William Bruce, the founder of Eaton, emigrating from Kentucky in 1805, and seeking desirable lands, became favorably impressed with the appearance of the country now covered by the county seat of Preble, and, its environments. It is probable that he had in his mind from the start, the project of laying out a town, and that he was led to choose the locality which he did, because of the excellent water power which he saw that Seven Mile creek would furnish at this point. Very likely he chose during that prospecting tour the exact site of his mill, planned the town which he desired to found and pictured in imagination as he stood upon the bank of the creek, and gazed into the dark aisles of the dense forest, the home which would, if his hopes were realized, a few years later, be clustered upon this spot. Undoubtedly lie had lively and pleasant anticipations of the reward which the future had in store for the pioneer of such a land as he saw around him, and his hopes sprang up from a soil whose richness warranted their flourishing to fruition, or to change the metaphor we may say that if the sturdy Scotch pioneer indulged his fancy, in building "castles in the air," those castles had at least a solid foundation in reason.

Bruce's confidence is evidenced by the fact that he selected and purchased three sections of land.

In the winter of 1805-1806 he laid out the town plat of Eaton,* and it was recorded February 20, 1806, at*

* " First—The town lots are three rods wide and twelve rods long, excepting the fractional lots and four whole lots west of Walnut street, which are one hundred links in front and one hundred and sixty-nine links long.

"Second—Barson and Preble streets are six rods wide ; all other streets are four rods wide; the alleys are one rod wide.

"Third—The lines, streets, etc., are run agreeably to the sectional lines west of the Miami, by which the compass was regulated, except North Water street which is north thirty degrees and forty minutes west and south.

"Fourth—The width and breadth of the out-lots are marked on them. That part of Eaton west of Preble street is on section number three, township seven, range second east of a meridian, and that part of Eaton north of said street is on the southeast quarter of section thirty- four, township eight, same range. The surveyor general of the United

Dayton. In laying out the town, Mr. Bruce gave evidence of those qualities of character, which afterwards became so familiar and so admirable to his acquaintances. The most liberal provisions were made for schools and churches, and the public buildings which he foresaw would be needed when the western portion of Montgomery county should be independently organized, as it was two years later.

The village was named by its proprietor, when laid off, in honor of General William Eaton, who at that time had just covered himself with glory in the Tripolitan war and won the admiration of all Americans. He was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, in the year 1764 As a boy he served in the Revolutionary war, and after its close engaged In literary pursuits; and desiring to obtain a thorough education, entered Dartmouth college. He was appointed a captain under General Anthony Wayne in 1792, and in 1798 was made consul to Tunis. He was also appointed navy agent of the United States, and to co-operate with Hamet Bashaw in the war against Tripoli. With Hamet Caramanly, who had been deposed from the throne, he concerted an expedition against the usurper then reigning, and obtained permission from the United States to carry out his plans. Early in 1805 Eaton met Hamet at Alexandria, was appointed General of his forces, and at the head of the small army, consisting principally of mounted Arabs, set out for Tripoli,

States has not caused this section to be subdivided, and it is probable that when he does, a small alteration will be made in the lots bounding upon the north and west boundaries of the quarter section, and will make them either larger or smaller.

" Fifth—The proprietor reserves for himself, his heirs and assigns forever, the ground between Water street and the Creek, for the purpose of building mills, or water works, or if wanted for conveying water over to such mills or water works, or leaving saw-logs, piling boards, etc., as may be necessary for a saw-mill. But the said ground shall remain free, as a common, when unoccupied for the special purposes.

" Sixth—The ground marked off round the town lots on the northeast and south of the same is reserved for future disposition to be laid off in town lots or sub-lots as the proprietors may think proper. The streets are to run through the same in all respects like to the other parts of the town, to which it is attached whether town or out-lots.

making a perilous and fatiguing march of one thousand miles across the desert, and after fifty days arriving at Derne, a Tripolitan city, in the harbor of which he found the American fleet in readiness to assist him. The city was assaulted and taken after a short, sharp fight, in which many of the attacking force were killed and General Eaton slightly wounded. A few days later the Tripolitan army endeavored to regain the captured town, and although ten times as numerous as Eaton's force, they were repulsed. A month later the enemy was again defeated. Just as General Eaton had reached the climax of his success, diplomatic interference closed the war and the most important results which should have been secured by General Eaton's exploits were lost to the Nation. General Eaton returned to the United States and died in a 1. Such, in brief, was the life of the brave man after whom this village is named. It seems rather a curious coincidence that both the county and its principal town should have been named after American officers who gained their greatest distinction in the same war, but whatever singularity there may seem in the fact disappears when we recall to mind the fact that the village was laid out and the county established just at the time when the exploits of Commodore Preble and General Eaton were fresh in the minds of the people.

The first settlers of Eaton were without any doubt John Mills and his wife Mary. They arrived on the first

"Seventh—The squares marked A, B, C and D arc twelve poles square. A is for the purpose of building a court house on and other public buildings for the use of the county; B for an academy and school-house for the town; C and D for churches or meeting houses, to be divided into lots similar in all respects to those on the plat, and each or every congregation within the town and county that will be hereafter organized, and will build a good house . for public worship on the same, shall have one, the first congregation organized to have choice of the lots, and so on. They are not to be occupied for burying-grounds.

"Eighth—The lot marked E is for a burying-ground, to be divided into six equal parts by tines drawn from east to west. The northern lot shall be for the use of strangers and persons belonging to no regular congregation; the other five for use of first five congregations who may build meeting houses in Eaton. The first congregation shall have choice, and so on.

"Personally appeared before me, Daniel C. Cooper, one of the justices of the peace of said county, and the above named William Bruce, proprietor of the town of Eaton, and acknowledged the plat and description as set forth to be agreeable to the original of said town. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twentieth day of February, 1806.

"I, Warren Munger, recorder for the county aforesaid, do hereby certify that the foregoing plat of the town of Eaton, in the county of Preble, and the State of Ohio, and the descriptions and explanations, is a true copy of the record now remaining in my office at Dayton, in said county. Given under my hand, and I have hereunto affixed the seal of the recorder's office of said county of Montgomery, this twenty- seventh day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.

day of April, 1806, and located on the ground which we can but designate as the northwest corner of Main and Beech streets. On their arrival they immediately built a small cabin of poles or very light logs, such as could be easily handled by two pairs of hands, for they had no assistance whatever in the work.

David E. Hendricks and some members of his family came to the site of the village, the day after Mills arrived, April 2d, and located in a rude log cabin, intended only as a temporary shelter, on the spot now known as the old brewery lot. After finishing the little cabin which was to afford his family shelter, Mr. Hendricks returned, on the same day, to his home, on the site of Camden, which he had occupied two or three years, to get those members of his household who had not already moved to the new settlement. It is related that during his absence his daughter, Julia, the late Mrs. Geutte, undertook a visit to the cabin of their only neighbor, for the purpose of getting a pail of water, but owing to the density of the underbrush, lost her way. She wandered about for some time but could not find the cabin for which she had started, nor discover the way by which she had come from her father's. Ar last, after she had almost given up hope, and taken into as calm consideration as possible, the idea that was forced upon her, that she must remain all night in the woods, her dispair was suddenly dispelled by the sound of an axe, and very sweet music must the reverberating strokes have made for her ear. Guided by the sound, she made her way through the thick brush to Mills cabin, and the wood-chopper guided her home. This happened very near the site of the court house. Mr. Hendricks returned the following day with the remainder of his family, among the members being George D., then a very young child, carried in the arms of his mother, who was mounted upon a horse.

Both Mills and Hendricks not long after their arrival built log houses which were designed to serve as permanent abodes, and constructed in a very substantial manner. Mills' cabin was completed just in time to be the birth place of his first child-the pioneer baby of Eaton. The child, which was named Polly, was born May 1st. Nothing is known of the Mills family except that at an early day they removed from the settlement. Whether they returned to the older settlements or pushed forward to the not far distant frontier, there perhaps to become the first settlers of another village, is a matter upon which we can only speculate. It is most probable, however, that the latter is the correct supposition, for settlers in the western country seldom turned back and many led by the spirit of adventure or by expectation of bettering their condition, were almost constantly advancing, even in the foremost wave of the ocean of population. Although Mills arrived upon the site of ,Eaton one day previous to David Hendricks, it is doubtful if the distinction of being the pioneer of Eaton may not be more appropriately and justly conferred upon the latter than the former. One thing is sure the Hendricks family were the first settlers of the village who became permanent residents. There is no indication that Mills intended to

make this settlement his permanent home while proof that David E. Hendricks had such intention from the very first is afforded by the fact that he erected as soon as he was able not a simple log cabin but a two-story heavy log house—the same which is now the residence of S. H. Hubbell.

William Bruce, the proprietor, with four men he had employed, two of whom were named Ringer and two Rogers, came on at the latter part of April and began digging the mill race, which is still in use. On the first day of May, 1806, there was a public sale of lots, and on that day Bruce brought to the town his sons Hardin and Charles, and other members of his family. A Mr. Wiseman and two brothers named Coapdick were among the early arrivals, as were also John Liston and William Drake, both from the vicinity of Middleton. A Mrs. Harper came in and built the third cabin on the town plat. A Mr. Ferguson and David and Abram Eaton, older brothers of Daniel F. Heaton (they spelled their names differently), came from the Great Miami and located in the vicinity of the village. About the same time came other settlers, among whom may be mentioned Colonel Samuel Hawkins and his sons Joseph C., John J., Benjamin F., Samuel, and Bird Hawkins, Isaac Smith, Elias Rien and Eden Hardin; all from Little Twin, in Montgomery county; also Samuel Watts, Elias Dawson, Richard Hardesty, Samuel Carr, Henry Whitesell, John Banfill, sr., with his sons Enoch and John

In the spring of 1807 the few residents of the embryo village made a "log rolling" to "clear up" Main street from Colonel Hawkins' tavern, east of the public ground, west to the creek. Men, women, and children joined in the work of gathering and burning the logs and brush, and it is asserted that when the day's work had been concluded all of the men who had been engaged at it abandoned themselves to a general drunk, and manifested their satisfaction by casting their wool hats and coon skin caps upon the burning log heaps.

William Shiffeel, brother of Judge Shiffeel, of Pennsylvania, came out in 1806, and returned in 1807 with his family. He was a shoemaker and travelled through the village and surrounding country, from cabin to cabin, to perform his work, a modus operandi known in those days as whipping the cat. He built a cabin in the rear of the lot where the Presbyterian church stands, but remained there only a short time, being succeeded by William Steele, a cabinet-maker, who removed to Indiana in 1819, and in after years represented his county in the legislature.

Alexander Mitchell and Alexander C. Lanier both arrived in 1807. The former, who was from Kentucky, died in Eaton of cholera in 1849. He was a cabinetmaker by trade, and for many years county treasurer. Lanier was from North Carolina. He was one of the prominent men of his time, but did not remain in the town, leaving in 1817 for Madison, Indiana, where he died in 1820. His son, James F. D. Lanier, became a very prominent New York banker, and his son, Sidney Lanier, who drifted back to the State from whence his grandfather emigrated, became well known as a poet, magazinist, and general man of letters. His fame rests largely upon his National anthem, produced in 1876.

Cornelius Vanausdal and his brother Isaac came in about this time, and the former began operating in the fur trade, and opened a general store.

Christian, John and Phillip Helm settled in 1807, and the first named died in 1810. The other two were saddlers, and long followed their trade in the village.

Mr. Griffith, a wheelwright, came in 1808, and set up a shop on the southeast corner of Beech and Wadsworth streets.

Dr. Walter Buell came in 1808 from Kentucky and built the "long row"-four log cabins end to end, which were used as a barracks during the War of 1812. William B. Wilson, also from Kentucky, came in 1808, but soon moved into the country west of town. He was a cabinetmaker. Charles Hand, who married a daughter of Captain David E. Hendricks, came the same year, as did also Joseph Wasson, blacksmith. He was a native of South Carolina, a man held in very high esteem, and a good citizen. John Shaw, the first butcher, came in a little later. His brother-in-law, George Worthington, whose wife was a daughter of Colonel Samuel Hawkins, arrived about the same time. Worthington, after leaving Eaton, laid off the village of Westville, and in later years removed from there to Attica. James Butler, a major of militia, and after the war a colonel, came to the settle. ment about the same time as the above, and left in 1818. John Gentle, who married Julia Hendricks, was another early settler. He removed from town to a farm where he died in 1825. William Castor and his wife Polly originally from Pennsylvania, but a settler in Clermont county, Ohio, about 1800, came to Eaton in 181I. After a short time he removed to a farm on Seven-mile, north of Eaton. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and performed distinguished service. He was born in 1783, and lived to be upwards of ninety.

Isaac Stephens, father of A. H. Stephens, M. D., a native of Virginia, born in 1786, came to Eaton in 1812, from Tennessee. His father, John Stephens, came later, awl died in the village in 1819. Isaac Stephens was a prominent and very useful man. He was the second postmaster, and served for a very long term of years. He was also justice of the peace and county collector. He married, in 1817, Elizabeth McCauley, who died in 1827. He was married twice after her death, his second wife being Berthena Stephens, and his third, Julia Ann Wilson. He died in 1865. Isaac Stephens' brothers, David Lewis, Jesse B., Peter, Joseph, William and John, were all residents of the village after 1819.

Isaac Banta, from Virginia, was a settler in Eaton prior to the War of 1812. He died in the village in 1819. William S. Henderson, the second physician of the village, came in from Kentucky in 1813. Henry Monfort, from Warren county (formerly from Virginia), arrived in 1814. He died of cholera in 1849. Hugh Andrews, a "New Light" or Christian preacher, came the same year, and lived in the village until his death in 1820.

Lemuel Jamieson, a carpenter, .came in 1813, and about 1830 removed to New Paris. Thomas and Samuel Abbott came the same year. They were shoemakers; and the elder brother was also a Baptist preacher. John Gardner was another accession to the population in 1815. John Acton came to the village in 1816, bringing with him his wife Nancy (Buchanan) and children. Acton was born in Maryland, but came to Ohio from Rockbridge county, Virginia. He died in 1849, and his wife in 1854. Their children, Mary R. (Robertson), John P. Acton, and Isabella (wife of Lieutenant Hubbell), are all living. Thomas Morgan, a very ingenious mechanic and cabinet-maker, whose handiwork is still to be seen in many of the older homes throughout Preble county, settled in Eaton in 1816, and lived here all of his life. A son, Robert W., and daughter, Julia (Foos) are residents of the town. The same year as the above, William Kline came to the village from Pennsylvania. He was a resident of the town until 1844, when he removed to Logansport, Indiana, where five of his children now reside. He died in 1855. Jacob Kline, twin brother of William, came to the village a year after the arrival of the former. The brothers carried on wagon making and did a large business, a portion of the time singly, but for many years in partnership. The Klines were born in 1795. Jacob died in 1875, and his wife in 1879. They had four children, Mary E. and Margaret, deceased, William H. and George, now residing in Eaton.

Ludwell G. Gains, a Presbyterian preacher, who spent much of his time in teaching school, and who is chiefly remembered for his extreme cruelty to his pupils, came to Eaton in 1818.

William Rossman, father of James Rossman, came in 1819; John R. Weldon and Paul Larsh, the same year; the latter resided three years, and was sheriff

Samuel Tizzard and wife Elizabeth (Brackin), who had settled at Chillicothe in 1814, came to Eaton in 1820, and established the Register. Mr. Tizzard was born in 1787, and died in 1844.

David McKemy and his wife, Nancy Davidson, came in 1821 from Rockbridge county, Virginia, and located next north of town. Mr. McKemy followed coopering. He was born in 1791, and died in 1826; his wife was born in 1789, and lived until 1863. They had four children, R. G. D., William, Elizabeth and John A., of whom the first mentioned is the only one living. R. G. D. McKemy was born in 1817, and married Kate McFadden. He has been a prominent citizen of Eaton, engaged in various business enterprises, etc.; was justice of the peace for twelve years.

The same year as the above, John L. Dickey located in Eaton, coming from North Carolina with his wife, Martha (Adams), who is now living at Camden with her son-in-law, George W. Jones. Dickey was employed much of his time upon county affairs, as tax collector, appraiser, etc. He died in 1848.

Judge William Curry, who was born in 1792, in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, came to this county in 1808, and to Eaton in 1824. He has ever since been a resident of the village.

Jonas Albright, son of John Albright, a very early setler in Harrison township, came to Eaton in 1826 and lived here until 1845, when he moved to Indiana, where he is still living. He had been married in Harrison to Margaret Myers, by whom he had ten children, of whom W. T. Albright, owner of the Register, was the second.

Philip, a brother of Jonas Albright, came to Eaton in 1827, and after a short time moved to Darke county.

David Brown and his wife, Mary Hubbell, came to Eaton from Springfield, Ohio, in 1826, and remained until 1831, when they went to Texas. Brown was engaged in the dry goods business and later in pork packing, being the first who carried on that industry.

Mrs. Jane Hubbell, widow of Jacob, came to Eaton in 1828, and with her came several sons and daughters, (brothers of S. H. Hubbell). Jane (Hathaway) resided here but a short time; William T. died in Eaton; Sarah (Sweeney) and Lydia (wife of Joseph S. Hawkins) are also deceased; and Jacob R. is living in Dayton. S. H. Hubbell preceded the rest of the family, arriving here in 1827. He was born in 1808 in Clark county, Ohio, and as he is still living, is seventy-two years of age. He went into business for himself in 1830, and in 1842 became a partner of John M. Gray, with whom he continued for twelve years. At the expiration of that time he went to Cincinnati, and in 1865 returned to Eaton and resumed the business he is now engaged in. He married Isabella H. Acton, and they have four children: Clara H. Richey, in Indiana; William, in Cincinnati; and John A. and Jacob in Eaton.

Josiah Campbell came to this county the same year as Mr. Hubbell (1827). His father, William Campbell, came in 1828 and lived here until his death in 1836; and his brothers, William, Samuel, John and Ebe, all arrived in the neighborhood prior to 1830. They were from Sussex county, Delaware. Josiah Campbell married Sarah, daughter of Judge Curry.

Benjamin Lockwood, his wife, Mary (Robison) and several children came to Eaton in 1829 from Sussex county, Delaware, and two sons, U. R. and William S. came in 1839. Benjamin Lockwood was born in 1790, and died in the year r860; his wife was born in 1789, and died in 1870 Their children were, Joshua R., N. R., and William S. deceased, S. H., in Colorado, E. P., G. R., John S., Mary A., and Samuel, now resident at Eaton, Charles W., in Muncie, Indiana, and Jonas deceased.

John V. Campbell removed from Lanier township to the county seat in 1834. As a full biography of Judge Campbell appears in the chapter upon the bar, we make, in this connection, only the foregoing brief mention.

Alfred Denny, born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1819; located in Eaton in 1835. He has followed the drug business and other branches of merchandising, and in 1844 his health having become poor, he went into the employment of the American Fur company, with which he remained until its failure in 1857. He was Indian agent for the Upper Missouri country, under Lincoln, and has

held other government appointments, being employed at the United States Senate, etc. During the war he served as quartermaster. He married Frances B. Holliday.

Jacob Chambers of Hanover, York county, Pennsylvania, came to Eaton Monday, September 14, 1835, at one o'clock, and has ever since been a resident of the town, and nearly all the time in active business.

J. R. Brookins, M. D., originally from Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, came to Eaton in 1847, and after practicing medicine for about ten years, abandoned his profession and gave his whole attention to the drug business, in which he had engaged when he first came to the village. His son, W. C. M. Brookins, was associated with him as early as 1853, and, on his death, became his successor. Mr. Brookins was married to Margaret MacClay. Both died in 1878.

