day of July, A. D. 1842; and to Miss Catharine Staggs on the twenty-first day of January A. D. 1864—his first wife having died about one year previously. He was admitted to membership in the Masonic order, at Wilmington, Dearborn county, Indiana, in the year 1844. After his return to Ohio he was admitted to membership in Libanus Lodge, N 88, at Lewisburg, and was W. M. for nine years.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LARSH was born in Dixon township in the year 1825. He was the youngest son and child of Colonel Paul Larsh. When he was about four years old his father's family removed to Wayne county, Indiana, where he passed most of the years of his minority. Being of studious habits and fond of knowledge, he succeeded in gaining a very fair education in the common branches of learning. During his minority he learned the business or trade of wood turning, but did not follow it in after life.

In the year 1846 young Larsh returned to Preble county, where he remained the balance of his life. He was en aged in teaching, and in reading law, alternately, some have years, and was admitted to the bar May 6, 1851. He studied the profession in the office of Judge Haines. He never engaged in the practice of the law as a regular business, or profession. On the first of January, 1852, he went into the clerk's office, as deputy under Lewis B. Ogden, where he was employed, under Ogden, C. W. Larsh, Shauk, and W. D. Quinn, most of the time during the remainder of his life. His knowledge of the law, and his close attention to the duties of the office, gained him the reputation, with the judges holding our courts, of being the best practical court clerk in the judicial district.

On the twenty-fifth day of January, 1849, Mr. Larsh was married to Miss Matilda G. Mitchell, daughter of Vincit Mitchell, esq. Two children were born of this marriage—Homer LeRoi Larsh and Mary Elizabeth Larsh, now residents of Topeka, Kansas. He served several terms as justice of the peace, and was for some twenty years clerk of the township. He died on the seventh day of May, in the year 1877, of paralysis of the heart.

B. F. Larsh, ESQ., was about five feet nine inches high, rather heavy built, weighing a little over two hundred pounds, black hair and eyes, and bilious temperament. He was of studious habits, and much given to scientific investigations.

JUDGE GEORGE W. GANS was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March 18, 1823. He was raised on a farm, and obtained his education altogether in the common or district schools of his neighborhood, never having had the advantages of academic or high schools. At about the age of eighteen years he took 3 position in a dry goods store, in the village of Geneva, in his native county. He continued in this employment for some time, alternating it with teaching school ; and in the meantime read law for about one year, reciting to James A. Morris, esq., an eminent attorney of Uniontown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania.

On the fifth day of June, 1847, he was married to Miss Helen M. Morris, also a native of Fayette county ; and in the succeding fall the young couple came to Preble county, locating at Eaton. Here Mr. Gans engaged in the business of teaching, sometimes in town, and sometimes in neighboring districts, which business he followed for several years, very acceptably to employes and pupils. During his vacations from the school-room, 'he again took up the study of the law, in the office of Messrs. Chadwick & Drayer, which he continued for a period of two years, and was admitted to the bar on twenty-sixth. day of May, 1851.

Whilst engaged in the profession of teaching, M. Gans took an active interest in everything pertaining to the business of education. He was conspicuously instrumental in the organization and perfection of the teachers institute, and other measures for the increased efficiency of our common school system. Having had to struggle through difficulties in order to gain an education himself, he was desirous that the road should be smoothed .for the rising generations. After his admission to the bar he quit teaching, but did not abate any of his interest in the progress of school work ; and it may by truly said, that his labors in that direction had much to do in advancing the standard of qualification for the teachers' profession, and in the increased public interest in common school education.

Judge Gans served as mayor of the village, and on the board of education, and in other public trusts, and was an active Republican politician. At the October election, 1857, he was elected to the office of probate judge of the county and was re-elected to the same office in 186o, thus serving six years in that important office. On the breaking out of the Rebellion he took an active part in the enlistment and organization of troops for the army, and his efforts in that behalf only terminated with the suppression of the revolt.

Judge Gans died on the thirtieth day of June, A. D. 1865, of disease of the lungs contracted about one year previously. He was the father of nine children—three sons and six daughters—six of whom, one son and five daughters, with the mother, survive him. He was of medium size, black hair and eyes, bilious temperament, compactly built, active and athletic. He was fond of society, of genial disposition, well informed on all subjects of a general interest, and entertaining in conversation.

JACOB H. FOOS, ESQ., was born on the twentieth day of December, A. D. 1825, in Monroe township, in this county. His father was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, born in the year 1781, and emigrated to the west in the year 1804. About the year 1809, he settled in Warren county, about two miles and a half from Waynesville. He was a miller by trade, and operated a grist-mill on the little Miami river for about ten years. In the year 1819 he removed to a tract of wild land, which he had previously purchased, in the northern part of Preble county, the country then being an almost unbroken wilderness, Mr. Foos' family being among the very first settlers in Monroe township. There he opened and cultivated a farm, on which he resided until the time of his death in 1842.

Mr. Foos' mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Roberts, and was married to his father in the Redstone country. She survived her husband some five years, dying in the fall of 1847. The Subject of this sketch lived and worked on his father's farm until the attainment of his seventeenth year, attending the district schools, taught in the old log school-house of those early days, during the winter seasons. After the death of his father, being desirous of obtaining a better education than the facilities at hand afforded, he apprenticed himself to the cabinet-making and painting business, in which capacity he worked for two and a half years, after which he worked under wages until by industry and economy he had accumulated sufficient means to attend an academy for two years at Waynesville, Warren county, conducted by Professor David S. Burson, a most admirable scholar and teacher, under whose tuition he obtained a very fair English education.

After leaving school Mr. Foos engaged in the business of teaching, in the spring of 1849, at Euphemia, in this county. At the same time he commenced the study of the law, under the tuition of the late Judge Haines, of Eaton. On the twenty-sixth of May, 1851, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court for Preble county. Having by this time exhausted all his means, he employed his time during the summer of that year in writing for the clerk of the courts.

At the November term of the court of common pleas, 1851, being the first term of court held in the present court house, Lawyer Foos commenced regularly the practice of his profession, being thus just as old in the practice as the court house has existed years. And as an evidence of his success as a practitioner, and his diligence and assiduity, it may be stated that he has never missed being present and attending to business at any term of court held in the house to the present time; and it would perhaps be no exaggeration to say that he has assisted in the trial of more doubtful and difficult cases, both civil and criminal, than any other attorney at this bar.

Lawyer Foos was married on the sixteenth day of April, A. D. 1857, to Miss Julia A. Morgan, daughter of Thomas Morgan, a pioneer citizen of Eaton. Four children were born to this marriage, two sons and two daughters, one of the latter dying in infancy. The sur viving daughter, Minnie V. Foos, is a graduate of the Cincinnati Wesleyan female college.

In politics Mr. Foos has always been a Democrat. In the year 1860 he was the candidate for Presidential elector from this Congressional district on the Douglass ticket. During the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, he took an active part in the organization of troops for the army, and gave efficient aid in furnishing our township's quota of recruits. From the spring of 1869 to that of 1876 he served as mayor of Eaton, and during that period most of the public improvements of any note in the village were constructed, and a general impetus for the improvement and beautifying of the town was brought about. He has uniformly been the advocate of public improvements, and it is to his credit that he has never taken a fee in any controversy or litigation in relation to public improvements, where if his side were successful a needed public work would be defeated. In former years Mr. Foos was somewhat active in political canvasses, but was never an office seeker. With the above exception of his mayoralty, he has never either held or desired official position. Of late years he has taken but little note or interest in political affairs, but has devoted himself assiduously to his profession and business interests. He has built for himself one among the most sightly and desirable residences in the village, as well as the law office he has occupied for several years past. He also built and owns the banking house occupied by Heistand & Company's bank, and is one of the partners in said bank. In addition to his extensive law library, he has in his home a very extensive library of substantial and standard historical, scientific, biographical and literary works. He has always been a diligent reader, and is consequently well informed on all subjects of solid interest.

Perhaps no present member of the Eaton bar has been the preceptor of as many students of the law as has Mr. Foos. The following list, some of whom have become distinguished professionally and politically, have read law under his tuition, viz: Jesse Ware, Allan May, Lewis Kisling, Vincent Harbaugh, Benton Saylor, B. Frank Van Ausdal, John W. Sater, James C. Elliott, George W. Wilson, Ralph C. Smyer, Warren Fisher, Elam Fisher, Andrew J. Surface, Abel Risinger, .Milton Crisler, Charles Ashinger.

In point of ability and standing in his profession, Mr. Foos may be truly said to take rank with the ablest at the Preble county bar. He is especially prominent as an advocate before a jury.

EUGENE B. BOLENS, ESQ., son of James Bolens, for many years a prominent merchant of Lewisburgh, was admitted to the bar by the supreme court for Preble county on the seventeenth day of May, 1852. Mr. Bolens never engaged in the practice of his profession here, but in a short time after his admission to the bar he emigrated to the State of Iowa, where he engaged in the publication of a county newspaper.

ROBERT MILLER, ESQ., was born in Preble county on the sixteenth day of July, 1827. His father, Thomas Miller, was born in Ireland in 1791, and came to the United

States in the year 1818. For six years after his arrival he traveled extensively through this country. He married Miss Martha Mills, of Clinton county, Ohio, whose family came from Ireland in the year 181o. In January, A. D. 1825, Mr. Miller and wife settled in Jefferson township, this county, where they ever afterward lived, and died. Mrs. Miller died August 16, 1851, and Mr. Miller October 15, 1868, at the age of sixty-eight years. He performed a large amount of hard pioneer labor, and was a very useful and much respected citizen.

The subject of our present sketch passed his youth and early manhood on the home farm, attending the common district schools during the winter seasons, and such times as he could be spared from the duties of farm labor. He never enjoyed the advantages of an academic course, but by utilizing his spare moments he prepared himself to assume the charge of a common school, and at the age of nineteen years began to employ his winters in teaching, and so continued for some ten years. In the fall of 1849 he commenced the study of law, under the preceptorship of the late General Felix Marsh, of Eaton, and on the seventeenth day of May, 1852, was admitted to the bar.

In the autumn of 1855 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Preble county, and was twice re-elected, thus serving Sir years in that responsible office. At the October election, 1863, he was elected a representative in the general assembly of Ohio. He was a member of the county military committee during the war, and during the summer of 1864 served as adjutant of the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth regiment of Ohio national guards. He was elected mayor of Eaton in 1863 and in 1867. From the year 1866 to the first of January, 1876, he was in partnership in the law practice with Colonel L A. Harris, the present probate judge of Preble county. In the Saylor—Kemp contest for a seat in the State senate, in 1871-2, Mr. Miller, as counsel for Mr. Saylor, presented to the senate a very exhaustive and able argument on the right of the disabled soldiers of the National asylum to vote, and which contributed much toward securing for Mr. Saylor his seat in the senate.

As a politician Mr. Miller has always been an active worker in the Republican ranks in the county, and equally zealous as an advocate of the cause of temperance. For many years he has been a member of the Eaton board of education, and as such has had much to do, by vote and influence in the board, in increasing the efficiency of our common school system. In May, 1875, he was lay representative from the Dayton presbytery to the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, which met in Cleveland, Ohio.

On the tenth day of March, A. D. 1857, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Margaret Ann McQuiston, daughter of David McQuiston, of Israel township. Three sons have been born to this union, the eldest of whom, Clarence A. Miller, is a student in Wooster university.

Lawyer Miller is decidedly a self-made man, and has secured the confidence and esteem of the entire community.

SQUIRE LITTELL PIERCE, ESQ., was admitted to the bar May 20, 1853. He was a native of Gratis township, this county. Immediately upon his admission to the bar he went to the northern part of Indiana and engaged in the practice of his profession.

GEORGE W. SLOAN, ESQ., was admitted to the bar May 20, 1853. Previous to his admission to the bar he had been engaged several years teaching school, and had been elected and served three years as county recorder. Within a year or two after his admission to the bar he removed to Olney, Richland county, Illinois, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. He was married on the seventeenth day of March, 1839, to Miss Rachel Banfil, daughter of John Banfil, a pioneer of Preble county.

JOHN W. WOERNER, ESQ., was admitted to the bar May 20, 1853, and immediately thereafter went to the State of Illinois.

JOHN VAN AUSDAL CAMPBELL, ESQ., son of Captain William Campbell, was born in Preble county, December 27, 1815. His father was a native of Virginia, but reared and educated in Kentucky. In the year 1806, two years before Preble county was organized, and while its territory was yet a part of Montgomery county, he came to this State and settled in what is now Lanier township, Preble county. In the year 1809 he was married to Miss Catharine Van Ausdal. Captain Campbell commanded a company of infantry in the War of 1812.

In early life the subject of this sketch received what education was afforded by the schools taught in the round-log school-houses of that early day, and later acquired such additional training as qualified him to take charge of a school himself, which he did at the early age of sixteen years, near New Lexington, on Twin creek. His brother-in-law, Major F. A. Cunningham, being county clerk, he was, whilst yet a minor, employed as deputy in his office. Whilst there he improved his spare time by studying law in the office of Messrs. McNutt & Hawkins. In the year 1841, under the administration of President Tyler, he was appointed postmaster at Eaton, which position he continued to hold between nine and ten years.

On the twenty-fifth day of July, 1842, Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Ann Eliza Martin, daughter of Judge Robert Martin, of Eaton. To this union were born three sons and eight daughters, all of whom, except four of the latter, have deceased. At the October election in the year 1852 he was elected to the office of probate judge, the first elected under the constitution of 1851. He was subsequently re-elected to the same office, thus serving six years, making for himself an excellent record as a safe and capable business man. On the twenty-second day of May, 1856, he was admitted to the bar.

In the year 1858 Judge Campbell formed a partnership for the practice of law with William J. Gilmore, esq., but the latter being soon afterward elected to fill a vacancy in the office of common pleas judge, the partnership was dissolved, and in the following November (2858), Judge Campbell formed a partnership with Jacob H. Foos, esq., which continued for three years. At the expiration of this time, his partnership with Judge. Gilmore

was renewed, which continued until February, 1867, when it was again dissolved by reason of Judge Gilmore's election to the common pleas bench. He then entered into partnership with James A. Gilmore, esq., which continued until the last named partner was elected to the common pleas bench. In the year 1873 he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, and served in said office three years.

Judge Campbell has for many years been a member of the Eaton board of education, and connected with all the moral and educational interests of the community. He has been a zealous supporter of all temperance organizations, and his influence and example have been always exerted upon the side of religion and morality. Since 1841 he has been the secretary and treasurer of the Preble county branch of the American Bible society.