Benjamin Hubbard and his wife, Minerva Morey, came to Eaton in 1846 from Butler county,. where their parents, respectively from New Jersey and New York, had settled in 1810 or 1811. Mr. Hubbard's mother also came to Eaton with him, and died here at the age of ninety-nine years, eleven months, and ten days. Mrs. Minerva, wife of Benjamin Hubbard, died in 1872, and the latter is still living. His only son, A. Edgar, is assistant cashier of the First National bank.

The first wedding which took place in the village was celebrated in a cabin on the west side of Beech street, between Main and Somers streets. This cabin was used as a barracks during the War of 1812, and was known by the name of "The Old Barracks" for years afterwards. A part of the building is still standing, though covered and concealed by modern improvements. The high contracting parties alluded to above, were John Harbison and Mary Brown. They were married December 1, 1807. The license was obtained at Dayton, the county seat of Montgomery, of which nearly all of the territory now included in Preble was a part. The newly married couple built a cabin for themselves and commenced housekeeping the spring following their union. Their home was on the northeast corner of Barron and Israel streets, which property has ever since been known among the older people as the Harbison property.

The first child born was Polly, daughter of John and Mary Mills, who were said to be the very first persons who came to the site of Eaton. She was born May 1, 1806.

A little daughter of Daniel Eaton (or Heaton) was the first person who died in the village. She died of whooping cough in September, 1806, and was the first person buried in Mound cemetery. Before there were any settlers in Eaton, or upon its site, in the year 1805, an infant daughter of Samuel Brannon died near the present limits of the town, and was buried in a lot on North Maple street. This was very likely the first death in the township of Washington.

In the summer of 1810 Alexander C. Lanier built the first frame house in Eaton, which was the wonder of the time. It was located on the northeast corner of Main and Cherry streets (where the Odd Fellows building now stands). After it was raised and roofed it was blown down by a violent storm, but was rebuilt.

The first brick h0use was built in 1815 by Benjamin Byram. It stood on the north side of Somers street, between Barron and Cherry. Many of our readers will remember that fine old brick house with its dingy walls and curb roof. The house was torn down years ago, but some of the bricks that entered into its composition are preserved in the walls of the building now standing upon its site. The house which succeeded the first brick is now occupied by Mrs. James Sampson.

Another brick house was put up in 1815, on the south side of Main street, between Barron and Beech, upon the lot now owned and occupied by Mr. H. B. Van Ausdal. This house was built by Alexander C. Lanier. James Holladay performed the carpenter work.

The first religious meeting was held in the house of David E. Hendricks, in the winter of 1807, by Elder Smith, of New Christian (New Light) faith.

David E. Hendricks dug the first well and the first cellar in the town—where M. S. H. Hubbell now lives.

A Mr. Brown brought the first stove ever seen in Eaton. He came to the settlement in the spring of 1807, but the stove which he imported was not brought to the town until many years later.

The honorable Judge William Curry came to Eaton to reside in 1824. He says that he thought himself at that time quite an old man, his youngest child being two years of age. As a matter of fact, he was himself just thirty-two years of age. But Judge Curry coming to Eaton in 1824 found several of the present aged inhabitants of the town, mere children. Dr. Stephens was then a young boy (six years old) playing about the streets; R. D. G. McKemy, Robert Morgan, John P. Acton, and William B. Tizzard were also of tender years. If Judge Curry in 1824 began to feel himself quite an old man, how must he now feel when he sees these gray headed men upon the streets whom he remembers as children, and recalls to mind their cotemporaries and companions, who have passed away themselves, ripe with years.

Judge Curry found Eaton a very small hamlet, indeed. It consisted of forty or fifty houses, a few of them small frame structures, but the majority log cabins. The old brick court house stood on the ground occupied by the present edifice, and Cornelius Van Ausdal had just erected the three-story brick building on the corner of Main and Preble streets, into which he had moved his goods, but not his family. The "town" was confined, mostly, to Main (then called Preble) and Barron streets. There were no houses at all on the bottom except one small cabin used as a hat shop. Mr. Avery bought of Matthew Harbison the property where Mrs. Cunningham now lives, on Barron street, which was then the extreme outside limit of the village. Nor did the little cluster of houses extend farther north than the site

of the town hall. A small, one-story frame stood on the corner now occupied by that building, and there was another across the road from it, while all around extended a grove of maple and beech trees. On Main street there was a row of houses, mostly of either rough or hewed logs, and they were most numerous about where the Reichel house now stands. Henry Monfort was keeping a tavern about where Jacob Chambers' store and residence now is, and John Hawkins another where the Union house at present stands. There was another tavern, kept by one Warrant, on the south side of the street, and on ground now covered by some of the buildings in commercial row, and the log house built for a tavern (the first in town) by David E. Hendricks, now occupied by S. H. Hubbell, was the most conspicuous building on West Main street. There were a few other buildings scattered along the street, principally upon the north side, and a one-story house upon the ground now included in H. C. Hiestand's door yard. "The public church" had just been erected.

The principal amusement of the men as well as boys in those days, was playing "town ball," and for this purpose they repaired quite frequently to the commons— the cleared bottom lands adjacent to the village. Saturday afternoons was the favorite time for the practice of this game, quoit pitching, and indulgence in various other athletic sports and pastimes.

This year, 1824., a Fourth of July celebration was had on the spot where Dr. Small's house now stands, then covered with a fine growth of trees, forming a very beautiful grove. A dinner was served, speeches made, and the customary amount of patriotic noise making indulged in. It is remembered that Cornelius Van Ausdal's big musket was discharged prematurely as he was loading it, and that the iron ramrod was fired through a bystander's hat. In after years the Fourth of July celebrations were held on the public ground adjoining the court house, and at "the old garrison."

Warren Jenkins' "Ohio Gazetteer," published at Columbus in 1839, has the following in regard to this village:

"Eaton, a post town and seat of justice for Preble county. * * * It is handsomely situated on the east bank of St. Clair's or Seven Mile creek, three-quarters of a mile east of old Fort and St. Clair and near the center of Preble county. The creek immediately at the town has a fall of about twenty feet in eighty rods, thereby affording, in proportion to the quantity of water (which is rather light of a dry season), one of the most valuable sites for mills and machinery within this section of country. This water power is to some extent improved, there being one grist-mill, one saw-mill, one fulling-mill, one carding machine and one machine for manufacture of gun barrels, erected on and propelled by it. There is also one extensive steam grist-mill erected and in successful operation in the town. Eaton contains about one hundred and forty-five dwelling houses, fifteen of which have been erected the preceding season ; about thirty mechanical shops of the various denominations, three taverns, fifteen stores and groceries, two school-houses, one Methodist, one Presbyterian and one public meeting house, a court house, three public offices, a jail, two tanneries, four pork houses, one printing office, from which is issued a weekly paper, three lawyers and three physicians. The number of inhabitants may be safely estimated at one thousand. * * " Eaton is supplied with mails by daily lines of stages—from the east by Dayton, west by Richmond, Indiana, from the south by Hamilton, and from the southeast via Lebanan, etc., weekly, on horseback."

The pioneer religious organization of Eaton, and, for that matter, of Preble county, was that of the Christian church. The Eaton church of this denomination was first organized at the house of Nathan Sellers, about one mile south of the village, in the year 1807. The organization grew out of a camp meeting held on the premises of Mr. Sellers and conducted by Reuben Dooley, Barton W. Stone, David Purviance and William Kinkade. Elders Dooley and Stone had at this time just commenced their labors. The following, from Stone's Biography, affords a glimpse of the manner of religious work then carried on and the difficulties which had to be surmounted. Stone says :

"We preached and baptized daily in Eaton for many days. No house could contain the people that flocked to hear. We had to preach in the open streets to the anxious multitude. At night, after service, the cries and prayers of the distressed in many houses around were truly solemn. Almost the whole town and neighborhood were baptized and added to the Lord. We left this place and preached and baptized in many 0thers. We were poorly clad and had no money to buy clothes. Going on at a certain time through the barrens, a limb tore Brother Dooley's striped linen pantaloons very much. He had no other, nor had I a pair to lend him. We consoled ourselves that we were in the Lord's work and that He would provide. He tied his handkerchief over the seat, and we went on and preached to the people. That night we lodged with Brother Samuel Wilson, whose wife presented Brother Dooley a pair of home-spun linen pantaloons."

Soon after the organization was effected in Eaton the public church was built in the southwest part of the village. That structure, which long remained standing, and became widely known as "the old Public church," was used by the Christian church in common with other religious organizations. The church appears to have prospered for the first fifteen years of its existence, and to have numbered among its members many of the pioneer families of Preble county, among whom may be named the Sellers, Dooleys, Crawfords, Bruces, Brubakers, Hardys, Duggins, Bantas, Shidelers, Flemings, Baileys, Bloomfields, and Vanausdals. The early ministers of the church were Reuben Dooley, William Kinkade, David Purviance. John Hardy was pastor of the church at the time of his death, in 1819.

About the year 1823 the peculiar doctrines of Alexander Campbell were first preached in this county. As Mr. Campbell's system made immersion a test of fellowship its introduction caused a serious division in the church, which finally resulted in the abandonment of the organization.

The church was reorganized in 1841 upon the fourth Sunday of October, and since then has led an interrupted career of activity. At the time of the reorganization, or very soon afterward, Nathan D. Sellers "was appointed, set forward, and ordained as deacon." Elder P. Banta was chosen as pastor and had pastoral charge of the church at Eaton from that time until 1845.

The pastors of the church since 1841 have been Peter Banta, J. F. Sloan, E. W. Humphreys, J. T. Linn, T. M.. McWhinney, J. D. Lauer, Levi Purviance, James Maple, Z. T. Sullivan, and C. W. Garoutle, the present incumbent, who took the charge in 1877.

movement towards building the house of worship now in use, occurs under date of June 23, 1860. At that time E. W. Humphreys, Samuel McClane, and Joseph Donahoe were appointed and authorized as a committee to circulate a subscription paper, to ascertain how much money could be secured for the proposed work. A building committee was also appointed, consisting of N. Lockwood, Charles Street, James F. Sloan, and Joseph W. Quinn, treasurer. Setting out to build a church upon the subscription plan, all went well for a time, but at last the committee found it impossible to raise any more money, and the amount seemed wholly inadequate to the purpose. Affairs looked rather gloomy, but the deadlock was broken by the late Cornelius Van Ausdal, who came forward and donated the balance that was needed, about fourteen hundred dollars. The church thus built is the brick structure on Beech street. It cost between four and five thousand dollars. The first meeting was held in this church on the second of Janaary, 1862, and the dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev J. T. Linn.

The organization has now about one hundred and fifty members, and is in a flourishing condition, owning in addition to its church property a substantial and comfortable brick parsonage. The offrcers of the church are —trustees, William Bloomfield, William A. Coovert, Joseph Quinn; deacons, Joseph Quinn, William Bloomfield, Wilson Clawson; clerk, William A. Coovert.

The introduction of Methodism in Eaton was the preaching of the Rev. John Holmes, of Baltimore conference, in a small log cabin occupied by William Castor, in the spring of 1811. The house stood on the lot since owned by William A. Bloomfield. From this time onward there was preaching in the village for a number of years, services being held in the court house, in David E. Hendricks' tavern, and in private houses. Among the preachers of this period were Moses Crume, John C. Brooke, Russel Bigelow, and John P. Durbin, all good men and the possessors of those peculiar qualities which were indispensable in the pioneer days of religious work. These services were held irregularly and it does not appear that a class was organized until 1824, at which time he Eaton class was reported as having paid twenty-five cents quarterage, at a conference held in Darke county. This class was within the Greenville circuit, of which John Strange was the presiding elder, and J. Murray, and S. Calvin the preachers. The number, few and poor at Eaton, were led as a class by Jacob Middleton, and were under the care and supervision of the preachers of Greenville circuit. A prayer meeting was established in the old jail and afterwards moved to the house of Class Leader Middleton.. After several years residence in Eaton, during which he labored most zealously, and, according to all testimony, with very great good effect, Mr. Middleton removed from town, and after that prayer and class meetings were most commonly held at the house of William D. Stephens, and preaching was listened to every Sunday at what was

called the Preble meeting-house. About 1828 the members of the Methodist church began to feel the need of having a house of worship which they could call their own, and the subject being discussed, William Arrasmith proposed to furnish the necessary timber, William D. Stephens to make the framework, Jonas Albright to do the plastering, while Daniel Black volunteered to do all the necessary teaming, and Peter Longnecker and others agreed to furnish labor and money. A little church was nearly completed before the summer of 1829, which answered very well the needs of the small society, and remained in use for many years.

The first quarterly meeting held at Eaton was in 1830, January 9th. From the entire receipts of the circuit at this meeting Elder Wright reserved four dollars and fifty cents, and Elder Reeder twenty-three dollars and thirty- one and one-fourth cents, the total receipts being twenty- seven dollars and thirty-one and one-fourth cents, and Eaton, standing at the head of the list of contributors, credited with the sum of one dollar and eighty-seven and one-half cents. Only the year before the total receipts were two dollars and seventy-five cents. It is recorded that of this sum thirty-seven and one-half cents was paid for sacramental wine. It was then moved that twelve and one-half cents be paid Elder Wright, and the remaining two dollars and twenty-five cents be given to Elder Reeder. Upon this a brother in the "amen corner" rosé up and remarking that it was a positive shame to send the elder away with so small a sum, moved as an amendment that he be allowed the sum of twenty-five cents. The amendment was unanimously adopted and "the brother" went away with his quarterly salary donated. Preachers in those days did not live in luxury.' At another quarterly meeting held in Eaton in the fall of the same year as the above, the conference appointed Henry Eidson, William D. Stephens, and Daniel Seas a committee to estimate the amount necessary to furnish fuel, house rent, table expenses, etc., for the circuit preacher. This committee afterwards reported an allowance of sixty dollars per year, and of this amount preacher John A. Baughman really received only nine dollars and twelve and one-half cents.

At the fourth quarterly meeting held in Eaton, July 18, 1831, the church was in all probability formally dedicated, which had been commenced in 1828, and nearly finished.

The expediency of building a parsonage at Eaton for the residence of the family of the circuit preacher, was first taken up at a quarterly meeting in 1831, and it being thought advisable the preacher was authorized to collect money for the building of said parsonage. He subsequently collected from three hundred and seventy-five to four hundred dollars, and purchased a lot for thirty dollars, on which was not long after erected the first house which served as a Methodist parsonage in Eaton, and one which has ever sincc been in use as a residence.

By 1830 the Methodist church of Eaton numbered sixty- eight members as follows: William D. Stephens, Mary Stephens, Margaret Albright, Daniel Black, Elizabeth Black, Hannah Jamison, Juliet Jamison, Zadock Tomlin-

son, Ann Tomlinson, Eliza Tomlinson, Jane Van Sickel, Margaret Stephens, Lucy A. Stephens, Sarah Dexter, Berthena Stephens, Joel Nation, Elizabeth Nation, Philip Acton, Benjamin Lockwood, Mary Lockwood, Philip Nation, Hester Acton, Eleanor Acton, Peter Longnecker, Nancy Longnecker, Lucinda Longnecker, Warren McCabe, Elizabeth McCabe, Viletta McCabe, Pleasant Jennings, Jacob Sheets, Nancy Sheets, Hiram Oram, Jane Oram, William Campbell, sr., William Campbell, jr., Ebe Campbell, Catharine Briant, Sarah Sheets, Patsey Foster, Comfort Hopkins, Robert Adams, Ceves Frum, Sarah Kilkenny, John Niccum, Jereta Niccum, Cortland, Niccum, Elizabeth Small, Esther Banning, Charlotte Van Zant, Joseph Stephens, Sarah Adams, William Morris, Jemima Westhoven, Eliza Westhoven, Mary J. Snyder, Samuel Trait, James Tingle, John Love, Sarah Love.

In 1832 the Ohio conference recognizing the zeal of the society, separated it from the Greenville circuit, and it was thenceforward known as the Eaton circuit.

About 1838, the necessity of a new church more centrally located in the village engaged the attention of the ministry and laity, and while some were opposed to the measure, the majority warmly favored the building project. Finally James Kilkenny paid five hundred dollars to Cornelius V. Banta for the two lots on which the church was afterwards erected. On February 1815, the following persons were appointed a board of trustees for the erection of a meeting house on Main street : Samuel P. Wilson, Jacob Chambers, Jonas Albright. James Kilkenny, William Sallee, John V. Campbell and Daniel Black. At a meeting held in December, 1839, a subscription paper was made up, and the sum of two thousand two hundred dollars subscribed toward building. With this encouraging start the project was advanced swiftly toward realization. The contract for building was let to James Albert, Preston Smith and Christopher Wysong, one year and nine months being allowed for its fulfillment. The building was commenced and when the walls had reach about half the height intended, Mr. Wysong, failing in business and withdrawing from the firm of contractors, his place was taken by R. Y. Lanier. From this time on for several months the stringency of finances throughout the country retarded the progress of the work. The old frame church was sold for two hundred dollars to Benjamin Lockwood, who in pay. ment made the seats for the new. Notwithstanding the many difficulties with which the society had to contend, the building progressed and on Sunday, September 25, 1842, it was dedicated. The sermon on that occasion was preached by James B. Finley, one of the pioneers of western Methodism, whose remains now lie in Mound Hill cemetery. Over one hundred and ninety persons made subscriptions on that day, and the total amount realized was one thousand and seventy-four dollars. From this time onward the church was in constant use until the summer of 1871. On Sunday, the twenty-first of May, it was used for the last time, the new church, the present handsome house of worship being dedicated on the following Sunday. The dedicatory services at the new church were held upon a bright May morning, the twenty-eight, and the commodious auditorium was completely filled. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. J. W. Wiley. After the conclusion of his discourse, Charles F. Brooke, treasurer of the board of trustees, presented a report showing the financial condition of the church, viz : that the receipts, principally from subscriptions, had been twenty thousand three hundred and forty dollars and thirty-six cents, and the disbursments a trifle over that amount. The total indebtedness was shown to be over six thousand dollars, and it was stated that for two thousand dollars additional the trustees thought they could complete the church. Dr. Wiley then proceeded to lift the subscription and in a short time the entire eight thousand dollars needed was subscribed. The sum which it was thought would be sufficient to wholly complete the church, viz : twenty- eight thousand dollars proved inadequate and when it was finally finished the cost including interest on borrowed money amounted to about forty-five thousand dollars. But the expenditure of this large sum secured for the Eaton society a house of worship which was fully adequate to all of their then present and prospective wants. No town of its size in the whole country possesses a more commodious or handsome church edifice.

Following is a list of the Presiding elders and preachers of the Eaton Methodist Episcopal church, from the time of organization down to the present, except some of the earliest already given:

1828—James B. Finley, presiding elder; Samuel Shaw and James Huffman, preachers.

1832—James B. Finley, presiding elder; Stephen H. Holland and John A. Baughman, preachers. 1833—Thomas A. Morris, presiding elder; William Sutton and Daniel Poe, preachers.

1834-William B. Christie, presiding elder; Charles W. Swain and David Warnock, preachers.

1835—James Quinn, presiding elder; C. W. Swain and Francis A. Timmons, preachers.

1836-James B. Finley, presiding elder; J. A. Reeder and S. T. Conrey, preachers.

1838-James B. Finley, presiding elder; A. B. Stroud and Andrew Irwin, preachers.

1839—George W. Walker, presiding elder; A. B. Stroud and W. R. Davis, preachers.