Judge Campbell is regarded as the father of Odd Fellowship in this county, by his brethren. In the year 1842 he became a member of the order himself, and in 1844, assisted by four others, organized the first lodge in Eaton, of which he was the presiding officer. Subsequently twelve other lodges of the order have been organized in the county, as the issue of that one; and for a number of years the order was represented in the grand lodge of the United States, by Judge Campbell.

JUDGE JEHU W. KING is a native of Warren county, Ohio, and was born at Ridgeville, in that county, on the eleventh day of October, 1829. When Jehu was but two years old his father removed to Pyrmont, in Montgomery county, which was the home of our subject, for some twenty-five years. After receiving a sufficient preparatory education in the common schools of his district, and after having exercised the office of teacher himself while yet a minor, he entered Wesleyan university at Delaware, as a student, in the year 185o, about the time he attained majority.

After graduating from college, he again took up the profession of teacher, which he pursued for some eight or ten years, in Montgomery and Preble counties. Judge King has been twice married—first, to Miss Sarah J. Baker, daughter of John Baker, of Montgomery county, on the first day of May, A. D. 1854; second, to Mrs. Sarah J. Taylor, of Winchester, Preble county, on the tenth day of April, A. D., 186o, his first wife having died in March, 1858.

Judge King commenced the study of the law, principally under the preceptorship of General Felix Marsh, and after about three years preparation he was admitted to the bar in the year 1858, by the district court for Butler county. In the year r857 he had removed to Camden, in this county, where after his admission he commenced the practice, alternating the practice with teaching school for some years. Some little while after his removal to Camden, he was appointed a member of the board of school examiners for Preble county.

In the year 1865 Mr. King was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, and re-elected to the same office in 1867-thus holding the office two successive terms. In the month of March, r866, he removed to the village of Eaton. In the year 1869 he was elected to the office of probate judge, and re-elected in 1872, serving six years in that responsible office. After the expiration of his term of office he resumed the practice of his profession, and continued to reside in Eaton until the year 1878, when he removed to a farm near Sugar valley, in Dixon township, where he now lives.

As an attorney he stood well at the bar, but his practice has been too often interrupted by official duties to have made a brilliant record. In official duties, his record is "without spot or blemish." Politically he has always been a Republican, and an earliest and able advocate of the principles of that party, both in conversation and in public speeches and lectures; and his counsels have always had due weight with his political party. His influence has always been on the side of religion, morality, and temperance; and his ability as a lecturer is second to that of but few.

JOSEPH T. GANS, ESQ., was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court for Preble county, May 7, 1858. He had been engaged in teaching for some years in this county, and soon after admission to the bar removed to Richmond, Indiana, where he still resides.

ROBERT WILSON QUINN, ESQ., son of General John Quinn, was born on the twenty-eighth day of September, A. D. 1835, at his father's farm in Twin township. His early education was acquired in the country district schools, in which were taught in those days only the common branches of reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and English grammar, with occasionally a teacher who was capable of giving instruction in the elements of algebra. He entered as a pupil in Farmer's college in the fall of 1853, and remained there (with the exception of six months in which he was engaged in teaching) until about the first of July, 1856.

Soon after leaving school, Mr. Quinn commenced the study of law with William J. Gilmore, esq., of Eaton, who afterwards was one of the justices of the supreme court of the State. After studying nearly two years under his tuition, the subject of our sketch entered the law school of the Cincinnati college, and graduated in April, 1858, and was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati. Among his class-mates, and who graduated at the same time, were Hon. Edmund F. Noyes, United States minister to France, Hon. Samuel McKee, of Kentucky, Judges Avery and Moore, of the common pleas bench of Hamilton county. After graduating he studied nearly one year in the law office of Messrs. Bates & Scarborough, in Cincinnati, and practiced there for a short time.

A short time before the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Quinn returned to his father's farm, and did not resume the practice of his profession until after the close of the war. He was married on the twenty-fifth day of January, 1861, to Miss Josephine M. Palmer, of Cincinnati, and has two children now living, both sons. During the war of the Rebellion he served four months in the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry (one of the "hundred days" regiments), and was engaged in one skirmish with the enemy, known as the battle of Fulks' Mill, near the city of Cumberland, Maryland.

In the month of April, 1867, Lawyer Quinn removed to Eaton, and resumed the practice of his profession, which he has continued to the present time. The only public office that he has ever held, was the office of mayor of Eaton, which he held for a short period in 1869, by appointment to fill an unexpired term. In February, 1875, he was admitted to practice in the circuit court of the United States, at Cincinnati. His tastes have led him to devote his attention, almost exclusively, to civil practice, and the settlement of estates, partnerships, and trusts; and he has been engaged, either as attorney or referee, in some of the heaviest and most complex cases of these kinds in the county. He has also been a diligent student of general literature, and especially of history; and'he has one of the best selected historical libraries in the county, together with the standard poets, and such books of reference as the American Encyclopedia.

JAMES T. MURPHY, ESQ., was admitted to the bar, May 4, 1860. He was born in Ireland, and immigrated to this country when a very young man. He had a quite fair education, and was engaged in the business of teaching for several years, in Monroe township, in this county. After his admission he opened an office in Eldorado, where he remained some time, and then removed to Darke county.

LEWIS C. SWERER, ESQ., was born on the fifth day of July, 1831, in Jefferson township, near the village of Gettysburgh. He was raised on a farm, and obtained his education in the district schools of his vicinity. At the age of eighteen years he commenced teaching school, which business he followed for several successive years. He read law in the office of General Felix Marsh, in Eaton, and was admitted to the bar, January 13, 186o. He commenced the practice of his profession the same year, in partnership with his preceptor, but the partnership terminated in a few months, when he returned to his father's farm, where he remained until September, 1861. From the twenty-first day of September, 1861, until April, 1863, he served as lieutenant of company E, Fifth Ohio volunteer cavalry.

On the first day of April, 186o, Mr. Swerer was married to Miss Terissa 0. Jaqua. After his discharge from service in the army, he resided on the farm until some time in the year 1866, when he removed to Huntington, Indiana, and engaged in the practice of the law—subsequently removing to Winchester, Indiana; from which latter place he removed to Mexico, Missouri, in the year 1869. He continued his residence and the practice of his profession in the last named place until the year 1876, when he returned to Ohio, and now resides in New Paris, this county.

ISAAC E. CRAIG, ESQ., located at Camden, in this county, is the third child, and oldest son, of Isaac and Hope (Jennings) Craig, and was born on the eleventh day of February, A. D. 1840, in New Boston, Wayne county, Indiana, where his parents resided for a few years. The father and mother of the subject of our sketch had spent the greater part of their time in Warren county, Ohio, and their partiality for the State led them to return to it in 1847, when they settled at Camden.

Young Craig obtained the rudiments of his education at the village schools; supplemented by an attendance at Greenmount academy, at Richmond, Indiana. He- entered Miami university as a student in 1858, and graduated in the scientific department of that institution with the class of 1859. He had already decided upon following a professional life, and commenced the study of the law in the office of Judge James. Clark, of Hamilton. The more advanced study of the profession was pursued at the Ohio Law college, at Cleveland, from which Mr. Craig graduated in 1862. In that year he was admitted to practice in the common pleas and district courts of Cuyahoga county and in the United States courts, and remained five years in the city of Cleveland in the practice of his chosen profession.

In the year 1867 Mr. Craig returned to Camden, where he has since constantly resided, with the exception of a brief interim when he re-located at Cincinnati with the intention to make that his permanent abode. Very soon after his removal to the city (in 1874), however, he was recalled to Camden by the death of his father ; and being compelled to give so much of his attention to the business which devolved upon him in settling up the estate, he abandoned the purpose of making the city his home, and re-opened his office in Camden, with the intention of remaining permanently. He was married in 1861, to Miss Mary Coffin, of Richmond, Indiana.

VICTOR WALDO LAKE, ESQ., was admitted a member of the bar on the twenty-second day of July, 1863. He never engaged in the practice of the law, but is now, and for several years past has been, in the drug and medicine trade in Eaton.

B. FRANK VAN AUSDAL, ESQ., was admitted a member the bar on the twenty-second day of July, 1863, but never engaged in the practice here. On the second day of August, 1865, he was married to Miss Nancy Pottenger, daughter of the late Thomas Pottenger, of Somers township, and after a residence of a few years at Camden he emigrated to Kansas, where he has since been engaged in the improvement of a farm.

COLONEL ANDREW LINTNER HARRIS was born in Butler county, Ohio, on the seventeenth day of November, 1835. His grandfather, Joseph Harris, came from Ireland about 1797; spent a few years in Pennsylvania ; then came to Cincinnati, where, on the fourth of March, 1802, he married Jane Kirkpatrick, and finally settled in Butler county soon after the close of the War of 1812.

Benjamin Harris, son of Joseph, and father of Andrew L., was born in Cincinnati on the third day of February, 1803, and married Nancy Lintner, of Butler county, on the third day of April, 1829. A farmer by occupation he was well educated, and was a prominent and very useful member of community.

Colonel Harris had the usual farmer's boyhood; received the rudiments of an education in the district schools of his vicinity, which, by the time that he arrived atischool age, had improved very much from their more primitive condition, and completed his education at Miami university. Whilst he was yet almost an infant,

his father had left Bulter county, and purchased the farm in Dixon township that was first settled and improved by Henry Bristow, being the southwest quarter of section number two, of that township.

After completing his studies at the university, Mr. Harris read law in the office of Messrs. Thompson & Harris in Eaton, but the war of the Rebellion caused the postponement of his admission to the bar until the twenty-eighth day of April, 1865. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry for three months service, but went out as second lieutenant of company C, and was mustered out as captain of his company in August following. In October he recruited company C, of the Seventy-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years service, and was commissioned its captain November 9, 1861.

The first engagement participated in by Captain Harris was the battle of McDowell, West, Virginia, on the eighth day of May, 1862, where the Union troops bravely held their ground against six times their number of the enemy, and which General Milroy reported as being the "bloodiest battle of the war for the number engaged." Here Captain Harris was seriously wounded by a gunshot in the right arm, by which he was permanently disabled. Then followed the battles of Cedar Mountain, Virginia, on the eighth of August, and the second battle of Bull run on the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth and thirtieth of the same month. Here for a time the fighting was bloody in the extreme, and company C was in the hottest of the fray. As an evidence of the severity of the fire, it was found that over ninety shots took effect Dn the colors of the Seventy-fifth during the battle.

On the twelfth of January, 1863, Captain Harris was promoted to the rank of Major, and in the terrible engagement of Chancellorsville, beginning on May 2, 1863, the Seventy-fifth was distinguished for the bravery of its officers and men. In consequence of the peculiarity of its position, it was compelled frequently to change front under a severe fire, but acquitted itself in a most gallant manner. Colonel Reilly was killed and Major Harris was promoted to the command of his regiment, his rank dating May 3. At the battle of Gettysburgh Colonel Harris had command of the Second brigade of the First division of the Eleventh corps, and distinguished himself by a daring and successful charge upon the enemy occupying a ledge of rocks. His command was subjected to a galling fire during the three days of the engagement, and was the first to enter Gettysburgh after the battle. The Seventy-fifth lost heavily, and Colonel Harris was severely wounded.

On the eighteenth of the following August the Ohio brigade, to which the Seventy-frfth belonged, was placed in the trenches on Morris island, and there remained until after the fall of Forts Wagner and Gregg, on the seventh of September. The heat was intense, and the troops suffered severely. Previous to the proposed attack the brigade was moved back to Folly island, in order that if the attempt on Fort Wagner proved unsuccessful, the troops would not all be sacrificed. On the night of the sixth, Colonel Harris, with nine hundred se- lect men, was detailed to make the assault on the sea front, with instructions to assault the works at daylight in the morning; but the enemy observing the operations abandoned the fort.

In February, 1864, the Seventy-fifth was sent to Jacksonville, Florida, and there mounted; and until its term of service expired performed very efficient cavalry duty; in which may be instanced a very daring raid made by Colonel Harris, in the following May, to the head-waters of the St. John and Kissinnee rivers, on which expedition, besides destroying a large amount of cotton and other Confederate stores, he captured and brought in some five thousand head of fine beef cattle, and that, too without the loss of a man.

On the fourteenth of August Colonel Harris was imprudently sent by General Hatch on an expedition to the rear of the enemy, into the interior of Florida, with a little band of only two hundred mounted men. He obeyed orders, took a few prisoners, but was met by a much superior force, compelling his command to ride day and night to keep out of the enemy's hands. On the morning of the seventeenth he halted at Gainesville to rest, supposing himself temporarily secure, but was soon attacked by a force of about fourteen hundred men. As retreat was impossible, he fought desperately for two hours and a half; when, his ammunition giving out, no alternative was left but to surrender or cut his way through seven times his number of the enemy. Desperate as was the attempt, he succeeded, taking with him about one-half of his little band, and by swift marches reached Jacksonville.

Colonel Harris was mustered out of service as colonel of the Seventy-fifth on the fifteenth of January, 1865. While distinguished for great prudence and caution, and for the care he took of the men of his command, he never faltered when duty called to action. On the thirteenth of March following, as a compliment for his gallant and meritorious services during the war, he was brevetted brigadier general.

In the fall of 1865, he was elected to a seat in the senate of Ohio from the counties of Preble and Montgomery, and served therein two years, in which position he made a very creditable record. On the seventeenth day of October, 1865, he was married to Miss Caroline Conger, daughter of Eli Conger, esq., and to this union one son has been born. In the spring of 1866, the colonel formed a partnership for the practice of law with Robert Miller, esq., which continued until January

1876. At the October election of 1875 he was elected to the office of probate judge of Preble county, and re-elected to the same office in 1878.

Colonel Harris possesses all the elements that constitute a cultured and polished gentleman, but his most prominent characteristic is a conscientious, unswerving adherence to principle. He has always been a staunch Republican in politics, and an intelligent and efficient worker for the advancement of what he believes to be the true principles for the perpetuity of a republican form of government.

of November, A. D. 1818, in Montgomery county. Like so many others of the leading men of the community, he received all his education in the common district schools, and by diligent use of all his spare time from other avocations in self-study and reading. In the year 1849 he came to this county and located in the village of Winchester, where he prosecuted the cabinet making business, which trade he had previously learned. He was married on the fourth day of July, 1857, to Miss Rachel Saylor, daughter of Martin Saylor (one of the pioneer settlers of Gratis township), and sister of Dr. Christian Saylor.

In the year 1851 Mr. Stiver was elected justice of the peace, and with the exception of an interval of six years, has held the office ever since, and is now an incumbent thereof. In the year 1854 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, and served therein but one term of three years, declining a re-election. In the year 1861 he was elected a representative in the general assembly of Ohio, in which office he served but a single term, again declining a re-election. He was admitted: to the bar as an attorney and counsellor at law on the twenty- sixth day of April, A. D. 1866, in the district court for Preble county, and admitted to practice in the United States courts in 1874.