1840-George W. Walker, presiding elder; A. B. Stroud and Andrew Irwin, preachers.

1841—James B. Finley, presiding elder; Joseph McDowell, William O'Connor, and Joseph A. Bruner, preachers.

1842—James B. Finley, presiding elder; Joseph Mc Dowell and Asbury Lowrey, preachers.

1843—James B. Finley, presiding elder ; P. A. Muchner and S. F. Conrey, preachers.

1844—William H. Roper, presiding elder; George W. Maley and Moses S. Smith, preachers.

1845—William H. Roper, presiding elder; William Rutledge and William I. Lee, preachers.

1846—William H. Roper, presiding elder; William Langard and William Rutledge, preachers.

1847—George W. Walker, presiding elder; W. R. Davis and James E. Wilson, preachers.

1848—George W. Walker, presiding elder; W. R. Davis and A. W. Musgrove, preachers.

1849—George W. Walker, presiding elder; P. A. Muchner and A. W. Musgrove, preachers.

1850—George W. Walker, presiding elder; Levi White and D. A. Dryden, preachers.

1851—Charles Elliott, presiding elder; Levi White and William S. Haynes, preachers.

1853—William Herr, presiding elder ; C. W. Swain, and N. Callender, preachers.

1854—This year Eaton church was made a regular charge and given a residue and preacher. Up to this time it had been a station and visited by the circuit preachers. William Herr was presiding elder and L. F. Van Cleve, preacher.

No records of the planting of the Presbyterian church in Eaton are to be found; and most of the facts herein stated have been collected by the present pastor in interviews with Judge Curry, Mrs. Margaret Kline and others. It seems that the earliest Presbyterian congregations were assembled in shops (Thomas Morgan's is mentioned), in private houses, and in the court house. Afterwards meetings were held in the public church, near the banks of Seven Mile creek. The names of the ministers who preached occasionally cannot all be mentioned. Rev. Peter Monfort and Rev. Alexander Porter are remembered. Mr. Britch, an Englishman, who afterwards met with a tragical death in a western State, by freezing, preached a while. Rev. Nicholas Pittinger, one of the pioneers of Presbyterianism in Highland county, came to Preble at an early day, built a framed church near New Paris called Beulah, and preached occasionally at Eaton. After Mr. Pittenger's time the Rev. John M. Crabb preached at the New Lexington church, and also at Eaton. The Rev. T. E. Hughes, of Sommerville, sometimes preached and held communion here, but during what years cannot be definitely stated. Rev. Peter Golliday was ordained in Eaton and was minister several years. R. Irwin was here a short time.

The Rev. J. C. Mitchell preached here a number of years, and then went to Virginia to settle up his father's estate. During his absence of about a year, the Rev. R. M. Badeau supplied his place, perhaps in 1849. Mr. Mitchell, on his return from Virginia, resuming his place. The Rev. John Marqvis was his successor, and remained for a year or two. From about 1855 to 1860 Rev. H. W. Taylor was the pastor. He was called to Franklin, Ohio, and was succeeded here by the Rev. G. H. Webster, who was installed pastor, and remained as such from 1860 to 1865. Rev. G. M. Haid followed him, and remained in Charge for about one year-1866. Rev. F. L. Lenour was pastor for about three years, closing his labors in 1870. Rev. J. W. Scott supplied the pulpit during 1871. In February, 1872, the Rev. John Haight began to preach, and continued until the summer of 1873. Rev. W. W. Colniery supplied the

* The facts of this church history were mainly collected by the Rev. Andrew J. Reynolds, and presented by him in a centennial sermon, July 2, 1876.

pulpit in 1874. In February, 1875, the present pastor, Rev. Andrew J. Reynolds, began his work in the society. Mr. Reynolds was born in Cincinnati in 1831, July 14th; graduated at Woodward college in 1851; entered the theological seminary at New Albany, Indiana, in 1852, and Princeton in 1853, from which he graduated in 1855. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Miami university in 1860. Previous to coming to Eaton Mr. Reynolds had occupied a number of pulpits in the limits of the Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Columbus and Dayton presbyteries. He was one of the Christian commission at Chattanooga in 1863, and also in front of Petersburgh.

The present house of worship was built in 1824, or the following year. Mrs. Mary Hawkins, in her will, left a legacy of one thousand dollars, which, in 1866, was applied to making repairs in the church building, rendering it more comfortable and pleasant

In the winter of 1846-47, Rev. N. L. Rice delivered a series of sermons, which resulted in the conversion of about twenty persons, among whom were Judge Curry, Elizabeth Gardner, Mrs. William Kline, Mrs. Ann Gilmore, Mrs. Julia M. Foos, Robert Miller and Mrs. Maria Smith.

Following is a list of the elders of the church, with the dates of their ordination: Abner Dooley, ordained June 28, 1829; Joseph Wasson, ordained June 28, 1829; Isaac Westerfield, ordained August 17, 1830; James L. Ward, ordained November 27, 1836; Jacob Westerfield, ordained November 27, 1836; Joseph Patton, ordained September 9, 1838; Daniel Walker, ordained September 9, 1838; Robert Davidson, ordained May 12, 1844; William Curry, ordained June 27, 1850; John D. Miller, ordained May 6, 1863; James Golliday, ordained May 6, 1863; Robert E. Pryor, ordained March 16, 1867; Robert Miller, George Kline, J. J. Robinson.

Following is a list of the deacons: Isaac Westerfield, June 28, 1829; Peter Aten, June 28, 1829; Daniel Walker, June 28, 1829; William Curry May 6, 1863; R. E. Pryor, March 16, 1867; J. J. Robinson, A. E. Hubbard, William H. Orot.

The church has now about eighty members, and is officered as follows: Elders, Robert Miller, George Kline, John B. Munger; deacons, J. J. Robinson, A. E. Hubbard, W. C. M. Brookins, Jacob Brisigman; treasurer, J. J. Robinson.

The Sunday-school connected with the Presbyterian church was organized March 25, 1844, with the following officers: Superintendents, R. G. D. McKemy and Julia D. Paramore; treasurer, secretary and librarian, John A. McKemy. There were sixty scholars at the time of organization. The present superintendent is N. G. Griffis. Those who occupied this office after Mr. McKemy were Daniel Walker and William Curry.

The church of Christ, or Disciples, was organized in Eaton about the year 1830, but owing to the loss of the old church books, it is impossible to give the exact date. For the same reason and because, also, of the death of nearly all the original members, it is impossible to give the names of the early ministers or the times at which they were here. Among them, however, may be named Benjamin Franklin, then a young man,.and S. K. Houshour.

The meetings were held in the old public church, and also, often at the houses of members, many of whom were farmers living in the adjoining country. The Christian church had previously had an existence here, but some of its members now entered the new organization, although the old one still continued to hold meetings.

The Disciples continued in a fair state of prosperity from the time they were organized, and about the year 1846 the public church having become dilapidated, they resolved to build an edifice of their own, and accordingly purchased a lot on the southeast corner of Barron and Sommers streets, of Alexander Mitchell, but deeming the amount of ground insufficient, they afterward purchased three feet more of Lovina Mitchell, granting her the privelege of joining walls, a grant which afterward entailed a vexatious lawsuit upon the church. Up to this time Henry Monfort had been the principal resident preacher, although meetings were very frequently held by others, usually lasting on those occasions several days at a time.

Among the earlier members of the organization here were Henry Monfort and wife, Abner Dunlap and wife, John Quinn and wife, Jacob Fall and wife, Asa Clawson and wife, George Thompson and wife, Martin M. Beble, Andrew Fall, and others. The new church edifice was built about the year 1848, but was not entirely completed until about the time of the cholera, in 1849. This scourge desolated the town during the months of July and August of that year, Eaton losing by death nearly one-tenth of all of its inhabitants by it. The church edifice was turned into a hospital and used as such when needed as long as the pestilence continued. The church lost by death some of its most efficient members, among them Henry Monfort and wife. After the cholera had abated the building was refitted and prepared for public worship, but the membership was further depleted about this time, or shortly after, by the removal of several of its most prominent members, leaving it in a crippled condition. The building, together with the lot, had cost about two thousand two hundred dollars, and there was still a debt of about five hundred dollars hanging over it. This debt was afterwards paid, principally by Abner Dunlap, George Thompson, and John Quinn. Dr. J. P. Brookins and wife located in Eaton about this time and became active and efficient members of the church. Preachers were employed regularly during the next few years, among others, Elder John R. Frame, Elder Z. Brown, and Elder Enos Adamson, while occasional meetings were held by the more noted ministers of the church. But the crippled financial condition of the congregation prevented its flourishing as it should, and no doubt would otherwise have done; and the unfortunate permission given to Lovina Mitchell and her assigns to join walls and extend the wall above the roof of the church,

resulted in a permanent injury to the latter and culminated in a lawsuit with Dr. W. H. H. B. Minor, in which, although the church was finally successful, the loss was greater than the gain. From that time on preaching was only had occasionally, although the meetings were kept up until about 1872, when the age and infirmity of the only remaining elder, John Quinn, compelled him to cease activity. After his death, and that of his wife, both of which events occurred in February, 1873, no services of this church were held in this house. In the meantime the Christian church had been re-organized and for a number of years, by the permission of the Disciples, its meetings were held regularly in this house at such times as it was not used by its owners, until they built an edifice of their own. The Universalists also used the building until it was sold in the fall of 1873. After the death of Elder Quinn, the membership having been reduced to about half a dozen, the trustees determined to sell the building, especially as the roof seemed to be bad, past remedying, and was by some even thought to be unsafe. They accordingly petitioned the court of common pleas, and in August, 1873, the lot and building were sold for three thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars. This money, after payment of costs, was allowed to accumulate, so that in the beginning of the year 1879 it amounted, after the payment of taxes, to about the sum of five thousand dollars. In the meantime Dr. J. P. Brookins and wife and Sarah Quinn had died, and the membership was reduced to four persons, to-wit: Abner Dunlap and wife, Sarah Thompson, and Tabitha Collins. Mr. Dunlap being the only surviving acting trustee.

In February and March of 1879 Elder T. D. Garvin, of Columbus, Ohio, a traveling Evangelist, employed under the direction of the missionary board of the church, came to Eaton and held a series of meetings for about one month, in the Universalist church, a very neat and substantial edifice, which they had erected, and the use of which they not only kindly donated, but took care of during the entire series of meetings. This series of sermons, or lectures, for most of them partook largely of the nature of the latter, uniformly attracted crowded audiences, and was pronounced by many the ablest series ever delivered in Eaton. On the thirteenth of March, 1879, the church was re-organized with a membership of twenty-nine persons. Abner Dunlap was continued as one of the trustees, while R. W. Quinn was elected in the place of Jacob E. Krug, who had resigned, and W. L. Scott in that of J. P. Brookins, deceased. At a subsequent meeting the organization was more fully carried forward by the appointment of Noah Shirkey, W. B. Dunlap, and R. W. Quinn, as deacons, since which time no further changes have been made. In the spring of 1879 the church purchased a lot on the west side of Barron street, about one-third of a square from the old building, and in the summer and fall of that year erected thereon one of the neatest and most convenient church edifices in Preble county. Second in Eaton only to the Methodist church in size, it in some respects exceeds even it in convenience. It is thirty-six feet wide, by seventy-one in length (including the tower), is built of brick in the most substantial manner, with a slate roof and iron cornice, so as in a great measure to protect it from fire without. It is heated by a furnace in the cellar, and contains a baptistry, together with the necessary dressing rooms, so that immersion (which is the only mode of baptism practiced by the church) can be performed within the building itselt, in full view of the congregation, and in a manner calculated to guard against that levity which is too apt to characterize an audience when assembled in the open air on such occasions. The entire cost of the building, including the furniture and lot, was about six thousand dollars; all of which has been provided for. In addition to this the "ladies social" of the church has completed the same at a cost of about two hundred dollars.

The building was completed during the years of 1879 and 1880, and was dedicated in a sermon by Elder T. D. Garvin, on March 14th, of the latter year, precisely one year and a day from the re-organization of the church. Several persons were added to the church at this and subsequent meetings, so that the membership now numbers about fifty, and the organization is in a very healthy and efficient condition, with an excellent Sunday-school, a "ladies social" connected with the church, and all going forward in harmony.

The early" history of Universalism in this locality is somewhat obscure. There being no records to which reference can be had, tradition and the memory of individuals are the only sources of information. It is believed that Hon. Samuel Tizzard was the first pronounced Unrversahst here. He came to this village, as stated in another place, in the year 1820. He being an earnest, zealous, and well informed advocate of the peculiar doctrines of the denomination, it was not very long until he found, here and there, a few congenial spirits of like faith. It is doubtful if there was ever a preacher of that faith in the county before the year 1825. About that time Rev. Jonathan Kidwell, of Union county, Indiana, first made his appearance here, and created a wonderful excitement by preaching the doctrine of universal salvation from sin. He was probably the first preacher of that faith in the county—at least the first that is remembered. After several irregular visits here, he was engaged to make regular monthly visits which were continued some two or three years. Meantime, other clergymen of the denomination made occasional missionary calls, preaching more or less acceptably to the limited congregations gathered on short notice. Among these the Rev. Daniel St. John, of Brookville, Indiana, is remembered; also Rev. D. Parker and Rev. Mr. Dodge.

During this time (probably in the year 1826 or beginning of 1827,) there came to this place a clergyman who had been preaching for the Methodist denomination, in the interior of Indiana, by the name of Daniel Hawley, and gave notice that he would deliver a discourse upon the subject of the future destiny of the human race. He was entirely unknown here, nor did he know any one, or

know that there were any here who entertained views similar to his own. His first sermon was delivered to a good audience, and at once put him en rapport with the little flock of believers here. Being wholly unsettled— without home o1 employment—and finding sympathy and congeniality here, he at once concluded to remain, and seek employment as a school-teacher. He accordingly sent back to Indiana for his wife and child, and soon secured employment as teacher of a writing school. He continued to preach occasionally, here and at other points in the county, for several months, pursuing the business of teaching, and gaining the confidence and esteem of all who made his acquaintance. After the lapse of some months, Mr. Hawley left here to visit some point on the Miami,—Franklin or Middletown, perhaps-in the pursuit of some enterprise not now remembered, and was never afterwards seen or heard of by any one of his acquaintances here. It was not known that he ever arrived at the place he started to go to, nor was it ever known what became of him.

Toward the close of the year 1827, the first Universalist church was organized here, under the pastorship of Rev. J. Kidwell. Unfortunately the records of :this congregation have been lost or destroyed, and the facts concerning it rests wholly on the memory of individuals. It is believed that nineteen names were enrolled as members of this first church. In recalling the names, however, only the following can be remembered, viz : Samuel Tizzard, Elizabeth Tizzard, Daniel D. Hall, Jane Hall, Mrs. Polly Holladay (afterwards married to Captain L. T. McCabe), Nicholas Day, Lucinda Day, Joseph Stephens, Robert Quinn, Asa W. Meloy, Arka Place, Ira K. Place, and James Alfred. The only one of them now alive, (1880,) is Colonel Robert Quinn.

This organization was kept up, sometimes with regular monthly services, and at other times with only occasional preaching by such clergymen as could be procured, for some three or four years. After the removal of Mr. Tizzard to Cincinnati, and other changes by removal and otherwise, the organization was abandoned. A few adherents to the faith being still left here, though in an unorganized condition, occasional preaching was maintained as opportunity offered ; frequently, however, at at very long intervals, for many years.

Up to the year 1856 there was no subsequent effort made towards organized work by the Universalists of this place and vicinity. During that year, a church building was erected on Paint creek, in the "Dooley settlement," about five miles south of Eaton, called Friendship church. At that place, and during that year a church organization was effected under the pastoral charge of Rev. W. S. Bacon, who had been holding regular monthly services in the vicinity for a couple of years. The adherents of the faith in Eaton joined in this organization, which consisted of some twenty-five members. Rev. Bacon was continued in the pastorate for many years, preaching once each month. The better to accommodate all the members, it was arranged so as to hold the morning service at Friendship, and an evening service at Eaton—occupying for that purpose the chapel of the Disciples, or Christian church, which was kindly loaned for that purpose ; and which occupancy continued until the church building (corner of Barron and Sommers streets,) was sold and converted to business purposes.

Mr. Bacon's pastorate continued until the year 1863. His successor was Rev. T. S. Guthrie, who remained until 1871, and was succeeded the next year by Rev. C. H. Dutton.

Preparatory to an organization in town, separate from the church at Friendship, the members here withdrew, by consent, from that church, and held a meeting on the eighteenth day of August, 1872, at which time a constitution was adopted, and an organization effected under the name of the "First Universalist church of Eaton," consisting of about forty members. Previous to this time money had been raised and a lot purchased, corner of Cherry and Sommers streets, with the view of the erection at some time of a church edifice. The next year after the organization of the church, the chapel of the Disciples, as before noted, was sold and relegated to business purposes. Rev. Dutton's pastorate continued but a single year, during the closing portion of which the church meetings were held in the city hall. Mr. Dutton was succeeded by Rev. J. H. Blackford, and he by Rev. William Tucker, D. D., each of whom continued but a single year.

In the spring of 1873 the subject of the erection of a church building began to be talkedup by the members. Meetings were held to consult about the matter, and subscriptions taken up for the purpose. It was not until the summer of 1874, however, that contracts were let and work commenced upon the edifice.

On the fifteenth day of October of that year, in the presence of a large assembly of the citizens, and after an appropriate and most eloquent address by Rev. J. G. Adams, of Cincinnati, the corner-stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies. J. H. Foos, esq., mayor of Eaton, also delivered an address. Revs. Blackford and Polk were also present, and assisted in the ceremonies.

Progress was made from time to time, as means could be collected and contracts effected, so that early in the year 1876 the house was in such condition as to be used as a place of meeting. It was not until September, 1877, that the edifice was fully completed and ready for dedication. On Sunday, the twenty-third day of September, 1877, after a most appropriate and eloquent sermon, by Rev. S. H. McCallister, D. D., president of Buchtel college, the church edifice was solemnly dedicated to the service of Almighty God, by appropriate rites and ceremonies, participated in by the following named clergymen, viz: Rev. S. H. McCollister, D. D., Rev. J. S. Cantwell, D. D., Rev. William Tucker, D. D., Rev. C. A. Lander, and Rev. O. P. Kimmel.

The entire cost of the church, exclusive of the lot, is a trifle above six thousand dollars. The lot cost six hundred dollars, and is very eligibly located, being very near the center of the village, at the intersection of two handsome and well improved streets, and just outside of the noisy and business part of town.

in course of construction, the church was without a stated pastor, but had preaching occasionally, as supplies could be obtained. In the early part of 1877, Rev. C. A. Lander was called to the pastorate, who continued as such for two years. He was succeeded, in March, 1879, by Rev. Frank Evans, who died on the second day of October following.

On the first day of January of the present year, 1880, a call was extended to Rev. J. M. Getchell, which was accepted, and he at once entered upon his duties as pastor, preaching on each alternate Lord's day. An arrangement has also been recently effected, in accordance with which Mr. Getchell will occupy the pulpit of this church every Lord's day during the ensuing year, 1881.