Lawyer Stiver is esteemed as an attorney of fair capacity, having a competent knowledge of the law and of the forms of business, and a man of sound, exemplary morals.

CHARLES M. EMERICK, ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the district court for Preble county, May 9, 1867. He never practiced at the bar in this county.

THOMAS J. LARSH, ESQ., was born in Dixon township, Preble county, on the twentieth day of September, A. D. 5809. He was the second son of the late Colonel Paul Larsh, a pioneer settler of this county, a sketch of whose life will be found in another place in this volume. In early life the subject of this notice was subject to all the privations and hardships of frontier pioneer life. The farm on which he was reared was on the verge of a wilderness of some miles in extent, and he was some ten to twelve years of age before there was any improvement, by way of farm or house, within a distance of half a dozen miles to the west. Nightly, and almost every night the year around, the howling of the wolves could be heard in the family dwelling, the most dismal sound that was ever heard. Sometimes there appeared, from the sound, to be dozens of them in the pack, and that they were within a few rods of the door.

Up to the age of between nine and ten years our subject had attended two or three short terms of school, taught in the typical log cabin school-house of that day. On the first day of January, 1819, his father having been elected sheriff in October, 1818, the family removed to Eaton, where facilities for schooling were of a somewhat better class. . Here he had the benefit, with other members of the family, of the improved advantages in the way of schools. The family remained in Eaton three years to a day, and during that time young Larsh had been in the school-room perhaps two full years. At the time he left school (for he was never afterwards in a school-room until he went in as a teacher) he was a very fair reader, understood the grammar of the English language passably well, and was a fair Latin scholar—could read and construe Virgil and Cicero with reasonable facility.

From the first day of January, 1822, to the month of August, 1824, young Larsh was employed upon his father's farm, assisting in all the labors of that avocation as occasion required. At the time indicated (August, 1824) he went into the printing office of the Eaton Weekly Register, as an apprentice to Hon. Samuel Tizzard to learn the "trade, art, and mystery" (as his articles of indenture expressed it), of the printing business. In this situation he continued four years. In October of 1828 he went to Montgomery county, Indiana, in company with an uncle who was moving his family to that county, and after remaining there some five or six weeks he went on foot down the Wabash river to Vincennes, and from thence across the country to Louisville, Kentucky, where he remained during the winter, at work in a printing establishment-most of the time at press work on stereotype plates.

In the month of March, 1829, after returning home from Louisville, he went to Piqua, Miami county, where he was employed in the office of the Piqua Register, until August of that year, and then commenced teaching school in the vicinity of that town, and continued at that business one year. In June, 1835, he bought the Richmond Palladium printing office from Nelson Boone (who had started the paper six months before), and commenced the publication of that paper on the first day of July of that year. He continued the publication about two years, and then sold out to Hon. David P. Holloway.

After disposing of the printing business Mr. Larsh engaged in the farming and lumbering business at a farm and water-power about five miles below Richmond, on Whitewater. There he remained about six years, and then sold out and came back to Preble county, and bought a steam saw-mill in Jackson township, which he operated about six years.

Meantime Mr. Larsh was married, on the eleventh day of May, 1831, to Miss Margaret Manning, daughter of John Manning, the original proprietor of the city of Piqua. There were born to this union five children, two daughters and three sons—two of the latter dying in infancy.

At the October election, 1847, Mr. Larsh was elected to the office of county surveyor, and soon after his election removed to the village of Eaton, where he has uninterruptedly resided up to the present time. It may be as well to say here, that by subsequent re-elections, from time to time, and with longer or shorter intervals, he has held the office of county surveyor between fifteen and eighteen years. In the month of April, 1850, he was elected to represent Preble and Montgomery counties in the Constitutional convention that framed the present constitution of the State. That convention met in Columbus on the sixth day of May, 1850, and after a session of about two months, on account of the breaking out of the cholera in that city, it adjourned to meet in

Cincinnati on the first day of the following December. It met accordingly, and having completed its labors adjourned early in the succeeding March.

After the adjournment of the convention, Mr. Larsh was employed for about two years as editor of the Eaton Weekly Register, then published by William B. Tizzard, esq., the son of the original proprietor of the paper. In the year 1857 and again in 1858, he visited the State of Iowa, to prosecute the business of selecting wild lands and locating military bounty land warrants thereon. In pursuit of this occupation he traversed a considerable portion of the newer or western portion of that State on foot, and selected and located some fifteen to twenty thousand acres of land.

In the year 1860 Mr. Larsh was elected to the office of auditor of Preble county, and by two subsequent reelections held the office six years. During his incumbency the business of the office was largely augmented and complicated by township, and county and State levies for the purpose of furnishing support for the families of soldiers in the field, and for bounties for volunteers. The business of the office, however, was conducted with such care and skill, that no complaint was ever heard as to the efficiency of its administration. Afterwards, during the incumbency of Mr. Barnhiser in the office, Mr. Larsh served two years as his deputy.

On the tenth day of May, A. D. 1867, our subject was admitted to the bar, as an attorney and counsellor at law, by the district court for Preble county. He has never engaged in the practice of his profession as a regular business, but occasionally takes charge of a case of minor moment, or assists In the settlement of probate business.

On the first Monday of January, 1876, he went into the State treasury as chief clerk, under appointment of Major J. M. Millikin, State treasurer, where he remained two years conducting the business of that office to the entire satisfaction of his principal, and of every one having business with the office.

After returning from his sojourn at the State capital, he again went into the auditor's office as deputy, under Samuel Oldfather.

On the twenty-fourth day of June, 1836, Mr. Larsh was admitted to membership in the Masonic order in Webb Lodge No. 42, at Richmond, Indiana. In the year 1844, being then a resident of Jackson township, this county, he transferred his membership to Bolivar Lodge No. 82, Eaton, Ohio. Subsequently he received the royal arch degrees, and has been admitted to membership in Reed Commandery, Dayton, of Knight's Templar. In the year 1851, as worthy master of Bolivar Lodge, he attended the grand lodge of Ohio at Cincinnati, and was a regular attendant on the sessions of that body for more than twenty years, and was twice elected to the office of junior grand warden. He also for many years represented his chapter in the grand royal arch chapter of the State, and was twice elected to the office of grand high priest of the grand Chapter.

Of Mr. Larsh's family, only one daughter and three is a grand children are now alive. His eldest daughter, born in Richmond, Indiana, May 1, 1832, the wife of S. T. Finney, died in Illinois in the year 1857, leaving one daughter, who is now the wife of Walter S. Van Tuyl, of West Alexandria. His only son that survived infancy-Bluejacket Larsh—enlisted in the Seventy- fifth Ohio volunteer infantry (Colonel Harris' regiment) in 1854, and was captured by the rebels in Florida, taken to the infamous Andersonville prison, and there he was so reduced by starvation and exposure that when finally sent forward for exchange to Florence, South Carolina, he only lived two days after arriving at that place. Mrs. Margaret Larsh, our subject's wife, died on the twenty-ninth day of August, A. D. 1869. Since his bereavement Mr. Larsh has made his home for the most part with his only surviving daughter, Ollitippa Unger, wife of John H. Unger, who has two children, a son and a daughter.

WILLIAM WALLACE PARDUE, ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the district court for Preble county, on the twenty- fifth day of May, 1868. He was not a citizen of this county, nor ever practiced here.

WILLIAM E. CHAMBERS, ESQ., was admitted to the bar, by the district court for Preble county, May 14, 1869. He was the son of James L Chambers, esq., formerly of Butler county, and who came to this place about 1862, and was connected for some years with the machine-shop and flooring-mill. Soon after his admission to the bar, young Chambers removed to Ottumwa, Iowa.

SAMUEL H. QUINN, son of General John Quinn, and brother of Robert W. Quinn, esq., was called to the bar May 14, 1869. Immediately after his admission he went to Cincinnati and commenced the practice of his profession in that city.

GEORGE W. WILSON, ESQ., son of Jefferson Wilson, native of Somers township, this county, and was called to the bar May 14, 1869, at the same time with the two gentlemen last named. After his admission he engaged in the practice in this place for a few months, but sobn after was employed in the internal revenue service of the Government, in which he has been engaged up to the present time, residing in Hamilton.

JAMES C. ELLIOTT, ESQ., S011 of John Elliott, was born in Dixon township, this county; read for the bar in the office of Jacob H. Foos, esq., and was admitted to the practice May lo, 187o. He commenced practicing first in the town of Bradford, Miami county, but subsequently removed to Greenville, Darke county, where he is residing at present.

ALEXANDER F. ANDERSON, ESQ., a citizen of Paulding county, Ohio, was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counsellor at law, by the district court for Preble county, on the tenth of May, 1870.

FREDERICK L. WOOD, ESQ., of Montgomery county, was admitted to the bar by the district court for Preble county, on the fourth day of May, A. D. 1871. Nothing is known here of the antecedents or present status of the two gentlemen last named.

LUTHER C. ABBOTT, ESQ., is a native of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, born in 1831. In youth he re-

ceived an academic education, and at an early age commenced teaching in his native state. In the year 1856 he came to Preble county and taught school for some two years. He read law in the office of the late Judge Haines, and was called to the bar in the year 1859, and at once formed a partnership with his preceptor, which continued some eight years. In 1861 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and in 1863 was re-elected. He was also three times elected mayor of Eaton. In 1879 he removed to Richmond, Indiana, where he now resides and is engaged in the practice of his profession.

WILLIAM W. AKER was born at New Madison, Darke county, Ohio, October 19, 1833. In addition to the ordinary district school facilities, he had the benefit of an academic course, and was subsequently engaged in teaching for some twelve years in this and adjoining counties. He attended a course of instruction at Smith's Commercial college, and graduated from that institution. After reading law for two years he took a regular course in the law school of Cincinnati college, and graduated in 1872, and was admitted to the Bar in the district court for Hamilton county immediately thereafter. In the year 1862, during the war of the Rebellion, he enlisted in the Ninety-third regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned second lieutenant of Company H.

After his admission to the bar he established an offrce for the practice of his profession in West Alexandria, where he has since resided. In the year 1853 he was married to Miss Harriet N. Stevens, of Cincinnati.

JAMES ALEXANDER GILMORE, ESQ., was born on the eleventh day of July, A.D. 1834, in Israel township, Preble county. His father, Dr. Eli Gilmore, was a Virginian, and immigrated to Preble county in the year 1825. During his minority, the subject of this sketch received a passably fair education in the common schools, as good as could be obtained at that time, but had no benefits of an academic training. In the year 1852, when at the age of eighteen years, he went to Eaton, and entered as .a student in the law office of his brother, Judge Wm. J. Gilmore. Whilst pursuing his studies there, he worked in the several county offices as occasion and opportunity offered. In the year 1854, he went to the city of Cincinnati, and entered the law school of Cincinnati college, where he graduated in 1855, and was admitted to the bar by the district court of Butler county, on the day after he attained his majority

After his admission he returned to Eaton and commenced the practice with his brother, where he remained until the year 1858, in which year he went to Indiana and established an office for the practice of his profession in Greencastle, Putnam county. Here he remained two years, and then returned to Eaton. Previous to his return, however, in the year 1859 he married Miss Lizzie Applegate, at Greencastle. At this time he remained at Eaton but a single year, returning in 186o with his wife to Greencastle, where her parents resided.

In the fall of 1861, Mr. Gilmore enlisted in the forty- third regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry, for service in the war for the suppression of the rebellion. Pretty soon after his regiment was mustered into service, he was detailed in the quartermaster's department, where he served during the term of his enlistment—three years. His regiment was one of the first that entered Memphis. Afterwards the command went to Helena, Arkansas, thence to Little Rock, Camden, etc., remaining, however, most of the time at Little Rock.

Having been in the service the full term of his enlistment, he was honorably discharged in the fall of 1864. His wife having died whilst he was in the service, soon after his discharge he re-enlisted in the ninety-first regiment Ohio volunteer infantry—one of the regiments forming the twenty-third army corps. With this command he went to North Carolina. He was again detailed from his regiment, and served his time principally in the judge advocate's department. A part of the time, however, he was a clerk under Captain Phineas R. Minor, in the commissary department.

After his discharge, in 1865, upon the conclusion of the war, our subject spent a year in the west, and then returned to his old home in Eaton, and formed a partnership for the practice of his profession with Judge J. V. Campbell. Ori the twelfth day of November, 1869, he was married to Miss Ada M. Hendricks, daughter of General George D. Hendricks. Some time after his marriage he removed to the city of Hamilton and opened an office for the practice of law, where he remained two years and then returned to. Eaton, and has resided here ever since. Still retaining his partnership with Judge Campbell, he continued his law practice until the spring of 1879, when he was elected an additional judge of the court of common pleas for this sub-division, which office he now holds.

Judge Gilmore is an able advocate before a jury, logical in presenting his cases before the court, and quite distinguished as a lecturer.

WILLIAM A. WEAVER, ESQ., was admitted to the bar by the district court for Preble county on the fourteenth day of April, A.D., 1874.

JOHN M. SHAEFER is a native of this county, and was born April, 1820. He commenced reading law with General Felix Marsh in 1854, and discontinued it to engage in other pursuits. About 186o he resumed his reading, this time with Robert Miller, esq., and was admitted to practice April 24, 1874. The same fall he opened an office in Camden where he has since resided. He was elected justice of the peace in Somers township in 1861, serving until 1870, and was mayor of Camden from 1858 until about 1868.

FRANK G. THOMPSON, ESQ., was admitted to the bar on the ninth day of May, 1876. He is the only son of the late Judge G. W. Thompson, and is a native of Eaton. He is a young man of fair promise, who has not been engaged in the practice of law long enough to have established a reputation as a practitioner; nor is he old enough to have formed such acquaintance as would

command a remunerative line of business in the profession. He has served for some two years as the secretary of the Preble County Agricultural society, in which department he has acquitted himself with credit.

LEVIN T. STEPHEN, ESQ., son of John R. Stephen, esq., is a native of the village of Eaton, and was admitted to

the bar on the ninth day of May, 1876. Young Stephen has been engaged to some extent in the business of teaching school, and since his admission to the bar, and even before, we believe, has been employed as local editor of the Eaton Weekly Register.

Mr. Stephen's education was obtained wholly in the public schools of the village of Eaton, and his erudition will compare favorably with that of many young men who can boast of academic or collegiate polish. His practice of the law has been quite limited as yet, but will doubtless increase as his ability comes to be better known. He is of very retiring disposition, and too modest to push himself into notice.