Rev. L. P. Blackford, pastor of the Universalist church in Norwich, Connecticut, and Rev. W. M. Kimmel, pastor at Barre, Vermont, are contributions from this church to the ministerial field. Also, Rev. o. P. Kimmell, who, after a short but brilliant clerical career, died in March, 1880, at the early age of twenty-four years. Rev. J. D. Lauer, formerly a clergyman in the "Christian" denomination, first identified himself with Universalism in becoming a member of the church in Eaton. He ministered to the church for some time after attaching himself to it; and has proved quite an accession to the ministerial force of the denomination.

was organized March 19, 1870, and consisted originally of but twelve members. The Rev. B. J. George, Alexander A. Stokes and L. L. Harris were appointed as a building committee with Mr. Stokes as treasurer, and upon the first of August, 1870, ground was broken preparatory to the construction of the present handsome house of worship on Decatur street, which was built at a cost of about six thousand dollars. The pastors who have served this society have been Revs. B. J. George, Lamb, and William Depoy. The first named served five years, and his successors, of course, shorter periods. Mr. Depoy left in 1878, since which time no pastor has been employed. The organization has had as many as one hundred members, but now numbers about sixty.

The first services of the Roman Catholics in Eaton were held in 1852 or 1853, in a building near where Dr. Sewell now lives, by Father Carney. Soon after that time Father O'Connor was located in the place and remained for a number of years. A building was fitted up as a church, and for a time the society was in a prosperous condition; but the interest flagged, and the financial support becoming less strong, the Catholics were compelled to give up their church, and for a number of years services were held at the residence of Michael Ryan. About 1865 the upper floor of the building on Main street, now used as a priest's residence, was fitted up and services were regularly held there until the present church was built, in 1879. This edifice was dedicated August 24th. It is a well built structure, sufficiently commodious for the congregation that assembles in it, and cost about thirty-two hundred dollars. For a number of years after Father O'Connor's time the church was supplied by priests from Hamilton, Middleton and Oxford, Fathers D'Arco and William Daly serving most of the time. Then came Father Bowe; and he was succeeded by Fancis Varelmann in 1876, who removed in the summer of 1880 to Xenia. For eight years the church has been a parish—previously being known as a station. There are about three hundred and fifty Catholics in the parish, a portion of them belonging in the town of Eaton, and a portion in the surrounding country.

Eaton, like most all of the Ohio settlements, secured at a very early day those twin institutions of civilization and sister safe-guards of well ordered society, the school and the church. William Bruce, the founder of the town, in fact, made provision for the establishment of churches and schools, when he laid out the plat, donating the lots at the corners of Preble (now Main) and Barron streets as sites for a court house and other public buildings, two churches, and "an academy and school-house for the town." A school-house of very primitive character was built upon the lot provided for the purpose, sometime prior to 1812. Before this building was erected, however, and sometime in 1807, or the following year, the first school in the village was opened in one of the log cabins on the south side of Wadsworth street, west of Judge Haines' late residence. The teacher was one John Hollingsworth. Robert Miller, esq., from whose sketch in the Ohio centennial educational volume, this history is principally compiled, quotes Hon. George D. Hendricks as saying that the early school-houses were constructed of logs, had but little furnishing, and were not even "chinked" or daubed, until the cold of winter made such measures necessary. A log was removed at a convenient height and the apperture being covered with greased paper, served as a window. He says:

“The second class of school-houses were the hipped-roofed frame buildings. School accommodations were furnished by subscription and most teachers permitted indigent pupils to attend free of charge.

"A special act was passed by the legislature of the State, December 23, art, appointing three trustees—Alexander Mitchell, William L. Henderson, and Samuel Hawkins—to sell lots designated for churches and a school-house and invest the proceeds in lots in other parts of the town, better situated for such purposes and in the building of a public church and school-house. From an old record containing the proceedings of these trustees, it appears that the square set apart by Bruce for an academy and school-housewas sub-divided into four lots and sold for four hundred and nine dollars and sixty-six cents at the aggregate, and that thirty dollars of this amount was paid for another lot and the batance was expended in the erection and furnishing of a frame schoolhouse thereon. This building was used both as a court house and meeting-house, white the court house was building."

From this time until the organization of the schools under the act of 1849, but few details can be given, as no records appear which pertain to this period. A long succession of pioneer teachers came and went, remaining only for short terms, from the early days of Eaton history up to 1826. In the latter year "Hon. Abner Haines came to our town," says Mr. Hendricks, "staff in one hand and a pair of new shoes in the other." By the generous aid of C. Van Ausdal and Sheriff John Hawkins, he raised a school, as all previous schools were raised,

by subscription. The terms were one dollar and fifty cents per scholar for spelling, reading and writing, and two dollars additional per quarter of sixty-five days for arithmetic and English grammar. The judge made a very successful teacher, but did not long follow the pedagogical profession. He was succeeded by George D. Hendricks who taught during 1827-28-29 and 1830. He had previously taught in the county and had a good reputation as an instructor. He soon enrolled on his list one hundred and twenty pupils, and had an average daily attendance of from seventy to one hundred. He "kept school" from eight to ten hours a day, "setting" . all of the "copies" and making and mending all of the quill pens for from forty to sixty scholars, out of school hours.

The school population of Eaton had increased long before the passage of the act of 1849, beyond the capacity of the building preciously erected, and no successful attempt had been made at grading or classification. Upon the re-organization of the schools under this act, district No. 4 was created, including the town and territory, one and a half miles square. The act provides for the election of six directors and their division into three classes, so that after the first election two directors should be elected annually, for the term of three years. It further provided that the board should have the entire management and control of the schools in the district, and required them to establish within its bounds three or more common schools in which the rudiments of an English education should be taught for at least eight months of the year; to determine what branches should be taught in any or all of the schools; to levy taxes, not exceeding three mills on the dollar, to be assessed on the valuation of the taxable property in the district, to raise funds in addition to the common school fund to defray the expense of the system; to appoint a board of examiners; to adopt text books, etc. The persons most active in securing the passage of this were probably the first board of directors elected under it, who were: Abner Haines, W. H. H. B. Minor, John Acton, Hiram Jones, Benjamin Neal and Richard M. Stannah. At that time Hon. George D. Hendricks and Hon. Felix Marsh, both citizens of Eaton, were members of the legislature, and urged and voted for the adoption of the act.

The change in the school system met, at first, with some opposition, but it was soon acquiesced in and put in operation. Under the provisions of the act contract was entered into with Pierson Smith, in the sum of three thousand five hundred and ninety-seven dollars and twenty-three cents, for the erection of a two story brick schoolhouse, with four rooms. The work was to be done under the superintendence of Ellis Marshall, then a director, who was also authorized to sell the old frame building on the lot in the north part of the town on which the new building was to be erected, and also the old brick building and lot in the south part.

On the thirtieth of November, 1850, Superintendent Marshall reported the building completed according to contract, with a few unimportant exceptions, and the first school was opened in it December 2, 1850, under the following teachers: David M. Morrow, superintendent; Enos Adamson, Mary A. Goam and Miss M. E. Merthiet. Mr. Morrow, who was a grandson of the governor of the State, by the same name, died in 1875, in Wisconsin.

It was not long before this building proved inadequate for the accommodation of the increasing number of pupils, but no formal action was taken by the board for the erection of an additional building until the twenty-second of January, 1859, when they resolved to build another school-house. In the meantime school-rooms were rented, and the public church was used for school purposes until the second building was completed. The second building was not completed until September 12, 1864; and then only three rooms were finished and occupied. This event marked a new epoch in the history of the Eaton schools. Six departments were opened, and three teachers assigned to each building. The corps consisted of the following ladies and gentlemen : M. L. Holt, superintendent; S. S. Dix, Sophie Miller, Maggie McClung, Maria Ballentine and Lucy Stroud.

The new building finished in 1864 is of brick, two stories in height, and contains eight school-rooms. It is pleasantly situated in the southeast part of the town, upon an elevated site of four acres. Many improvements in buildings, furniture, apparatus, etc., have been made from time, to time in recent years. The two buildings to which allusion has been made contain an aggregate of twelve rooms, nearly all of which have been furnished with the Excelsior seat, manufactured at Eaton. The rooms which require it are supplied with maps and charts, and are all provided with large sized black-boards. In 1874 the grounds of the south building were properly graded, forming a gentle descent on the north (fronting Israel street), with a more abrupt decent to the west, and nearly level grounds on the east and south.

The highest department of the Eaton schools, says Mr. Miller, "was growing into a high school from 1850 to 1872, at which last period it fully organized as such." The first class graduated from this school at the close of the school year ending in June, 1872, when regular commencement exercises were held as they have been each year since. The principal of the high school, when the first graduation took place, was Miss Catharine Oaks.

Up to 1867 it could hardly be said that the principal teacher, though sometimes called superintendent, had the full control and authority of superintendent. The following is a list of principals prior to 1867, and the superintendents subsequent to that date: D. M. Morrow, 1850-51; James Long, 1851-52; Samuel McClure, 1852-53; J. S. Morris, 1853-60; A. McAdow, 1860-61 ; J. N. Lake, 1861-62; A. C. Messenger, 1862-63; S. S. Dix, 1863-64; M. L. Holt, 1864-65; J. N. Lake, 1865— 66; S. S. Dix, 1866-67; C. C. Fetherling, 1867 (vacancy); W. L. Shaw, 1867-69; Peter Sellers, 1869-70; W. C. Barnhart, 1870-73; B. F. Morgan, 1873-7 4 ; W. L. Shaw, 1875-79 ; J. M. Withrow, 1879.

Following are the names of the gentlemen who have served on the board of education since the organization in 1850, given in the order of their election: W. J. Gilmore, W. H. H. B. Minor, Ellis Minshall, George W.

Thompson, A. Haines, W. B. Tizzard, C. F. Brooke, George D. Hendricks, C. W. Swain, J. W. King, William Curry, E. W. McGuire, Robert Miller, Benjamin Neal, Thomas J. Larsh, John V. Campbell, J. N. Lake, S. S. Dix, R. G. D. McKemy, B. Hubbard, P. M. Crume, J. P. Brookins, Melyne Miller, J. A. Crume, R. E. Pryor, Joseph Wilson, Joseph Fisher, J. L. Chambers, J. D. Lauer, W. A. Swihart, W. C. M. Brookins, W. C. Huston, Hiram Jones, Josiah Campbell, B. H. Alexander, L. C. Abbott, John Acton, R. M. Stannah, S. H. Hubbell, J. B. Drayer, M. Filbert, R. Homan, G. W. Gaus, Joseph N. Pinney, H. B. Van Ausdal, C. P. Thum, C. W. Larsh, J. W. King, C. F. Brooke, W. C. Huston, Robert Miller, John V. Campbell, S. S. Dix, A. S. Harris, Winfield Freeman, J. B. Welsh, P. M. Small, A. J. Reynolds. The board, at present, is composed of : S. S. Dix, president; W. C. M. Brookins, secretary; J. B. Welsh, P. M. Small, A. J. Reynolds and C. F. Brooke.

The growth of the Eaton schools during twenty years of their history is shown in the following comparative statement:

1855

1875.

Number of pupils enumerated Number of pupils enrolled Average daily attendance Number of teachers

Number of school-rooms Number of grades

Number of weeks in session Amount paid teachers

Total expenditure

Value of school property

495

379

203

$1,284.40

$2,512.45

$10,000.00

722

548

413

$5,864.91

$11,361.73

$30,000.00

Ministering unto all who need their services, going forth to the poor and lowly as well as the rich, doing practical good to poor suffering humanity, the physician is always widely known, and if he fulfills the high office of his choice is universally loved, respected, and revered.

It is eminently proper that a liberal space in the chapter of Eaton history should be devoted to the physicians who have dwelt and who now dwell within the village.

The pioneer practitioner of medicine in Eaton was one of those good and gentle men in whom was exemplified much that goes to make up the ideal physician. Kind, conscientious, and self-sacrificing, old Dr. Walter Buell was regarded in the early days of Eaton's existence as a public benefactor. But little is known and but little can be said of him. He was a very valuable nurse, and therein probably lay the greater part of his success, for like most of the medical practitioners of his time he had not that thorough book knowledge which is so easily attained at the present day. His advantages of education were undoubtedly limited. But if he lacked in scientific knowledge, the deficiency was amply atoned for by his strong common sense, his devotion to duty, and close application to study by experience and observation. He came to the infant settlement in 1808, and his cabin was one of the first built upon the town plat. Remaining in Eaton until some time between 1826 and 1830 he was for a score of years the "village doctor," and in those primitive days was known throughout the thinly settled county for miles around, often riding far beyond the bounds of Preble county. His wife dying he married again in Eaton, and it was not long after that event that he removed to Indiana.

Dr. Buell was not the sole practitioner in Eaton for more than three or four years, for about 1811 a Dr. Henderson, from Cambridge, Bourbon county, Kentucky, came to the village and remained until his death in 1824. He was a very eccentric man, and very violent. If he became displeased with man or woman, it mattered not which, he would burst into a terrible rage and give utterance to a fusilage of the most violent curses. He had only a very few actual friends, but just in proportion as his regard for people was narrowed, it was intense. His friendship was focused. When he did form an attachment it was fast and for life, the most pronounced and true devotion. Notwithstanding the fact that he was not generally liked, almost everybody conceded that he had great ability, and was a very skilful physician. People had confidence in him, and he enjoyed an extensive practice. He married his second wife in Eaton, a Miss Mary Sellers, who was also from Kentucky.

About 1819 Dr. Johns came to Eaton and remained a short time—not more than two or three years. The next in order was a man who remained in the village all of the rest of his life—Dr. Jesse Paramore. He was also from Caneridge, Kentucky, and an acquaintance of Dr. Hender'son's, having read medicine under the same preceptor, a Dr. Mitchell, of Paris, Kentucky. He died in 1857, and was a constant resident of the village up to that time, with the exception of four years, when he lived upon a farm near by. He was a very successful physician, especially with fevers, which were in early years very common in the settlement. In spite of the fact that he had an extensive practice he accumulated only a small portion of this world's goods, as he charged small fees even when patients were abundantly able to pay, and none at all when they were in poor circumstances. He married Rachel Minor.

Dr. Daniel Egbert located in the village about 1822, coming from Lebanon, Warren county. He remained only a short time, securing an appoitment in the United States navy.

Thomas A. Cunningham, born and raised in the county, began the practice of medicine in Eaton- in 1826 or 1827. He had followed his profession only a short time, until 1832, when he was made clerk of the court. He went to Congress soon after, and was then made deputy paymaster of the army by James K. Polk, and sent to Mexico. He died in 1864. Had he lived a short time longer he would have been made paymaster general, as he was the oldest deputy in the service. As a physician he was characterized by great kindness, tenderness and sympathy. He was a fast friend and a good man. Politically he was quite a power—the leader of the Preble county Democracy.

Dr. Mount located in Eaton in 1830, but three or four years later removed to Hamilton, where he died a few years ago. Drs. Nixon and Horning, partners, began practice in 1831 and continued until the year 1835.

One of the most prominent of the early physicians was. Pliny M. Crume, who arrived in this place about 1833 from Butler county, where he was born and raised. He was well read in medicine and very successful in business. He remained in town until 1863 or the following year, when he removed to Wabash county, Indiana, where a son lived. He became professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in Baker's school, of Cincinnati.

Alfred Ayers came about 1836 and remained a short time, practicing in partnership with Dr. Paramore. He removed to Greenville and, retiring while there from practice, went to Butler county, where he ended his days.

William H. H. B. Minor came to Eaton in 1835, and commenced practice with Dr. Paramore, with whom he had previously read in 1838. When Paramore moved out on his farm Dr. Minor formed a partnership wrth Dr. Crume, which was continued three years. He retired from practice in 1851, and went into the dry goods business, which, after a short time, he abandoned for the drug business, at which he felt more at home. In this branch of trade he remained for many years. Dr. Minor was born in Warren county, Ohio, October 5, 1812. He attended Drake's college in Cincinnati. His wife, still living, and to whom he was married in 1839, was Miss Lovina C. Holaday

David Baker, of Pennsylvania, began practice in Eaton about 1840, having previously been located for a short time in Alexandria. He secured a considerable practice, and during his twelve years residence was quite uniformly successful. He removed to Cincinnati.

Albert Huber, a young man from Pennsylvania, was a partner of Baker's from 1842 to 1848. He moved to Hamilton, where he is still living.

Dr. Anderson, from Indiana, practiced two or three years in the 'forties,' and then went to Lebanon, where he died.

J. C. Helm commenced practice in 1844 or 1845, having read with Dr. Crume. He was for some time a partner of the old doctor, and then practiced alone. He finally removed to Peru, Indiana, and was succeeded by Dr. Welsh.

Dr. James B. Welsh was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1821. When he was eight years old his father died, and at the age of fifteen he removed with his mother to Indiana. Soon after he obtained his majority he commenced, in an irregular way, the study of medicine, being at the same time engaged in school teaching. He attended his first course of lectures in the winter of 1848-9, at the Ohio Medical college at Cincinnati, and subsequently practiced, but did not graduate until the spring of 1858. He immediately afterward located in Eaton. Dr. Welsh was united in marriage to Miss Eva J. Garver, May 16, 1841. His wife died February 22, 1878, and September 11, 1879, he was married to Catharine Oaks.

Dr. P. M. Small was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, May 5, 1834. He grew to maturity there, and desiring to take up the study of medicine, attended the Electic Medical college of Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1859. He then began practice in Eaton, and has ever since been a resident of the town, except while attending lectures in Cincinnati. He entered the Miami Medical college, and graduated from it in 1872. He was married in 1859 to Martha Austin.

Dr. A. H. Stephens, although not so long a practitioner in Eaton as some others, has probably practiced in the county more years than any physician now living. He was the son of Isaac Stephens and Elizabeth McCollie, who settled here in 1804. The doctor was born September 26, 1818, and was reared in this village. He attended the Ohio Medical college, of Cincinnati, and graduated from that institution in 1846. Beginning practice in Cincinnati, he remained there one year and then removed to Iowa, where he was located for a few months. In 1848 he moved to Camden, Preble county, where he was in practice thirteen years, in partnership with Dr. L. Dunham. At the expiration of that period, in 1861, he went into the army as regimental surgeon, being attached to the Sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, a Cincinnati regiment, and originally known as the Guthrie Grays. He was in the service three years, and on leaving located in Eaton, where he has ever since resided and been in the active pursuit of his profession.

Dr. W. F. Thomas is a native of Maine, born January 18, 1829. He- began reading medicine in Boston and finished in Cincinnati, where he graduated from the Eclectic college in 1854. He practiced some eight or nine years in Cincinnati, when he removed to Nashville, Tennessee. He received a diploma from a medical college of the regular school in that city, and practiced there until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion. In 1862 he came north and settled in Springfield, Ohio, where he remained in practice some four years. He then spent some time in the west, after which he came, in 1868, to Eaton. Dr. Thomas was married October 18, 1864, to Amanda :Hedrick, of Clarke county, Ohio.

Dr. John H. Bruce was born in Eaton, October 4, 1840. He served in the war of the Rebellion as private in company F, Fifth Ohio cavalry, for something over three years. Early in the year 1866 he commenced the study of medicine under his brother, Dr. George W. Bruce, of Winchester, Indiana, but completed his reading with Dr. James B. Welsh, of Eaton. He graduated from the Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati, in the spring of 1870, and entered upon the practice of his profession at Camden, this county, and eighteen months afterward removed to Eaton, where he has since been engaged rn practice.

Dr. James L. Quinn is a native of this county, having been born in Twin township September 21, 1841. He began in the spring of 1866 the study of medicine under Dr. Welsh, of Eaton, and in the fall of 1867 began a course of lectures at the Miami Medical college, Cincinnati, where he graduated in March, 1869. Upon his graduation he was appointed, after a competitive examination, resident physician of Cincinnati hospital by its board of trustees, which position he held one year. He

then opened an office in Cincinnati and practiced for some eight months, when he removed to Muncie, Indiana. A few months afterwards he came to this county, and in May, 1872, engaged in his profession at Eaton. May 6, 1873, Dr. Quinn was married to Elizabeth Quinn.