MARCUS L. HOLT, ESQ., is a native of Morrow county, Ohio, and was born on the nineteenth day of July, 1841. After the usual preparatory training in the district schools in the place of his nativity, he entered as a student in the Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware, and in due time graduated, having gone through the classical course of that institution. Then for two years he had charge of the academy at Berkshire, Ohio, in conjunction with his sister. In the year 1864, after having taught some five years, he came to Eaton and was employed as principal of the public schools of this place for one year. He then conducted a school in the city of Richmond, Indiana, for one year, after which he returned to Eaton and was engaged in the mercantile business in company with his brother-in-law, William E. Doyle, for two years.

Shortly after closing up his mercantile business, the Excelsior School Furniture Manufacturing company was organized here,,in which Mr. Holt was a partner and business manager up to the time the establishment was removed to Indianapolis, and for some time afterwards, we believe.

On the thirty-first day of August, 1865 he was married to Miss Sarah J. Walters, daughter of Mr. Joseph Walters. He read law in the office of Messrs. Campbell & Gilmore, and was called to the bar May 9, 1876. He engaged in the practice of his profession soon after his admission, and is succeeding in building up a practice as rapidly as most young men.

OSCAR SHEPPARD, ESQ., was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, July 15, 1844, and in the year 1857 removed with his father's family to near Newark, Licking county, where he continued to reside until the year 1861. In July of that year he enlisted in Captain Edwin Nichols' company C, Twenty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, in which he served until the close of the war for the suppression of the rebellion. His regiment was a part of the famous "Ohio legion," and he participated in all its battles and engagements. He re-enlisted with his regiment January r, 1864, "for three years or during the war;" was wounded at the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864; was present at the surrender of Johnson in North Carolina, in 1865; participated in the grand review at Washington, and was mustered out of service as sergeant major of his regiment at Louisville, Kentucky, in the month of August, 1865.

After his return from the successful termination of the war, having then just attained his majority, he resumed his educational pursuits, first in the public schools of Newark, and then in the national normal school at Lebanon, Ohio. In the year 1869 he came to Preble county, and during nine years thereafter was engaged in teaching —for six years of that time as principal of the public schools in West Alexandria. In the year 1873 he was appointed a member of the board of county school examiners, and has been twice reappointed.

In the year 1872 he commenced the study of law in the office of Jonathan Rees, esq., of Newark, where he remained during three vacations. After a short interval he resumed the study in the office of Messrs. Campbell & Gilmore, in Eaton, where he completed his preparatory course, and was called to the bar on the ninth day of May, 1877. In June, 1878, he opened an office in the village of West Alexandria, where he is now engaged in the practice.

On the fourth day of September 1877, Mr. Sheppard was married to Miss Alice C. Gale, daughter of John H. Gale (deceased), of West Alexandria.

LEWIS M. DILLMAN, ESQ., son of Joseph Dillman, of the vicinity of Camden, was admitted to the bar on the ninth day of May, 1877. We believe Mr. Dillman is now (1880) travelling in the State of Illinois in the interest of a school book publishing company.

JOHN A. MOORE, ESQ., was admitted to the bar, by the district court for Preble county, April 28, 1879. He is a citizen of New Paris, this county.

JOSEPH GIDEON MCNUTT, ESQ., was a native of Eaton, and born October 7, 1833. I was the only son of John M. U. McNutt, esq., and Jane C. Hawkins McNutt. He was admitted to the bar, and practiced in this county, and also in Indiana, but we have not been able to get hold of any records that would enable us to trace his history. His friends in Indiana have been written to on the subject, but no answer obtained. He died at Richmond, Indiana, March 2, 1877, of consumption.

WILLIAM A. NEAL, born February 2, 1853, read law under Winfield Freeman, esq., then of Eaton. He was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of Ohio March 5, 1878, and at once commenced practice in Eaton, where he still resides. He was elected mayor of Eaton April, 1880.

MARCUS BRUTUS CHADWICK, ESQ., son of Samuel R. Chadwick (an emigrant from western New York, and a merchant of New Paris, afterwards of Winchester, in this county), was educated at Miami university, and after being admitted to the bar as an attorney at law, came to Eaton in the year 1848, and opened an office for the practice of his profession. In 1849 he was elected prosecuting attorney. In 1853 he quit the practice, and bought a farm and saw-mill in Gasper township. After several years he removed to Shelby county, Indiana, where he at present resides. We have been unable to obtain any further data for a more extended notice. Mr. Chadwick has been written to, but no response received.

JOHN B. DRAYER, ESQ., a native of Butler county, after being called to the bar, came to Eaton in the year

1850, and secured a partnership in the law practice with M. B. Chadwick, esq. He was here but a few years, and removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he has been on the bench as circuit judge for a number of years.

FELIX M. MARSH was born in Eaton, Preble county, Ohio, May 15, 1843, and received his education in the public schools of that place and at Miami university. He read law with his father, Felix Marsh, and was admitted to practice in the United States court at Washington city, District of Columbia, in the year 1867, in which city he was residing at the time, being employed in the general post office department. He was appointed to a position in that department December 20, 1864, and remained there until April, 1871, when he resigned and returned to engage in the practice of his profession, associating himself in business with his father. After the death of his father, he and his brother, William, formed a partnership, and are conducting a good business.

WILLIAM B. MARSH was born in Eaton, Preble county, Ohio, July is, 1845. He received his education at the Eaton public schools. He read law under his father, General Felix Marsh, and was admitted to the bar at Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, in 1867. He commenced practicing at Camden, this county, and was elected a justice of the peace of Somers township in April, 1867, and re-elected in 187o. He was elected mayor of Camden in 1871. In 1877 he removed to Eaton and has since been engaged in a rapidly growing practice. He has made quite a reputation in the county —for a young attorney—as a successful criminal lawyer.

ELAM FISHER is a mike of Preble county, and was born July 26, 1846. The education which he received at the public schools of Eaton, was supplemented by an attendance at a commercial school in Dayton and a classical course at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1869. Shortly afterward he commenced the study of law under Jacob H. Foos, esq., of Eaton, and in the fall of 1869 entered the law school of Michigan university, at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he graduated in 1871. The same year he was married to Miss May Still, of Evansville, Indiana. After his marriage he settled in Indianapolis, where he was admitted to the bar. Being in poor health during his residence in that city, he decided to return to Eaton, and in June, 1872, he formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Foos, and since then has been in active practice, and has assisted in the conduct of a great many cases. Mr. Fisher possesses a good legal mind, and is a patient, careful investigator.

WALTER SAYLER was born at Winchester, this county, October 3, 1857. After attending the public Schools of that village, he went to the National normal school, at Lebanon, Ohio, and graduated in the scientific course in 1876. He commenced studying law under Robert Miller, esq., of Eaton, in 1878, and in the fall of 1878 returned to Lebanon and took a classical course, which included the law course, after which he resumed his studies with Mr. Miller. He has practiced in justices' courts, but at this writing has not been admitted to the bar.