Dr. Alfred A. Lovett, born August 14, 1849, in Hamilton county, Ohio ; commenced the study of medicine under Dr. E. L. Hill, of Oxford, Ohio, an allopathist, and subsequently had for his preceptor Dr. H. M. Logee, of the same place. He graduated at the Hahnemann Medical college, Philadelphia, having previously taken a collegiate course at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio. After a practice of something over two years in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, he came in 1878 to Eaton. Dr. Lovett was united in marriage, April 26, 1880, to Miss Nettie, daughter of Dr. W. H. H. B. Minor, of Eaton.

Dr. Frank M. Michael was born in Winchester, this county, December 27, 1849. He began the reading of medicine under Dr. Bruce in 1874, and at the session of 1876 and 1877 and 1877 and 1878 was a student of Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati. He subsequently, in February, 1879; graduated at Bellevue Hospital Medical college, New York city, and soon afterwards entered upon the practice of his profession here. March r, 1880, he was appointed physician to the infirmary, which position he now holds.

Dr. William A. Campbell began the practice here in the spring of 1880. He graduated at the Ohio Medical college, Cincinnati, in March of the same year, having read with Dr. Stevens, of this city.

The first mechanical industrial pursuit entered upon in Eaton was milling. William Bruce built his first gristmill in the summer of 1806. It was a very primitive affair, indeed, a small structure of logs, within which a pair of stones shaped by long and patient labor from natural boulders, did in a rough way the duty of buhrs. Nothing but corn was ground in this mill, and not very much of that, although all that was necessary for a few years for the supply of the settlement.

In 1810 Mr. Bruce erected his second mill, the building now standing upon Seven Mile creek, and from which the sound of the wheels still goes forth. It is related that when the raising took place, not a single man in the large assemblage dared to climb up on the frame to take up the timbers, the structure being so much higher than those to which they had been accustomed. Finally the wife of Jacob Roman, the millwright, climbed to the top, and with a bottle of whiskey in each hand, walked entirely around the building, stepping upon the plates. This banter and from a woman was too much, and the men should by the example set them, were soon swarming upon the frame, and in a short time had completed the laying of the rafters. When the building was completed, Ferguson Mitchell won a wager of three gallons of whiskey by standing upon his head at the extreme end of the comb of the roof.

Not long after the building of this mill, a small distillery was established in the settlement, and there were several other establishments set up by enterprising tradesmen; among them a tannery by Richard Leeson, but the next manufacturing interests of any importance which claim mention, were two woollen carding establishments. This was in the year 1815. At this time an old Scotchman, commonly called "Billy" Watts, came to the village, and began wool carding by horse-power machinery. His shop was located on the south side of Main street, on what is now known as the Anderson Jones property. About the same time William Bruce also started a woollen carding and fulling mill.

By this period in the history of Eaton there were several small manufactories, or more properly, shops in the village, beside those of which we have written. Among the most useful was a pottery established in 1813, by one Joseph Harman, a Hessian and a Tory, who had just located in the village. This much needed institution was situated at the northwest corner of Maple and Wadsworth streets. Harman's Tory sentiments did not win him the kindly feeling of the people, and after a time he left. The business of making pottery was, how- ever, continued at the same place, by James Crockett, after whom the lot was for many years called the Crockett property.

John Harbison had also located in the village in 1811, and was its first wagon-maker. His shop was located where William Kline now lives, on the corner of Main and Maple streets.

The tannery heretofore mentioned as having been established by Richard Leeson, was the first in town. He sold out after a few years, to Judge Nesbit, of Alexandria, and he, in 1824, to Judge Curry, who run it for twenty years.

From about 1815 until 1838 there seems to have been but little progress in manufacturing worthy of notice— but few new enterprises. In the year last mentioned, however, a man named Enochs began the business of wool carding and spinning near the Presbyterian church.

Van Ausdal & Sturr started in 1835, in a building on the east bank of Seven Mile creek, a grist-mill and distillery which they carried on with fair success for five or six years.

Eli Thompson also had a mill in the old brewery building, south of the Main street bridge, a few years later. This building was erected in 1848 or 1849, by Wise, Miller & Houston.

The present brewery was built by several Germans from Dayton, among whom, and taking the leading part, were Messrs. Fasnacht and Rau, who are now residents of Eaton.

During the fifties there were several attempts made to build up manufacturing interests. In 1859 a foundry was established near the depot, but the company, not finding business very remunerative, sold out after a short experience and removed to Cincinnati. Judge George W. Gans was prominent in the management of this enterprise. Not long after the above mentioned business was discontinued, Josiah Campbell and E. W. McGuire started a plow factory in the same locality, but after running one season, their business became so involved

that they were obliged to suspend operations. A hominy mill and two or three other enterprises of ephemeral existence succeeded this venture, and successively passed away.

It remained for the Brooke Brothers, Charles F., J. C. and William and Mr. Joseph Walters, all active, enterprising men, to inaugurate, in 1873, a huge enterprise, and to begin operating a manufactory which, had it been maintained to the present time, would have materially advanced the town in wealth and business activity. The gentlemen named were the principal stockholders in the Excelsior School Seat Manufacturing company. This company had the only heavy manufacturing business ever carried on in Eaton. They employed a capital of about seventy-five thousand dollars, and gave work to from one hundred to one hundred and fifty men. As the name of the company would imply, its manufactures consisted of school furniture. Orders came in very fast, and the company had all that it could do to meet them, even while employing a hundred and fifty men. Goods were sold in all parts of the United States, and even shipped to South America. The sales amounted to two hundred thousand dollars or three hundred thousand dollars per year. A large foundry was run in connection with the manufactory, in which were made the necessary castings, and in this department alone the force of men employed was from fifty to seventy-five. The manufactory of the Excelsior School Seat company occupied several large buildings near the depot, some of which have since been destroyed, and some of which have, since the removal of the company's works, been devoted to other purposes. The suspension of work in this factory, which was a great blow to Eaton as well as the men directly interested, was caused namely by the hard times which followed the panic, and which ruined so many other fine enterprises throughout the country. The company, as reorganized, is still carrying on the business, but has its manufactories located in Richmond, Indiana, and at Cincinnati.

About 1864 J. L. Chambers, Dr. Welch, N. B. Stephens and Charles Larsh, established a manufactory for making agricultural implements. They used the building which is now known as the Robinson planing- mill, for about three years, when the company was dissolved.

Robinson & Company are the proprietors of an extensive planing-mill, which was the first manufactory of the kind in the county. It was started in 1867. They occupied the building on Maple street, near the railroad track, which had been previously used by the company making agricultural implements. Until 1876 the firm consisted of J. J. Robinson and J. S. Chambers, but the latter sold out in that year, and in the year following J. J. Robinson took his son into partnership, under the firm name of Robinson & Company.

L. Gable & Company are carrying on the planing-mill business on a large scale, near the railroad station, and have facilities for turning out all kinds of building material, such as doors, sash, blinds, mouldings, and planed lumber. They have the latest improved machinery for making sash and blinds—the same as is used in the Lake Superior country. The building was erected by L. and J. Gable in 1870, and the business has been carried on by them continuously since that time.

Wagon making was first carried on in Eaton in the year 1811, by John Harbison who has already been alluded to. The next wagon makers were Jacob and William Kline, both of whom manufactured wagons for a great many years. William Kline came to Eaton in 1813, and Jacob in 1816. The former remained here until 1844, when he removed to Logansport, Indiana, and the latter lived in Eaton until his death in 1875, carrying on business until 1858.

Carriage making is carried on in Eaton by three houses, of which John S. Orth's is the oldest. He began making wagons and carriages in the village in 1839, and in 1840 built the large shop which he at present occupies and in which he has carried on business uninterruptedly for forty years.

Henry Kister started in business early in the seventies, and Huggins & Weaver in the winter of 1876-77.

Besides these establishments, there are the two wagon making shops of Smith & Coe.

There are three saw-mills in the village—John P. Acton's the oldest, being started thirty years ago or more. Bruce Vandoren's at a considerably later period and Wheeler Frum's in 1874.

Flax manufacturing was commenced in Eaton as early as 1856. Cotton & Bell began spinning and weaving the flax fibre into ropes and sacking, and continued in the business for a number of years, but sold out finally to D. M. Morrow. He in turn sold to Foster & Morgan, and this firm to the present owners, J. S. Gary. The spinning and weaving was abandoned in 1863, after the mill had been burned, and when the business was again resumed it was simply that which is at present carried on— the separation of the fibre from the woody part of the stock. Mr. Gary purchased the mill in 1879, and since that time has had it in active operation all of the time, and shipped away very considerable quantities of fibre, which has been used elsewhere for upholstering purposes, and the manufacture of paper, sacking, etc.

The steam grist-mill, at present owned by Josiah Campbell, was built by Kinzie & Reynolds in 1870. They received material assistance from some of the people of Eaton, who were anxious to encourage manufacturing, and who foresaw that any considerable development in this line would aid in building up the town. The mill property, although paying well upon the money invested in it, disappointed the hopes of those who were most sanguine. Bell & Stephens purchased the mill of its original owners, and Bell dying not long after, the property was placed under the management of an assignee, and by him finally sold to Mr. Campbell in October, 1879. The mill has four "runs" of buhrs, does all kinds of grinding, and at present has a large western patronage.

Cigar manufacturing is one of the most important industries in Eaton, and gives constant employment to about one hundred persons. Theodore Harbaugh was

probably the first man who made cigars in the town. He had a little shop as early as 1845. Numerous other individuals carried on the manufacture on a very small scale after that, but the business never assumed magnitude which made it worthy of especial remark until J. S. Quinn began manufacturing. His business was at first as insignificant as that of any of his predecessors, but it was slowly developed, until about thirty hands were employed in rolling of the fragrant weed. Mr. Quinn began manufacturing in 1863, and retired in 1870. A Mr. Klinger, who was in partnership with him toward the last, removed to Alexandria, and there carried on the business.

The next men who engaged in the business on a large scale were M. F. Ayres and F. P. Filbert. They began manufacturing in 1872, under the firm name of Ayres & Filbert, and continued for a year or so, when they separated, and each followed cigar manufacturing alone. They employed when together, at one period, as many as fifty men, and now each one of them employs about twenty-five. There is another firm at the business, which carries on about an equally large concern—the house of Coovert & Jones, which has been in existence since 1878. Charles W. Acton has a smaller shop. Each one of the three larger shops has the capability of manufacturing a million and a half cigars per annum, and this amount of production has been actually reached by two of them at least

Nearly all the tobacco used is of home growth. It may be of interest to some readers to know something of the history of this branch of agriculture in this vicinity, and it is certainly not inappropriate to speak of it in this connection.

The tobacco crop of Preble county now amounts to more than a million and a half pounds every season. It is believed that the first tobacco raised in the county was grown in 1838 by an old German named John Gentnet He had a small quantity, perhaps an acre, and after it had grown, he hardly knew what to do with it. By accident, however, he secured a buyer, and realized more money from that one acre of tobacco than from any ten acres of his ordinary farm products. From this time on it was raised in small quantities by other farmers, but not systematically grown or in considerable quantity until by J. L. Quinn, in 1850. Their general attention was given to the production of tobacco, and the amount put in became larger each year, until it was entitled to rank as one of the staple crops of the county.

Mr. Quinn began buying tobacco in 1863, and was the first who engaged regularly in the business. He used as a store-house the old brick building, near the railroad station, which is now the ware-house occupied by John Glick, as the agent of C. W. St John, a Dayton tobacco buyer. Mr. Quinn has never been entirely out of the business, although he devotes but little attention to it at present. Christopher Musselman, John Glick, and Kingbush, the latter from Cincinnati, each handle large quantities of Preble county leaf in this place, and the local manufacturers also buy large quantities.

The first store was opened in Eaton by Cornelius Van Ausdal in 1808, and it is a noteworthy fact that alone or in partnership he conducted business in the town until 1863, a period of fifty-five years, and the greater part of this time at one stand—that which still bears his name and at which his son continues the business. The pioneer store was, however, situated where the Reichel house now stands. It was a small building, but in it was begun a business which ultimately reached huge proportions. After a short time Mr. Van Ausdal erected a house on the ground just west of commercial row, and now included in the county property. Here he resided and had his store until 1824, when he erected the building on the northwest corner of Main and Preble streets, which he occupied until his retirement, in 1863. Mr. Van Ausdal had the natural qualifications necessary to make him a successful merchant, but it is probable that although confident of a fair degree of success, he never anticipated the wide popularity which he attained. His store was not only known in early days throughout the county of Preble, but its reputation spread through thinly settled western Ohio and eastern Indiana, and he drew custom to Eaton from almost as wide a field as now does Cincinnati. Indians and whites came from great distances to purchase goods at Eaton, and the former brought in for exchange or sale great quantities of .furs, while the latter class made the store the market for what little surplus produce they had. It is a fact significant as showing the importance of this pioneer trading post, that the early merchants of Richmond, Indiana, procured from it the goods which they retailed. Among the Indians who were often at the store, and with whom the proprietor was well acquainted, was the great chief Tecumseh, his brother the Prophet, and others almost equally famous. As the country was developed and other stores were established at various points in southern Ohio the trade became more purely local than it had been, but Mr. Van Ausdal's reputation was too well established to allow of a dropping off in the patronage of the people living within a convenient distance, and he still did an immense business, and one which after the first period of decline grew apace with the settlement of the town and surrounding country. During a period of five years, 1828 to 1833, Mr. Van Ausdal was interested in the wholesale dry goods business in Cincinnati, and for a portion of the time resided in New York, and did the purchasing for both the Cincinnati and Eaton stores.

Begeau & Lanier (Alexander C.) went into business about a to, and continued for three or four years.

Early in the village life of Eaton, a Mr. Brown had a small dry goods store and grocery where Oscar Van Daren now lives.

James Butler came into the infant settlement and opened a store which had a small share of patronage for a few years. He left about 1818.

Dr. Walter Buell sold goods for a time corner of Beech and Preble streets, where General Marsh afterwards lived.

About 1816 or 1817, Isaac Banta kept a stock of goods in a one-story house where the Reichel house now is. Henry Monfort bought the goods about 1819, and after conducting a merchantile business for a short time took John G. Jameson in as a partner. In 1832, Levin T. McCabe bought out Jameson, and the business was carried on by Monfort & McCabe until several years later the firm name was changed to McCabe, Vandoren & Co. McCabe sold out in 1841 to Monfort, and the business was conducted until 1843, by Monfort & Vandoren. Mr. McCabe again went into business in 1847, selling groceries for one year by himself. He then took as a partner David Graft, but bought out the interest again, and, in 1849, took as a partner John L. Bruce. They carried on the retail and wholesale business. In 1853 the firm became Bruce, Houk & Co., and did an extensive wholesale business. Houk died, and McCabe, who had been the "Company" in the firm, sold out to Wilson & Lannis. Mr. McCabe built a warehouse in 1852 and went into the business of buying and shipping grain, being the first in Eaton to engage in that line. He shipped the first goods that were brought to Eaton by rail, and sold the first fresh fish in the village. His grain and produce business was very large, and in one season he bought twenty-one thousand bushels of flax seed. He continued in business until 1855.

In 1826 or the following year, Daniel Brown came with a very good stock of goods from Cincinnati. He had considerable ability as a business man, and became popula1 and prominent. He finally engaged in the pork purchasing business and carried that on as well as his general merchandise until 1836 when he removed to Texas. Hubbell (S. H.) & Sweeney were the successors of Brown. They sold in 1839 to Vandoren & Banta, and they in 1843 to John M. Gray & Hubbell. The latter soon after moved the goods to Indiana.

Jacob Spacht went into business in 1826, and was bought out in 1832 by Levin T. McCabe.

John Alexander was the keeper of a general store as early as 1833. After conducting the business for a short time alone, he went in with Brower, and the firm remained in activity until 1842, when Mr. Alexander removed to Huntington, Indiana. He was auditor of Huntington county for eight years prior to his death in 1861.

John Harrington started in 1843, and Hazeltine & Young in 1848. Neither of these stores were carried on for more than three or four years.

John G. Harlan went into business as a partner with Van Ausdal in 1825 or 1826, and several years later he established a store of his own where S. H. Hubbell now is and there carried on business for several years.

Hettle & Dix started in business in 1826 or the following year, where Marsh & Lockwood's building now is, and remained in activity for five or six years, being quite successful.

Nearly all of the merchants of whom mention has been made kept general stores and all dealt in dry goods. This branch of business during more recent years has been conducted by the following firms and individuals in the order in which their names are given : Davis & Hawk, David Hawk, Thomas H. Russell, Benjamin Neal, Marsh & Lockwood, W. H. H. B. Minor & 0. Minor, 0. Minor alone, W. H. H. B. Minor alone, Emmanuel & Marqvis, A. Epply, J. B. Epply, Hubbell, Epply & Wilson, Wilson, & Hubbell, Elijah Taylor, Brazier & Campbell, Daniel Lesh, Brownell & Brother, J. Oglesby, Stephens & Company, Stephens & Brother, Stephens & Huston, Huston & Swihart, M. F. Stephens, Stephens & Scoven, Thomas Dryden, Deem & Welch, J. T. Deem, Deem & Brother, Deem & Hawkins, A. Coffman, A. Leedy, Coffman & Brother, J. R. Mc Leath, Deem & Lake, J. W. Cooper, Simeon Goldman, Lou Jackson, and N. B. Stephens.

The first grocery store which amounted to anything was started by a Mr. Slayback in 1827. After 1840 the business of selling groceries became generally a separate business. Prior to that time it was carried on in connection with the sale of dry goods. Following Mr. Slay- back the principal grocerymen have been the following: John DeGroot, Hubbell & Acton, Stannah, John Stephens, Hubbell & Acton, John P. Acton, R. S. Cunningham, Nathaniel Lockwood, Levin T. McCabe, George Lockwood, Charles & James Harbaugh, Campbell & Brazier, J. Longnecker & Sons, J. Bender.

John Alexander opened the first drug store in 1832. The business has since then been carried on by the following persons, down to and including those at present engaged in it: Stephens & Dugans, Minor & Dugans, Minor & Denney, Crume & Brookins, Brookins & Son, Farr & Brother, J. R. Beaty, Minor & Farr, Samson H. Hubbell, W. H. H. B. Minor, V. W. Lake & Hubbell, Michael & Son.

The following is a list of the business houses of Eaton, properly classified and rendered of additional value by the fact that the year when each entered business is designated.

The first tavern was kept by David E. Hendricks in the house which he built, the oldest one in Eaton, and now occupied by S. H. Hubbell. He opened it very soon after his arrival in 1806, and continued to carry it on for several years.

George Worthington built the house which, as modernized, is kept by Mr. McLaughlin, and known as the Union house. This tavern which was known as "the White Hall," was also kept by John C. Hawkins, and .a man by the name of Ross.

Paul Larsh was landlord at a tavern which stood, where Bonner's hardware store now is. His term of occupancy was during the three years he was sheriff, dating from 1819.

Dr. Buell kept a tavern on the corner of the lot where J. H. Foos resides, and one McMahon and George Worthington were afterwards in the same house.

Henry Monfort, at an early day, kept tavern where Jacob Chambers' store is, and Samuel Larsh succeeded him.

During the early twenties John Worland and Staples Thompson were landlords of the house which Paul Larsh had formerly occupied.

Thomas Morgan, in 1829 or 183o, opened a tavern where the Eagle house now stands, and continued to carry it on for a number of years. About the same time the Brower Brothers became the entertainers at Mitchell's old stand.

Staples Thompson kept a tavern for a number of years at the east side of the court house lot, and was succeeded by James Maxwell.

In 1832 a tavern was built where William Bloomfield's store now is, and used for a number of years.

The first regular stage house was the National, which stood on the ground now occupied by Commercial Row. John De Groot was its first landlord in 1833, and was followed by others.

A little later than the above, Gasper Potterf built a small house for public entertainment which was kept by George Lease and his son, Frank, and afterwards by - Goode who called it the National house.

The Eagle house was built in 1836--'37, by Henry Monfort and L. T. McCabe. Thomas Morgan was its first landlord. This house which was a wooden structure, was burned, and the present brick was built on its site. Monfort became the sole owner in 1842, and when he died in 1849, the house went into the hands of Thomas Auter. Jacob Winters followed him as landlord, and then it was carried on by Winters & Shaffner, in partnership. Martin M. Stephens next had possession, and then it was owned by Stephens, and John Fleming who is now the sole owner..

The Reichel house in which is included the old Methodist church, was put into shape as a hotel in 1867, by Maurice Doty, a fine three-story front being erected to fill in the space between the front of the old church and the street. After passing through the hands of several owners, the hotel was bought in 1876, by John Reichel. He leased it to George P. Lockwood who carried it on until the spring of 1880, when Mr. Reichel himself became the landlord.

A company consisting of about one hundred and twenty-five stockholders, took the initial steps toward or-

ganizing the Preble county branch of the State bank, April 20, 1847. The branch bank was to be located in Eaton, which town was then in the second banking district of Ohio, and it was decided that it should have a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, divided into one thousand shares of one hundred dollars each. This bank was organized under the law of 1845. On July 19, 1847, seventy-eight stockholders assembled and elected nine directors, viz : John Stump, John Gallaher, John Hunt, Nathaniel Benjamin, Emmanuel L. Hoffman, Piing M. Crume, Eli Campbell, Edward P. Wait, and John M. Gray. The last named resigned soon after his election, and Ellis Minshall was chosen to fill his place. The directors elected Mr. Minshall, president, and John held the controlling interest. Under the new management there was a re-organization which made Charles F. Brooke, president, John C. Brooke, cashier, and Joseph M. Gray, cashier. It was decided to advertise to receive proposals for a building to be used as a banking office, and that course being taken, Judge William Curry came forward with a proposition to rent .his building on Baron street for the sum of fifty dollars per year. The bank directors voted to accept thrs offer, and soon afterward moved into the house, which is still standing, just south of the court house, at present the residence of Josiah Campbell. John M. Gray's office was used for a short time prior in the Curry house. Business was commenced September 9, 1847, and was continued at the original stand until 1851, when the bank was located in the building which stood upon the ground now occupied by that on which the National bank is located, and which was afterwards burned. J. S. Hawkins succeeded Mr. Marshall as president, and was in turn succeeded by John Hunt, who gave place in later years to Valentine Winter. John M. Gray was for many years cashier of the State bank, but was succeeded, in 1853, by H. C. Hiestand, now president of the Preble County bank. He remained in connection with the bank until the close of its existence and was in the National bank, its successor, until 1867.

Upon July 4, 1864, a meeting was held at the office of the State bank, for the purpose of organizing a banking association to carry on business under the act of Congress, entitled "An act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864. The association was the direct successor of the State bank, and consisted of the following gentlemen: Valentine Winters and Jonathan H. Winters, of Dayton; H. C. Hiestand and Joseph A. Du Sang, of Eaton, and David Barnet, of Camden. Valentine Winters was elected president, H. C. Hiestand, cashier, and David Barnet, Joseph DuSang and Jonathan Winters, directors. The bank began business with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. There are now over two thousand national banks in the country, but this one is number thirty. The directory of the bank remained for a number of years essentially unchanged, except that Jonathan Harshman became associated with the management. In 1867, however, Charles F. Brooke, William Brooke and John Brooke bought out the interests of Winters; Hiestand, and Harshman, and they have since held the controlling interest. Under the new management there was a re-organization which made Charles F. Brooke, president, John C. Brooke, cashier, and Joseph A. Du Sang, assistant cashier. Since then the office of the presidency has been alternately held by Charles F. and William Brooke. Mr. Du Sang was made cashier soon after the re-organization. He has been connected with the bank—State and National—since 1854, a period of twenty-six years. The present officers of the institution are: President, Charles F. Brooke; vice-president, G. H. Eidson; cashier, Joseph A. DuSang; directors, C. F. Brooke, sr., C. F. Brooke, jr. John Coistman, and H. B. Van Ausdal.

is a comparatively new concern. It came into existence October 8, 1873, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and being the enterprise of men well known in the community and throughout the county, immediately secured a large share of patronage. Its directory was as follows: H. C. Hiestand, president; Andrew Hiestand, John T. Acton, William B. Tizzard, Josiah Campbell, and Jacob H. Foos, directors. This management has remained unchanged since the establishment of the bank. A building was erected on West Main street for the use of the institution, by Mr. Jacob H. Foos. Mr. Hiestand, president of the Preble county bank, came to Eaton in 1853 from Dayton to take the cashiership of the Old State bank, and has been identified with the banking business in the place ever since, with the exception of three years, a period after his withdrawal from the National bank when he was in Dayton. The Preble County bank has no cashier, known as such. The bookkeeper is W. H. Ortt.

Before a post office was established at Eaton the nearest offices were at Dayton and Hamilton. In after years the mail was brought weekly on horseback from these places, the first being carried by the way of Dayton. Nearly all the mail from the eastern States came by way of Chillicothe and Dayton, while mail from Kentucky was carried through Cincinnati and Hamilton.

The Eaton post office was established February 7, 1809, and John Ferguson was commissioned as the first postmaster. He served a short time and was succeeded by Isaac Stephens, who remained in charge of the office for many years, in fact, until 1840. After that time the following persons served as postmasters, in the order named. Lazarus Miller, John J. Campbell, George D. Hendricks, Jacob P. Snyder, Daniel Reed, Phineas R. Minor, John Minor, and Benjamin J. Neal, the present incumbent of the office.

The first fire company formed in Eaton was organized as early as February 20, 1835, to take charge of the old fashioned hand-engine purchased by the council a short time previous. The company, which was known as "The Eaton Independent Fire Engine and Hose company No. 1," consisted originally of the following members: A.

C. Vandoren, A. Rossman, Elias Herdman, Gustavus H. Way, Josiah Campbell, James H. Curry, E. V. Banta, John Farlow, James Denney, Cyrus Dooley, Joseph S. Hawkins, James Gardner, C. V. Duggins, John M. Gray, Thomas Holmes, Levi Bonebrake, Jacob Sweeney, Smith Bennett, Isaac Colby, and O. Cleveland—twentyone in all. At the second meeting, held a few days later, at the office of McNutt & Hawkins, quite an elaborate constitution was adopted and the first officers of the company elected as follows: John M. Gray, president; Joseph S. Hawkins, vice-president; James H. Curry, secretary; Josiah Campbell, treasurer; Jacob Sweeney, A. C. Vandoren, Smith Bennett, directors. The company was then regularly given municipal authority by the passage of an ordinance by the town council. During the first few months after it came into existence many accessions were made to the membership of the company, among them S. H. Hubbell, J. G. Bowman, John S. Trousdail, John Neff, R. S. Cunningham, Samuel Stout, Alfred Stephens, James O. Leas, David Shaw, Francis Lease, George Waggoner, W. S. Hubbell, W. H. H. B. Minor, and Walter McCabe. The company held meetings regularly at the "Eaton Thespian society's" rooms, and had frequent turnouts for the purpose of practicing with the engine. The first fire which the company was called upon to extinguish, was that which occurred at the Browers tavern stand, in the summer of 1836. This episode was thought to be worthy of the following entry in the secretary's book in truly lurid repertorial style :

The Eaton Independent Fire Engine company was this day called together about three o'clock this afternoon by the alarm of fire. The company forthwith repaired to the engine house and with all possible dispatch conveyed the engine to the property now occupied by the Messrs. Browers, as a tavern stand on Barron street, when the fire was found to be in the kitchen of said tavern stand, whereupon the company under the direction of the captain proceeded with all possible exertion and dispatch to quell the ravages of the devouring element. When, after a few minutes of the most severe and incessant labor, the company were enabled to shout "victory," having completely exhausted att vestiges of fire."

For the most part, in those days, the work of the company seems to have been in "exercising the engine," or exercising the apparatus and finding the same to be in good order. There was occasional need, however, of the services of the company at a fire. The first in which the destruction was of considerable extent, was the fire which occurred March 13, 1838, on the site of the Eagle house, and which burned out the hotel of Thomas Morgan, and the house north of it, owned and occupied by Dr. Palmer, and a number of stables on " Black Horse alley." This fire was of incendiary origin. The next fire, of which there is any mention made in the records, and of which old citizens have recollection, did not occur until 1843. On the night of August 8th, of that year, the stables of John DeGroot, tavern keeper, and another owned by Francis Lease, were burned, "together with the property therein contained, including four horses and a cow."

In the fall of 1844 the council provided a new engine, "The Fannie," and placed it in the possession of the company on condition that they should increase their membership to forty persons, and confine their by-laws to certain requirements of the council. The conditions were complied with and a number of new members voted in, some of whom had been previously connected with the company and withdrawn. Among them were Isaac Albright, Ellis Minshall, Abram C. Vandoren, Sampson H. Hubbell, William Rossman, R. G. D. McKemy, James Segraves, Horatio N. Gardner, John Ware, William Steele, and John Eichelberger.

On Sunday morning, June 5, 1859, occurred the largest and most disastrous fire known up to that time in Eaton. Twelve business houses were destroyed, and the loss reached the sum of at least forty thousand dollars. The fire originated in the back part of Whitridge & Quinn's drug and book store, where the store of W. A. Eidson is now, and when discovered had made such headway as to be beyond control. It swept westward to the corner of Main and Baron streets, and northward on Baron to the dwelling and clothing store of John Crouse, where its ravages were stayed. On the east the fire destroyed all before it, as far as the present store of Longnecker. The Marsh and Lockwood building, now known as the Stevens block, was on fire at least a dozen times, but was saved by the exertions of a few brave, active men, "who kept the fire at bay," says a newspaper of the time, "at the peril of their lives." At the northern termination was another hard fought battle. The Eagle hotel was in imminent danger, and was several times given up as lost, but bravery and self-possession saved it. The little hand engine "Water Witch," the first ever owned by the town of Eaton, was used with good effect here in checking the flames.

The spread of the flames was so rapid that in less than an hour from the time the alarm was given, the whole mass was on fire, and the scene presented was appalling in the extreme. The streets were filled with crowds of excited people, and the wildest terror prevailed, for no one knew when the destruction would end. It was generally thought that the whole of the business portion of town would be laid in ruins. The business houses destroyed were those occupied by W. H. H. B. Minor, J. M. Hinman, E. Mikesell, Brookins & Son, C. P. Thum, August A. Seibert, J. L and C. W. Lockwood, Day & Brother, Stephens & Co., L. G. Gould, and James Chambers. On opening the safe in the store of Whitridge & Quinn, after the fire, it was discovered that the door had been unlocked, and the money, including one thousand dollars belonging to the American Express company, which had arrived the night before, taken out. It was generally believed that the safe robbers had fired the building to cover up the evidence of their villainy.

Whitridge & Quinn's loss was five thousand five hundred dollars, and the other important losses in round numbers as follows: Dr. Minor, grocer, three thousand dollars; L. G. Gould, grocer, eight hundred dollars; J. L. and C. W. Lockwood, boot and shoe dealers, two thousand dollars; W. C. Cleveland, two thousand dollars; Stephens & Co., merchants, loss on building two

thousand dollars, loss on goods two thousand five hundred dollars, other loss five hundred dollars; J. Chambers, jeweler, four thousand dollars; C. A. Seibert, liar ness maker, two thousand five hundred dollars; J. M. Hinman, jeweler, one hundred dollars; J. Sampson, one thousand dollars ; Brookins, three thousand five hundred dollars; A. V. Auter, one thousand dollars. Some of the above amounts stand only for the loss on buildings, and some only on stock. There were several other losses, among those sustaining them being C. P. Thum, E. Mikesell, Day & Brother, and Mrs. Hogarth.

One month after this fire, on the night of July 4, 1854, another occurred which caused considerable damage. It was discovered about ten o'clock in the evening in the rear of a two-story building owned by Daniel Stetler, and in the back part of one of the rooms occupied by John Spatz as a bakery. The fire rapidly extended east, destroying the whole of the Stetler property, and soon igniting the west portion of the National hotel. This building was soon almost completely destroyed. The town hall was soon fired and that too was a total loss. It was a three-story building, the lower floor of which was used for township and corporation purposes, the second occupied by a public hall, and the third, erected by the Masonic fraternity, used by them as a lodge room. The Stetler property consisted of a row of two-story frames and was occupied by five business houses, viz: John A. Herlich, Comford & King, Samuel H. Smith, Samuel McClain, and John F. Spatz. The owner of the National hotel, J. H. McWhinney, and the occupant, Warren W. Jefferson, were also material sufferers. The total loss by this fire was about ten thousand dollars. The buildings destroyed were situated along the south side of Main street, east of the court house.

The first hand engine owned in Eaton was the "Water Witch," a quaint looking little machine which is still retained by the corporation, though of course not used. It was superceded by "The Fame," afterwards known as "The Torrent " and now called the "Red Rover." With these two engines much valuable property was saved, prior to the purchase of a steamer.

In 1872, the council bought of C. Ahrens, of Cincinnati, one of the finest steam engines to be found in the country, and since then no town of its size has been better prepared than Eaton, to combat and quell a conflagration. The new fire company, organized to take charge of the steamer, was originally officered as follows : captain, R. Y. Laniers; captain of hose, R. Reynolds; captain of hook and ladder, D. Clear ; fireman of steamer, M. Hambridge ; pipemen, J. Hubbell, James Ortt, G. Longnecker, F. Rork ; secretary, J. Butler ; treasurer, M. J. Kelly. The present officers are : chief, William McCabe ; assistant chief, James Ortt ; captain of hose, William Stephens ; captain of hook and ladder, James McCabe ; foreman of salvage company, J. R. Cook ; engineer, L. H. Zeek ; pipemen, A. Black, D. Koontz, George Boner, M. Clear ; secretary, Frank Homan ; treasurer, Isaac Young.

"There never has been, and never will be, another campaign like that—never!" Such were the words of one of Eaton's "old stagers," who, in 1840, shouted for "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." All who can recall to memory the exciting time of Harrison's canvass for the Presidency, dwell upon it with a peculiar fondness, and there sounds in the voices of old men (who were Whigs), recounting its scenes, some reverberation of their forty years old enthusiasm. It was a campaign worthy of remembrance by the victorious Whigs, and had the distinguishing elements of a wild western flavor, and a fervor that was wonderful in its intensity and earnestness. It was the first Presidential struggle in which the western people had taken a vital and absorbing interest, and there was a warm sympathy of feeling and a spontaneity of action which was surprising in its results even to the sanguine Whigs, and crushing to their opponents. The whole country was alive with enthusiasm and wild with excitement. Thomas Corwin's name appeared at the head of the State ticket and added much to the strength of the Whigs' canvass in Ohio. Immense mass meetings were held in all of the towns and villages of any importance in the State, and hundreds of speakers "took the stump" literally, as they could in those days, and championed their leaders. Many peculiar expedients were re_ sorted to for the purpose of expressing and arousing feeling, and some of the most conspicuous and unique were the methods used to keep before the minds of the people their candidate's success as a soldier and his services as a pioneer. Hence the canoes and log cabins which figured in all public demonstrations and. which everywhere appeared as emblems of the ideas which formed the foundation of Harrison's popularity.

In Eaton was built a "Harrison log cabin," at the corner of Main and Barron streets, where the store of C. W. & W. C. Bruce now is. Among a number of relics presented by Mr. Chambers is the original hand-bill advertising the raising. It reads verbatim as follows:

In accordance with a resolution of a public meeting of the Whig citizens of the different townships in the county of Preble, there will be a log cabin raised in Eaton, Saturday, the sixteenth inst. Dimensions of the cabin, twenty by twenty-four feet—eight feet storytimber to consist of buckeye.

" This is, therefore, to invite all the Harrison Democrats in the counties of Preble, Butler, and Darke, to attend the si Tippecanoe Raismg' on Saturday next, at nine o'clock A. H., at Eaton.

"N. B.—North Rend refreshments, to-wit: siHard cider' will be provided for the occasion, and we promise all who may give us a tift that they shall not find the barrel beyond their reach or the vent plug driven in.

Only two of the committee whose names are affixed to the above advertisement are now living, viz.: Levin T. McCabe and George Waggoner, both residents of Eaton.

The "raising" took place in conformance with the announcement, and quite a large crowd was in attendance. The logs had all been collected and prepared previous to the Saturday appointed as the day for putting them together, and as the labor was divided among many willing workers, it occupied but a short time. The logs were all of buckeye timber, and the cabin was clothed with green all the summer, twigs starting out and unfolding leaves on every log.

In the latter part of May the Congressional convention for the district composed of Preble, Butler, and Darke counties, was held at this cabin, or rather in front of it. A great crowd congregated and the utmost enthusiasm prevailed. The streets in each direction from the corner of Main and Barron were thronged with people, and an immense demonstration of public feeling was made. Mass meetings were held by the people of the three counties, and each chose delegates to represent them in making nominations. The persons thus chosen assembled late in the day, and held a convention which resulted in the naming of Lewis Campbell and John M. Millikin, both of Butler county, respectively for Congress and the State senate. Dr. James Paramore was president of the convention and T. J. Larsh secretary. As the convention had been the occasion of a great poplitical meeting, nearly all of the farmers of Preble county who were of the Whig party came into town. A procession was formed which reached from the court house southward to Mr. Bruce's house. In various localities the people had clubbed together and came into town with six and four horse teams, bringing huge canoes and even log cabins on wagons. Major Joseph Smith, and the Longneckers-Eli and William—with some of their friends from the vicinity of Sugar valley, had a log cabin of good size mounted on wheels and adorned with bunting, forest tree boughs and appropriate devices, while John Woods, who had been in Congress at that time, and who was afterwards State auditor, came into town in a canoe mounted on wagon wheels, and it is remembered received a fall which cut short temporarily his somewhat impassioned speech-making. From Camden a ball twelve or fifteen feet in diameter was rolled along the road to town and received with a great deal of applause. The expression "keep the ball rolling" was then in vogue and was one of the slogans of the Whigs. George D. Hendricks was at that time living in Camden and was one of those who had started and kept the ball rolling. The Pottengers and Bennetts were also interested in this novel illustration of Whig activity. The mass meeting on the day of the convention was one of unbounded enthusiasm, and even a hard rain was not sufficient to put a damper on the ardor of the speakers or audience.