The Eaton & Hamilton railroad company was organized under special charter in 1849, and its object was to construct a railroad from Eaton, Preble county, by such route as the directors might select, to Hamilton, Butler county. The late Judge Abner Haines performed very valuable service in securing the charter, and the instrument itself was drawn up by Joseph Hawkins. The road was in operation to Eaton in the spring of 1852, and later in the same year the track was laid and rolling stock run over as far as Westville. The incorporators and first directors of the company, who had their residences in Preble county, were Dr. Lurton Dunham, of Camden; Cornelius Vanausdal, Ellis Minshall, and Alfred Denny, of Eaton. Cornelius Vanausdal was the first president of the company, but held that office less than a year. Jesse B. Stephens was secretary, and Josiah Campbell, treasurer. Abner Haines succeeded Vanausdal as president, and Ezekiel W. McGuire came in as treasurer, and remained in that position of trust for many years. John Woods, of Hamilton, was the third president, and served a little over a year, David Barnett, of Barnett station, succeeding him, and was president of the company for a period of nine years—from 1854 to 1863—when the railroad passed into the possession of the Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago railroad company. It is a fact worthy of note that the iron originally laid upon the line of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad was purchased in England. Charles Seymour, a civil engineer in the employment of the company, communicated with his brother in England —Sir Digby Seymour, member of Parliament—who simply negotiated the company's promise to pay, and without using any bonds of the corporation secured all of the iron necessary. It was bought in England for about thirty dollars per. ton, and when it reached its destination was worth from sixty to sixty-five dollars. It was carried to New Orleans as ballast by cotton vessels, only a mere nominal sum being charged for freight, and from the southern seaport was sent up the river to Cincinnati. The original subscription to the stock of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad was sixty-five thousand dollars, of which sum the amount raised in Preble county was about forty thousand dollars. Afterwards a much larger amount of money was raised, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars being secured from Cincinnati railroad fund alone.

November 1, 1864, the Eaton & Hamilton company leased for ninety-nine years, renewable forever, that part of the Richmond & Miami railway extending from the point of connection therewith on the State line to the junction or switch about two miles east of Richmond, Indiana; and also the use, in common with the Dayton & Western railroad company, of the remaining portion, extending to the city. of Richmond. The company becoming financially embarrassed, suit was brought against it in Butler county common pleas court by Joseph B. Varnum and the co-trustees for foreclosure of mortgage and

sale of road. Pending the proceedings, June 1, 1865, an agreement for a reorganization of the company, and the capitalization of its stock and debt, was submitted to its stockholders and creditors, which was acceded to. In pursuance thereof, the road was sold by order of the court, and was purchased by trustees for the benefit of the parties to the agreement of capitalization. May 3, 1866, the reorganization was perfected by filing certificate thereof with the secretary of State, the new company assuming the name of Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago railroad company. February 18, 1869, this company leased its road and property in perpetuity, assigning also its lease of the Richmond & Miami railway to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad company, the lessee paying expenses of operating, maintenance of road and property, payment of interest on bonded debt, etc.; any surplus of earnings to inure to the benefit of the Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago railroad company. The line has since that time been operated by the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad company.

The Piqua branch of the Eaton & Hamilton road was projected a number of years ago, and had it been built would, undoubtedly, have proved profitable in itself, and a great advantage to Eaton and Preble county. The Louisville & Sandusky railroad was one among many of the projects which never reached perfection. Over one hundred thousand dollars worth of work was performed on this line, but the company becoming embarrassed in the great railroad panic of 1855, abandoned the road. Its line will probably be used some time, and possibly in the near future, by the Evansville, & Bellefontaine & Lake Erie railroad company.

A chapter might be written upon the several railroad enterprises which have been undertaken in this part of the State, and which have fallen through and failed of success from various causes.

Next to the Eaton & Hamilton or Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad; the one in which Preble county has the most interest is the Dayton & Western.

This company was chartered February 14, 1846, to construct a road from Dayton to a point on the State line between Ohio and Indiana to be selected by the directors. Construction was commenced in July, 1848, and the road opened for business October 11, 1853, from Dayton to State line, thirty-eight miles. January 14, 1863, the company leased to the Dayton & Union railroad company the permanent use in common of its track from Dayton to Dodson, fifteen miles, subordinate to the necessary use of the same by the lessor, for the sum of eight thousand dollars yearly, payable in monthly installments, to he supplemented, when the gross earnings of the Dayton & Union railroad shall exceed one hundred thousand dollars per annum, by ten per cent. on all such excess. Under date of February 4, 1865, the company leased from the Richmond & Miami railway company of Indiana, for ninety-nine years from January a, 1865, renewable forever, the entire control of its road, right of way, buildings, etc., from its western terminus on the line dividing the States of Ohio and. Indiana, to the point of junction or switch where its road diverges and runs to Eaton and Hamilton; also the use of the remaining portion to its western terminus in the city of Richmond, three miles in all, for the semi-annual payment of two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, payable each first of January and July. February 4, 1865, the company entered into an agreement to lease the Little Miami and Columbus & Xenia railroad companies, for ninety-nine years from January 1, x865, renewable forever, its road, property and privileges, excepting certain leased premises and other property in Dayton, the shop, machinery, tools, etc., and providing that a contract between the Dayton & Western and Columbus & Xenia companies of March 12, 1863, be surrendered and settled up to the above date. The lease was made subject to a contract of lease between the Dayton & Western and Dayton & Union railroad companies of January 14, 1863, by which the latter have the use of the Dayton & Western track from Dayton to Dodson. Also of a contract dated May 26, 1864, between the Dayton and Western and Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad companies, relating to the joint use of tracks of the two companies in Dayton and the bridge over the Great Miami river. The lease of the Richmond & Miami railway was also transferred and assigned, the lessees assuming all the stipulations and conditions of the several named contracts of the Dayton & Western company, and agreeing to carry out its several provisions. The Dayton & Western company agreed to procure, to be transferred to the lessees, a majority of its capital stock, not less than one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars in the aggregate. The lease was made subject to a deed of trust, dated November a, 1864, to secure the payment of seven hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars, bonds of the Dayton & Western railroad company, due and payable January a, 1895, the lessees assuming payment of the semi-annual interest thereon as rental for said property, and also agreeing to indorse and guarantee the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds, the Dayton & Western company agreeing, upon the full payment thereof and the interest thereon, to convey in fee simple to the said lessees of the railroad and property thereby leased. The Columbus & Xenia company assigned its interest in the foregoing lease to the Little Miami railroad company, to take effect December r, 1868, and it was transferred by that company, together with its own and other leased lines, to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis railway company, taking effect December a, 1869, and the road since that time has been operated by that company, in connection with its own and other leased lines.

It was originally intended that this railroad should be located through Eaton, but this measure was defeated by the Dayton and Montgomery county people who had agreed to subscribe or had subscribed in the Dayton & Greenville road, and who were unable or unwilling to assist two companies. Therefore, for the sake of saving a heavy outlay, the two roads were united and used the same track from Dayton to Dodson, and from that

point westward the Dayton & Western company constructed an independent line. The incorporators of the Dayton & Western company in Preble county were Joseph S. Hawkins and Nathaniel Benjamin, and in Montgomery county Valentine Winters, Horatio Phillips,

Jonathan Harshman, and Alexander Grimes. The directors in Preble county were Nathaniel Benjamin, Ellis Marshall, A. J. Hawkins, Captain Butler, and Dr. David Cox, of New Paris.

The following table shows the population of Preble county in 1820, and thereafter each twenty years:

6	5	4	3	2	1
7	8	9	10	11	12
18	17	16	15	14	13
19	20	21	22	23	24
30	29	28	27	26	25
31	32	33	34	35	36

6	5	4	3	2	1
7	8	9	10	11	12
18	17	16	15	14	13
19	20	21	22	23	24
30	29	28	27	26	25
31	32	33	34	35	36

6	5	4	3	2	1
7	8	9	10	11	12
18	17	16	15	14	13
19	20	21	22	23	24
30	29	28	27	26	25
31	32	33	34	35	36