All through the season the excitement was unabated. On Saturday, the eighth of September, General Harrison spoke in Eaton to an immense audience, and with great effectiveness. He remained in town over Sunday, receiving an ovation from the citizens, and on Monday proceeded on his way to Greenville, there to attend a great meeting held in his honor. The day, September l0th, was the anniversary of his treaty with the Indians at Greenville, at the close of the War of 1812, and the gathering was a celebration of that event, as well as a tribute to the hero. General Harrison was accompanied upon his journey by hundreds of people from Eaton and the surrounding country. The road was filled for three miles with carriages and horsemen. .A detachment of men rode ahead of the general, at some distance, and made a business of burning the effigies, clothed in red flannel petticoats, which had been set up in derision of the hero of Tippecanoe by individuals of the opposing party. Smith Bennett was the leader of this detachment, and took peculiar delight in pulling down and firing the straw-stuffed "paddys." The asperities of the Harrison campaign are softened now by the passing of two-score years. Looking back upon the excitements, and even upon the unpleasant episodes of the contest, the few who can remember them bear no ill-feeling toward those who were then opponents, and so in treating of the "log cabin and hard cider campaign," it scarcely seems as if we were treading upon political ground, and we chronicle these episodes and the result locally, simply as items of history in which all have an interest. In the fall, Preble county gave a majority of seven or eight hundred for the "Tip-Ty-Tom" ticket. The same election which made Thomas Corwin, governor of Ohio, Campbell, member of Congress, Millikin, State senator, and Joseph F. Hawkins, of Eaton, member of the legislature, it may be interesting to know, brought into office the following Whigs on the county ticket, viz.: Hiram Jones, county auditor ; George D. Hendricks, sheriff; Jacob F. Miller, commissioner; Henry M. Eidson, assessor ; and Jonas Albright, coroner.

Eaton has been twice visited by that terrible scourge, the Asiatic cholera. The most fatal season was that of 1849. In 1854 the disease was prevalent, but the mortality list was not so appalling as it had been in the year previously mentioned. In 1832, which was a cholera year, it did not make its appearance in the village at all. The epidemic came into Eaton and neighboring villages from the west, having originated, or at least first become prevalent to an alarming degree in Boston, Indiana. Making its appearance about the first of July, the dread disease had, by the close of August, almost literally decimated the population. A reign of terror ensued, which, happily, has never had a parallel in the history of the town. Many were panic-stricken and left town, some only to fall victims to the disease elsewhere. Scarcely enough people of sound health were left to care for the sick and bury the dead. People living in the country dared not visit the village; mail matter accumulated to a great bulk at the post office, and business was almost entirely suspended. At one time there was but one store open in the town, that of L. T. McCabe. Those who remained in town and did not contract the cholera, were constantly busied in nursing those who were sick, and many acts of heroism were performed by them. They seemed either to become perfectly reckless of danger or to be borne up by a sense of duty which prevailed over their fears. When the epidemic was at

its height, the sexton at Mound cemetery could not dig graves fast enough, and was assisted by citizens. Cornelius Van Ausdal dug several, and other residents assisted. 'The physicians stood firmly at their post and labored incessantly, their efforts being seconded by several clergymen. The most determined efforts, however, could not stay the progress or the fatality of the cholera. There were deaths daily, on some days two or three, and from that number up to five, six, seven, and even nine. The whole town was shrouded in gloom. Almost every family lost immediate members or near kindred. No one knew how long the ravages of the cholera would last or how sweeping would be its mortality. There were nearly a hundred deaths in Eaton, within less than two month's time, and many more in the country adjacent. This number was very nearly one tenth of the entire population of the town at that time.

Following is a list of the persons who died in Eaton during those terrible two months, July and August, 1849, together with their ages. It appeared in a newspaper of the period:

July 9th, John Ulery, five years; July 10th, Mary Bruigman, three years; July 11th, Lavina Belts, twenty- five years; July 14th, Phil. Mohan, twenty-eight years; July 14th, William Black, sixty-four years; July 15th, Phil. Emerick, twenty-five years; July 17th, A. Granger, fifty-four years; July 19th, Mrs. Bruigman, twenty-six years; July 19th, A. Mitchell, sixty-six years; July l0th, Mr. Maas, forty-five years; July 2 0th, Rogers, four years; July 20th, Thomas Rogers, forty years; July 21st, William Crouse, twenty-one years; July 21st, James Brooks, twenty-one years; July 21st, James Brown, thirty-three years; July 21st, Henry Revel, twenty-one years; July 22d, Jac. Detimore, sixty-four years; July 22d, David Cramer, twenty-four years; July 22d, Lina Mitchell, twenty-three years; July 22d, Levi Fleming, forty- eight years; July 22d, Thomas Fleming, twelve years; July 23d, Thomas Holmes, forty-one years; July 23d, George Bates, eighteen years; July 23d, Isaac Eigman, twenty-two years; July 23d, Sarah Mikesell, sixteen years; July 23d, Ed. H. Monfort, sixty-eight years; July 23d, Louisa V. Mitchell, ten years; July 23d, Margaret Kline, twenty-two years; July 24th, Mrs. Monfort, fifty- three years; July 24th, Celia Mitchell, thirty-one years; July 24th, Sev. Rogers, thirty-six years; July 25th, Ann Nation, thirty-five years; July 25th, Mrs. Holmes, thirty- six years; July 25th, Abram Auter, seventy-one years; July 25th, Miss Wilson, twelve years; July 25th, John Acton, sixty-seven years; July 27th, J. D. Steele, twenty years; July 27th, Miss C. Baker, thirteen years; July 28th, G. N. Kilbourn, forty years; July 28th, Isabella Kelley, twenty-two years; July 28th, Miss Auten, seventy-five years; July 28th, S. B. Miller, thirty years; July 28th, Lark Hoffman, forty-five years; July 2 8th, Mrs. M. Baker, sixty-seven years; July 28th, Sarah Baker, three years; July 28th, Ann E. Stephens, sixteen years; July 28th, L. Detimore, five years; July 29th, N. Baker, seventy-four years; July 29th, Mrs. Patton, thirty-six years ; July 29th, Joseph Acton, fifty-nine years; July 29th, Mrs. Detimore, sixty-three years; July 29th, Mrs. M. Marsh, thirty-three years; July 30th, Mrs. G. Nation, one hundred years; July 30th, Dr. P. Hayward, eighty years; July 30th, Mrs. M. Baker, thirty-eight years; July 30, John Cox, nine years; July 31st, Sarah Johnson, three years; July 31st, V. Mitchell, infant; July 31st, Charles McCabe, four years; July 31st, Charles M. Mitchell three years; August 1st, John Keller, twenty- eight years; August 1st, John Steele, forty-nine years; August 2d, Margaret Monfort, twenty-two years; August 2, infant; August 4th, C. W. Kelley, one year; August 5th, Hettie Cottingham, sixteen years; August 5th, P. M. Nation, four years; August 6th, F. A. Carr, three years; August 8th, Mary Nation; August 8th, William Killkenny, twenty-five years; August 8th, Susan Kail, fifteen years; August 10th, Robert Stanton, forty years; August l0th, John Wilson, five years; August 11th, James Killkenny, seventy-one years; August 12th, Mrs. S. Eichelberger, thirty-six years; August 12th, Margaret Wheeler, eighteen years; August 12th, George Miller, fifty-five years; August 13th, J. Eichelberger, forty-five years; August 13th, Eliza Hubbard, three years; August 14th, William Staggs, twenty-seven years; August 14th, Lavina Thompson, twenty-three years; August 14th B. F. Boardman, twenty-eight years; August 14th, Mrs. Baurgelt, thirty years; August 14th, Oliver Hubbard, five years; August 16th, Mary Hawkins, seven years; August 17th, Alfred Nation, six years; August 18th, Mrs. Switzer, thirty-three years; August 18th, T. A. Monosmith, five years; August l0th, Martha Wilhelm, fifteen years; August 23d, Andrew Mikesell, forty years; August 23d, John Hubbard, seven years.

This list includes ninety-one names. Besides these enumerated, there died in the immediate vicinity of Eaton enough more to make the number fully one hundred. Among them were Mrs. Malchariot Ammerman, John Ammerman, Mr. Myers, David Williams, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Christman, Mrs. Slagle, and James Ryan.

Soon after the close of the cholera season the Rev. Daniel Winder published an article in The New Leaf, a small paper then printed in Eaton, which conveys a good idea of the feeling that was prevalent in the community. We make the following extract:

" On the last day of July eighty-four houses were vacant in Eaton ; we had then but five hundred and seventy-four citizens left, out of a population of one thousand two hundred. The street on which I live (Somers) has twenty-seven houses ; twenty-four of them were vacated. Of the above list (mortuary) twenty-seven lived within speaking distance of my door. I have eleven in family, yet notwithstanding the appalling mortality in our immediate vrcinity, through the merciful providence of God, we all escaped."

"I am inclined to believe that the comparative extent of our suffering is not fully appreciated by our neighboring cities and towns. It will be seen that on the twenty-eighth of July we had ten deaths when our population was certainly less than seven hundred. If seven hundred lose ten, what would be an equal loss at the same ratio or proportion, of one hundred thousand? Answer, one thousand four hundred and twenty-eight. Now imagine, reader, if you cast, what the sensation would have been in the city of Cincinnati had her citizens been called upon to witness the sudden death of one thousand four hundred and twenty-eight of her citizens in a day."

"In calmly reviewing the scenes through which we have just passed, and calling to mind the melancholy incidents we were compelled to witness, one is forced to acknowledge the imbecility of human nature.

Never was man more effectually taught his dependence upon God, and also upon his fellow mortals, than were the people of Eaton. Avarice and worldly speculations were lost sight of; long cherished animosities were forgotten and buried ; aristocratic, political, and religious destine- Pons all vanished in common struggle for existence ; moral courage, philanthropy, fraternal affection, and devotion were then, as they should always be, the appreciated and valued virtues.-

Among those who were active in caring for the sick and burying the dead were thirteen young men who had a kind of an organization, and devoted almost their entire time to the cause of humanity. Their names were Thomas Morton, Andrew Mikesell, John Walker, Gideon McNutt, Franklin Nation, J. B. Miles, Ellis Minshall, George Hendricks, Squire Morton, John Minshall, Jacob Mikesell, Daniel Walker and Thomas Auter.

It is a notable fact of this number, all of them exposed to the disease, and defying it every day of that terrible season of death, only one became a victim to the cholera. That one was Andrew Mikesell. He died August 23rd, literally giving up his life for others. He was an unmarried man, aged forty years.

But little can be given in regard to the history of Eaton as an incorporated town, for the earliest and most interesting records were all destroyed in the "Commercial Row" fire of 1859. Eaton came into being, municipally, in 1836, the act incorporating it being passed by the legislature January 31st. Dr. Jesse Paramore is known to have been the first Mayor. The succession of chief municipal officials, as given by an old citizen from memory, is as follows: John Acton, Jesse B. Stevens, Daniel Walker, Solomon Banta, Jesse B. Stephens, John Ballentine, Daniel Walker, Benjamin Hubbard, Robert Miller, William Kline, Jacob Foos, Benjamin Hubbard, Jacob Foos, J. E. Freeman, John R. Stephens, J. E. Freeman, L C. Abbott, M. L Holt, (appointed) John King and William Neal, the present incumbent.

The first mention that we find of the project of building a town hall, is under date of May 25, 1869. The council decided at that time to erect such a building, and, in accordance with that resolution, contracts were made, and on the thirteenth of September, 1869, the council "broke ground" for the sub-structure, on the southwestern corner of Barron and Somers street.

Five series of bonds were issued on the fifteenth of November following, numbering in all one hundred and ten, one hundred dollars each, the first falling due in August, 1871. On the ninth of June, 1870, additional bonds were issued to the amount of four thousand dollars, subject to the same regulations.

April 28, 1870, the formalities of laying the cornerstone were appropriately observed, and on that occasion the late Captain Jesse B. Stevens delivered an interesting historical address.

The total cost of the building, with furnishings, was about twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars. The work was performed by the following persons, at the cost specified:

The size of the building is forty-two by ninety feet, height to top of tower, eighty-four feet. It contains a public hall forty by seventy feet, with a stage twenty by forty; a council chamber, thirteen by forty; room for township purposes, fifteen by thirty; an engine room, thirty-five by forty; prison, twenty by twenty; marshal's office, ten by twenty, and several other apartments; the whole being very conveniently arranged and well furnished.

The town hall was dedicated January 11, 1870, more than six hundred persons being present. Upon the stage sat Abner Haines, esq., the president of the day ; Dr. John P. Brookins and William B. Tizzard, vice- presidents; Mayor Jacob H. Foos, clerk; J. M. Brown and the members of the council, H. B. Van Ausdal, G. H. Eidson, W. A. Swihart, C. P. Thum, Thomas Fulton and M. F. Stephens. The Eaton cornet band was also present, and a large choir, selected from those of the several churches.

The members of the building committee, Messrs. Foos, Van Ausdal and Eidson, stepped forward to the central part of the stage, and Mr. Foos, on their behalf, made a brief speech and handed over the keys of the building to the president. Mr. Haines made an address in response, and Dr. J. W. Scott, of Indianapolis, made a few remarks, after which Mayor Foos delivered the dedicatory oration. The exercises concluded with music, and prayer by the Rev. J. D. Lauer.

In the month of August A. D. 1826, a dispensation was granted by R. W. Richard Collins, deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, for the establishment of a Masonic lodge in Eaton, to be called Bolivar Lodge No. 82. The following are the names of the petitioners for said lodge, viz.: John M. Gray, Joseph C. Hawkins, David F. Heaton, Nathaniel Benjamin, Alexander Mehaffy, Ernestus Putnam, William Edgar, Eastin Morris. At the succeeding meeting of the grand lodge, a charter was granted to these petitioners, etc.

The first meeting held under the dispensation, was on the nineteenth day of August, 1826, at which meeting the following named persons, Master Masons, were present: John M. Gray, worthy master; Joseph C. Hawkins, senior warden; David F. Heaton, junior warden; David Morris, secretary pro tem.; Alexander Mehaffy,

treasurer pro km.; Baltzer Snyder, senior deacon; William Edger, junior deacon, Nathaniel Benjamin, tyler; Paul Larsh, James Bolens, visitors. Two of the parties named—Eastin and David Morris--lived in Granville, Ernestus Putnam in New Madison, William Edger on a farm in Darke county, a few miles south of Greenville, and Baltzer Snyder and James Bolens at Lewisburgh. At the second meeting of the lodge, on the fifth day of September, 1826, the following named visiting brethren were present, viz.: Thomas R. Ross, Thomas Corwin, William M. Smith, George B. Holt, Paul Larsh, Dennis Kelly, James Bolens. At this meeting Thomas Corwin served as secretary pro tem. Of all these worthies only Nathaniel Benjamin yet survives, who is enjoying an honored and somewhat vigorous old age at his home, in West Alexandria, and who has the distinguished honor of being a member of the grand lodge of Ohio for a longer time than any other Mason, dead or alive.

At this second meeting of the lodge, the following named persons presented petitions for admission into the order, viz.: First, Asa W. Meloy; second, John M. U. McNutt; third, Jesse B. Stephens; fourth, Frederick Eltzroth. Also, James Bolens, Dennis Kelly, and Paul Larsh, Master Masons, presented petitions for membership. These petitions were all favorably reported on, and the candidates elected.

Lazarus Miller, John P. Wilson, Henry Bean, Lewis Evans, Isaac Stephens, Peter Van Ausdal, James H. Buel, Jacob Eltzroth, Judson Jaqua, John Saylor, Benjamin Edwards, William Campell, Jesse Paramore, were the succeeding petitioners for admission, in the order here named, previous to the installation of the officers of the lodge first elected under its charter, which event occurred on the twelfth day of May, 1827.

On that day the lodge met, about all the members present with many visiting brethren from Dayton, Germantown, Lebanon, and Hamilton. The following entry is copied from the lodge journal, viz.:

The R. W. George Kisling, of Lebanon, Ohio, appeared and presented the following commission, to-wit : 'I the undersigned deputy grand master of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio, do hereby, ordain, constitute, and appoint our worthy and well beloved brother, George Kisling, whom I hereby certify to be a regular Royal Arch Mason, to install the officers of Bolivar Lodge, No. 82, in the town of Eaton, State of Ohio. Given under my hand and seal, this tenth day of May, Anno Lucis, 5827.

"Whereupon a procession was formed which moved to the public meeting house, where the hereinafter named officers were, by R. W. George Kisling, proxy for the D. G. M. of Ohio, acting as, and in the name of, the Grand Lodge of Ohio, installed in form, viz.: John M. Gray, worshipful master ; Joseph C. Hawkins, senior warden; Lazarus Miller, junior warden; Jesse B. Stephens, secretary ; Peter Van Ausdal, treasurer; Asa W. Meloy, senior deacon; John P. Wilson, junior deacon; Frederick Eltzroth, tyler. The procession moved from thence to their lodge room again, where the lodge was closed in harmony."

Of all the persons thus far named in connection with the history of Bolivar lodge, only two are now alive— Nathaniel Benjamin and Judson Jaqua.

NOTE—This Mr. George Kisling was the brother of Henry Kisling, one of the pioneer settlers of Washington township, about five miles north of Eaton, and who died there only a few years since.

a lodge room, was one of the upper rooms of the old court house. An arrangement was made with the board of county commissioners, by which the lodge was to furnish and fit up the room with suitable furniture, and keep the same in good repair, and said room to be used as the grand jury room, and by the lodge. This arrangement was continued satisfactorily to both parties, until the old court house was torn down, in 1848, to make room for the new one. Before that event occurred, the lodge had made a contract with Mr. Cornelius Van Ausdal, who was about to erect a new three story brick build' ing on Main street (the one now standing west from the store-room), to prepare a suitable lodge room in the second story thereof, on a ten years' lease, at a stipulated annual rent. This room was not quite ready for occupancy when the old court house was taken down, and so the lodge met some two or three times in one of the old public offices that then stood upon the public square. About the first of December, 1848, the lodge removed to the new quarters.

About the beginning of the year 1853, the town council having made arrangements for the erection of an engine house, council room, trustees' office, and city hall, on the court house square, the Masonic fraternity determined to add a third story to said building for use as a lodge room. A building committee was appointed, subscriptions taken up, and contracts entered into at once, and the building completed and occupied in December of the same year. It was solemnly dedicated on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1854, by R. W. Jacob Graaf, D. G. M., in presence of a very large concourse of members of the order and other citizens.

The following are the names of the building committee on the part of the Bolivar lodge, acting in conjunction with a similar committee on the part of the chapter, that so successfully carried out the project of erecting a lodge room, viz: E. L. Huffman, Walter P. McCabe, and John Horton.

The officers of the lodge during the year when the said enterprise was undertaken and completed, were as follows:

W. Master, Thomas J. Larsh, S. Warden, Warren M. Campbell, J. Warden, Warren W. Jefferson. John P. Brookins, secretary; Jesse B. Stephens, treasurer; Elias Weiss, senior deacon; James McCabe, junior deacon; Thomas Morgan, tyler.

The following committee had charge of the arrangements preparatory to the dedication of the lodge, on the twenty-fourth day of June, 1854, viz: Warren M. Campbell, Jacob Chambers, George W. Thompson, and B. F. Larsh.

Thomas J. Larsh, W. M.; George W. Thompson, S. W.; W. W. Jefferson, J. W.; W. M. Campbell, secretary; Walter P. McCabe, treasurer; Jacob P. Snyder, S. D.; John V. Campbell, J. D.; Joseph M. Campbell, tyler.

The fraternity enjoyed the occupancy of the hall, so satisfactorily obtained, and dedicated under such happy

auspices, for only a few years, for the building was destroyed by fire on the night of July 4, 1829, together with several frame buildings, including the old National hotel, which formerly stood on the ground now occupied by "Commercial Row." This was one of the most disastrous fires that ever occurred in Eaton, and was a very heavy blow upon the prosperity of Bolivar lodge. There was no insurance upon the building, but all the furniture, books, and records, were saved.

Subsequent to this disaster, the Odd Fellows lodge kindly loaned the fraternity the privilege of meeting in its hall until more permanent arrangements could be effected. There being at that time no room in town suitable for a lodge hall, a contract was concluded with the Odd Fellows for the use of their hall indefinitely, at a rent of fifty dollars per annum.

This arrangement continued for about two years, when a lease for the term of ten years was taken on the third story of Eidson & Brothers' building, opposite the court house, on Main street. This last named room was occupied as a lodge until the year 1879, when a lease for ten years was procured upon the room now occupied, viz: the east room on the third floor of the Stephens block.

It may not be improper here to say that Bolivar lodge was chartered and installed just at the commencement of the anti-Masonic excitement, which originated soon after the publication of Morgan's book of pretended revelations of the "secrets of Masonry." The anti- Masonic war, as it was termed, was felt all over the United States, and finally arose to be perhaps the most bitter and intolerant political episode that has ever agitated and divided the people of this Nation. Looking back at the excitement and intolerance of that period, from the present stand-point of philosophical calmness, it seems absolutely astounding that so great a matter should have grown from so small and insignificant a beginning. Hundreds of Masonic lodges, in Ohio and other States, were compelled to succumb to the pressure of insane persecution and cease their labors.

Bolivar lodge, however, kept on in the even tenor of its way, and kept up its regular meetings during the whole time of the excitement. And whilst multitudes of Masons in almost all the States of the Union, especially in the eastern States, withdrew from the lodges and renounced their obligations and allegiance to the order, not a single member of Bolivar lodge ever faltered in his loyalty to its principles. Bolivar lodge has always enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity. Its membership, for a great many years, has never been much below sixty in number. Four other lodges have been instituted in the county, mainly offshoots from her membership. All over the western States, emigrants from her household are scattered. Many have gone out from her shelter to gain honor and wealth in other lands, and plant the banners of the order in other fields. May success and honor, and peace and usefulness ever attend her future career.

On the twenty-third day of December, 1837, a dispensation was granted by William J. Reece, Gr. H. P., of the Grand Chapter of Ohio, for the opening of a chapter in Eaton, and in June, 1836, a charter was issued for the same, by the Grand Chapter.

A chapter was instituted with the above name, under this authority, and has continued to work up to the present time. Its membership is made up from the Masonic lodges at West Alexandria, Lewisburgh, New Paris and Camden, as well as from the home lodge.

Eaton Lodge, No. 30, was instituted on the twenty- third day of May, 1844, by the Most Worshipful Grand Master Horatio N. Clark, with the following charter members: John V. Campbell, George W. Edgerly, Richard Y. Lanius, Amos W. Yoast, and James W. Murray. The following officers were elected and installed : John V. Campbell, N. G.; Amos W. Yoast, V. G.; Richard Y. Lanius, secretary; James W. Murray, treasurer. The following named were admitted as members by initiation, the same evening: Theodore Harbaugh, Michael Filbert, James Albert, Bryant G. Garty, Andrew Mikesell, and Alfred Denny. There is no record of the appointed officers for the term. At the time of the institution of the lodge it held its meetings in the second story of a building then owned by Josiah Campbell, on Barron street, immediately west of the court house, and continued to use the same hall until September, 1848, when the lodge moved to the building owned by Cornelius VanAusdal, on the north side of Main street, west of Barron, occupying the third story of said building. On the fourteenth day of June, 1855, the lodge purchased the property on the northeast corner of Main and Cherry streets, of John D. Miller, for the sum of two thousand four hundred dollars. Upon the lot stood a two-story building, forty by sixty-five feet. The lodge received possession of the property on the first of September, 1855.

In the year 1858 the lodge remodelled the second story of the building, and made an addition of a third story on the same. In November, 1858, the lodge moved from the Van Ausdal building to their own building, and occupied their own hall in the third story. In the year 1871 the lodge erected a three-story addition to their building of brick on the vacant ground, on the north end of their building, at a cost of -three thousand three hundred and sixty-one dollars.

August 24, 1873, the lodge building was destroyed by fire, being a total loss, with the exception of a portion of the brick used for rebuilding. The lodge saved from the fire, the records and most of their furniture, etc., used for the workings of the lodge. The loss sustained by the lodge was fourteen thousand dollars. The building was insured in the sum of six thousand five hundred dollars. Owing to some technicalities raised by some of the insurance companies, the lodge received of the insurance six thousand dollars. The lodge rented a hall in the third story brick building belonging to the estate of Jesse B. Stephens, deceased, situated on the north side of Main street, opposite the court house square, while rebuilding.

The lodge erected a new building of brick upon the site of the old building, all finished with the exception of the third story, at a cost of nine thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine dollars, and twenty-five cents, and at the time of the loss by fire, the lodge was in debt in the sum of three thousand two hundred and seventy dollars, and seventy-nine cents, which added to the cost of the new building, amounted to the sum of thirteen thousand one hundred and ninety-nine dollars, and eight cents. Deducting the amount of six thousand dollars received from the insurance companies, there was left an indebtedness of seven thousand two hundred dollars and eight cents.

February 5, 1875, the lodge sold to Preble Encampment, No. 54, Independent Order of Fellows, thirty-four feet off of the north end of their lot, together with that portion of their building erected thereon, for the sum of four thousand dollars cash, which left an indebtedness of the lodge in the sum of three thousand two hundred dollars, and eight cents. The encampment finished off their third story for a hall in the spring of 1875, and the lodge on the eighteenth of May in the same year, moved into said hall, and occupied the same, together with the encampment until the sixth of September, 1877, when, having finished their own hall at a cost of four hundred and fifty dollars, they moved into it. The lodge at this date is in a very prosperous condition, both financially and socially. It has one hundred and eight members, and has invested in real estate in the sum of six thousand two hundred and seventy-two dollars, and the income received from all sources is one thousand six hundred and eighty-five dollars per annum.

The indebtedness of the lodge at the present time is one thousand one hundred and fifty dollars.

The officers of the lodge for the present term of 1880 are: George Straw, N. G.; Andrew Black, V. G.; G. C. F. Black, recording secretary; A. Edgar Hubbard, permanent secretary; Frederick Michael, treasurer; James Barnet, warden; F. P. Filbert, C.; W. M. Coonrod, I. G.; Peter Straw, O. G.; J. R. Cook, R. S. to the N. G.; David Peters, L. S. to the N. G.; Joseph Fossnacht, R. S. to the V. G.; A. C. Stipher, L. S. to the V. G.; Ephraim Young, R. S. S.; Frank Ridenour, L. S. S.; R. G. D. McKemy, chaplain; Charles P. Thum, Samuel Shields, and John R. Cook, trustees; Michael Filbert, J. R. Cook, and John A. Crouse, committee on claims.

Of the charter members only two are now living— John V. Campbell and Richard Y. Lanius, while only one, John V. Campbell, still retains membership in the lodge.

Of the six who were initiated on the night of the institution of the lodge, there are four of them living— Theodore Harbaugh, Michael Filbert, James Albert, and Aired Denny. Two of them are dead, Bryant G. Garty and Andrew Mikesell; while Michael Filbert, James Albert, and Alfred Denny still retain their membership in the lodge.

Eaton lodge being the parent lodge of the county, it furnished charter members for other lodges, to-wit: Western Star, No. 109; Eden lodge, No. 147; New Paris, No. 303; Fairhaven, No. 425; West Manchester, No. 520; West Alexandria, No. 521 ; Campbellston, No. 551; Lewisburgh, No. 571, of the county of Preble; Greenville, No. 105, of the county of Darke; together with others who became charter members of lodges throughout the great west.

was instituted on the tenth day of June, 1852, by William Chidsey, M. W. G. Patriarch, with James Albert, John V. Campbell, William J. Kelley, Richard Y. Lanius, Daniel S. Carson, James H. Crews, and John A. Crouse, as charter members, and the following named officers were elected and installed: James Albert, C. P.; Richard Y. Lanius, H. P.; John A. Crouse, S. W.; W. J. Kelley, J. W.; John V. Campbell, scribe; James H. Crews, treasurer; and the following named were admitted to membership on the evening of the institution of the encampment: R. G. D. McKemy, Benjamin Hubbard, Jonathan R. Ammerman, David Patten, W. H. H. B. Minor, Noah Dispenant, Daniel Payne, John W. Stephens, Amos W. Yost, William Tolbert, Daniel J. Neaff, Samuel T. Sliver, Perry Rinehart, and George Kline.

The encampment held its meetings in the hall of Eaton Lodge, No. 30, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, until the sixth day of December, 1878; part of the time it was in its own' hall. February 5, 1875, the encampment purchased from Eaton lodge thirty-four feet off of the north end of the lot owned by said lodge, with the part of the building thereon, for the sum of four thousand dollars, and in May of the same year, they plastered and finished up their own hall, at a cost of one hundred and thirty-three dollars and fifty-one cents, and they have here held their meetings ever since the sixth of September, 1878.

The encampment has sixty-one members, and is in a flourishing condition. It has invested in real estate the sum of three thousand and fifty dollars, and the income received from all sources is six hundred and fifty dollars per year. Of this sum the amount of four hundred and ten dollars, received for rent, is appropriated to the payment of taxes, insurance and the indebtedness of the encampment. The balance is appropriated to meet other demands, as set forth in the laws of the order. The encampment is still in debt in the sum of nine hundred and fifty dollars.

The officers of the encampment for the present term of the year 1880, are as follows: F. M. Filbert, C. P.; David Peters, H. P., Phillip Becker, S. W.; James Banta, J. W.; R. G. D. McKemy, scribe; Charles P. Thum, treasurer; James Albert, guide; Peter Straw, O. S.; W. A. King, I. S.; James D. Miller, first W.; J. J. Hume, second IV.; Thomas Fulton, third IV.; Joseph Fossnacht, fourth W.; J. R. Cook, first G. of T.; A. C. Stiper, second G. of T.; and John R. Cook is also D. D. G. patriarch of this encampment. David Peters, Samuel Oldfather and William McCabe, trustees.

The following charter members are still living: James Albert, Richard Y. Lanius, John A. Crouse, W. J. Kelly

and John V. Campbell--as to J. H. Crews, it is not known whether he is yet living, while only two—James Albert and John V. Campbell, still retain membership in the encampment. W. J. Kelley withdrew by card and deposited it in Greenville Encampment, No. 90.

Of the fourteen that were initiated on the night of the institution of the encampment, there are five of them dead: Jonathan R. Ammerman, W. H. H. B. Minor, Daniel Payne, Amos W. Yoast and William Tolbert; only three of them : Robert G. D. McKemy, S. T. Sliver and Perry Rinehart still hold membership in the encampment.

Preble Encampment being the parent Encampment of the county, furnished members, who withdrew by card and became charter members of New Paris encampment, No. 139, Camden, No.

In the fall of 1832 a number of young men, residents of the village of Eaton, having long felt the want of some kind of amusement during the long winter nights, met together for consultation as to what this amusement should consist of. After mature deliberation they resolved themselves into a dramatic club, to be known by the name of the "Eaton Thespian society." A constitution and by-laws were drawn up and signed by the following persons: Joseph S. Hawkins, Ellis Minshall, Josiah Campbell, John B. Dicks, James H. Curry, Joseph Donohoe, John VanAusdal, Andrew J. Hawkins, William T, Hubbell, Philip Brown, James Earnest, Samson H. Hubbell, and Robert Martin.

The officers of the society were one secretary, one treasurer, and one manager who had full power to give the cast of all plays that were adopted by the society, and from his decision there was no appeal.

Josiah Campbell was made treasurer, James H. Curry, secretary, Sampson H. Hubbell, manager, and Joseph Donohoe, scene painter. There was not at that time a public hall or any other room in the village large enough to give such exhibition in. It was thought best by the members to make a beginning on a small scale, and they took possession of an upper room, in a building situated on the south side of Main street, a few doors east of Cherry street (now Union hall), thinking it would be sufficiently large in which to test their dramatic powers. After giving a few exhibitions here they became thoroughly satisfied that this room was altogether too small to contain the amount of dramatic talent that they found themselves in possession of, and they determined that

They accordingly cast about, and finally discovered a row of one-story buildings, situated on the south side of Main street, near to Barron street. These they rented, and tore out the partitions, using the east end for stage and green room, the balance for the audience room. Mr. Donohoe painted a nice lot of scenery for them, and in a short time they had it converted into a very respectable little theatre. They had a public performance every two weeks, and sometimes oftener, and always to full houses. This continued for nearly two years; about this time a number of young men not members of the Eaton Thespian, became stage struck, and determined to get up an opposition society, to be called the Jack Downing Thespian society. The members of the Eaton Thespian society were becoming somewhat weary of their occupation, made an offer to sell out to the Jack Downing and retire, and rest upon the laurels already won. The Downing accepted the proposition, and run the machine for a few months, when it gradually oozed out.

The Eaton Thespian society was a great financial success. They commenced business without one cent of capital, did business for two years, then sold out, and paid the last cent they owed in full, but "nary red" left.

The initial step in archery was taken in Eaton by the organization of the Rob Roy Archery club on the twenty-eighth day of April, 1879. This club had its regular meetings on Friday afternoons in the beautiful grove west of the city.

The enjoyment consisted in the vigorous twang of the bow-string coupled with a sumptuous repast furnished by the ladies.

Miss Belle Acton, Miss Cora Van Ausdal, Miss Ruth Van Ausdal, Miss Nettie Minor, Miss Mary Gould, Miss Minnie Foos, Miss Belle Dix, Miss Carrie DeGroot, Miss Mary Douglass, Miss Minnie Rensman, Miss Eva Hurd, Miss Laura Bruce, Miss Ruth Whitridge, Mr. W. B. Robinson, Mr. toe Acton, W. H. Hambidge, F. G, Thompson, C. F. Brooke, G. W. Daugherty, A. A. Lovett, C. R. Gilmore, W. D. Stephens, J. M. Withrow. J. H. Gilmore, C. V. Reese, W. C. Bruce, and H. L. Larsh.

The officers of this club were C. F. Brooke, jr., president; Miss Cora Van Ausdal, vice-president; F. G. Thompson, secretary ; G. W. Daugherty, treasurer.

On May 24, 1879, Merrie Bowmen, of St. Claire, was organized. This club held its meetings on Saturday afternoons, at the private ranges of the members. The spirit of rivalry was manifest among the members of this club from its early commencement. The members of this club were: A. E. Hubbard, Mrs. A. E. Hubbard, Colonel R. Williams, jr., Mrs. Colonel R. Williams, jr., J. W. B. Siders, Miss Lou Lockwood, C. H. Moore, Miss Kitty L. Thomson, Dr. F. M. Mitchell, Miss Della Thompson, James A. Du Sang, Elam Fisher, Mrs. Elam Fisher, Mr. A. C. Van Doren, Mrs. A. C. Van Doren, Dr. P. M. Small, Mrs. Dr. P. M. Small, Morris Sturm, Mrs. Morris Sturm, John T. Holmes, Mrs. J. T. Holmes, Dr. J. L. Quinn, Mrs. J. L Quinn, H. C. Hiestand, Mrs. H. C. Hiestand, H. M. Markley, Mrs. H. M. Markley, Dr. W. P. Webb, Mrs. Dr. W. P. Webb.

It appears that the fates favored this club from the first. They challenged the Robin Hood's, of Hamilton, Ohio, and were victorious. They immedately challenged the Rob Roys, of Eaton, Ohio, and were again victorious. These victories prompted the Merrie Bowmen to measure bows with the Saggittarians, of Cincinnati, the Eaton club being once more the victors.

About this time the Ohio State Archery association was formed at Cincinnati, and the Rob Roy and Merrie Bowmen of St. Clair became members.

The first tournament was held October 2 and 3, 1879. The Merrie Bowmen held fourth and the Rob Roy sixth place in the contest for eight clubs.

Both clubs now, for mutual benefit, rented Bonner's hall for winter practice. These merry archers shot the old year out and the new year in, and celebrated the new with a long-to-be-rembered supper.

In the early spring time of 1880 we are loth to chronicle a change which came to the Rob Roys, and the club did not meet as an organization during the year. But we are pleased to say that the Merrie Bowmen were strengthened by the reception of Mr. W. B. Robinson, Miss Ruth Van Ausdal, Miss Ruth Whitridge, and Miss Belle Acton.

At length those who did not prove very skilful with the long bow, gradually became less interested in the sport until the club was composed of those who wished to make archery a success.

A team of four gentlemen, consisting of Colonel R. Williams, J. W. B. Siders, C. H. Moore, and W. B. Robinson, was elected from the club to attend the Ohio State Archery association, at Cincinnati, August 25, 26, and 27, 1880.

At this tournament the team gained second place in the State association. At this tournament Colonel R. Williams took the first prize at the York round with a score of three hundred and twenty-one. This being the first time that the York round had ever been shot at a State tournament. Soon after the tournament the Merrie Bowmen challenged the champion club of the State to shoot the American round, and were successful ; making the highest score on record at this round, as a team. The following is the score:

This club is now one of the strongest c ubs in the United States. It has made application for membership to the National Archery association, and will, no doubt, shoot at the national tournament, which will be held at Brooklyn, New York, in July, 1881.

Time has in store a golden future for this club, and every member is aiming to hit the gold.

In the summer of 1855, a military company was organized in Eaton, under the name of the Washington guards, and consisting of some of the leading middle- aged and young men of the town—among them, Jacob H. Foos, W. F. Albright, James Van Ausdal, John C. Kaylor, Thomas Winters, Thomas Hill, Thomas Morton, A. J. Patton, W. C. M. Brookins, W. W. Danford, Joseph Tracy, J. J. Hunt, J. G. McNutt, L. T. McCabe, John A. Hubbell, A. V. Thompson, John P. Jennings, John G. Grace, N. B. Larsh, Enoch Gordon, George G. Krug, James F. Annerman and James A. Gilmore. It does not appear, however, that the last named ever signed the constitution, and he resigned his place in the company at an early day. The first civil officers of the organization were: James A. Gilmore, secretary; John G. McNutt, treasurer;

John J. Hunt, W. C. M. Brookins and Jacob H. Foos, trustees. The military officers were: Levin T. McCabe, captain; John J. Hunt, first lieutenant; William F. Albright, second lieutenant; Jacob H. Foos, ensign, Thomas Morton, first sergeant; Joseph G. McNutt, second sergeant; John Russell, third sergeant; William C. Rossman, fourth lieutenant; John Hubbell, first corporal; Joseph Tracy, second corporal; A. J. Patton, third corporal; James Long, fourth corporal. The preamble of the constitution set forth that the members formed themselves into a company "in order to procure healthful exercise; to acquire habits of discipline; to promote that knowledge of military science which forms an ornament in peace and inspires confidence in war, and to fit ourselves for military duty."

A division of the Sons of Temperance was instituted at the town of Eaton, December 7, 1846, by. B. F. Raleigh, consisting of the following charter members: Felix Marsh, John V. Campbell, Henry Monfort, Robert Martin, William Rossman, John Steele, Josiah Campbell, William J. Gilmore, Vincent Mitchell, Abram V. Austin, William B. Tizzard, Andrew Mikesell. The following persons joined soon afterwards, viz.: Benjamin Fleming, Jacob Chambers, Samuel P. Wilson and John C. Brooks. The following were the first officers of the organization: Robert Martin, W. P.; Josiah Campbell, W. A.; John V. Campbell, R. S.; William J. Gilmore, A. R. S.; William B. Tizzard, F. S.; William Rossman, treasurer; Felix Marsh, C.; Vincent Mitchell, A. C.; Andrew Mikesell, J. S.; John Steele, O. S. This organization was maintained until 1849, when it was disbanded and another temperance society took its place. The latter organization was known as

and was instituted October 26, 1850, with the following persons as charter members, viz.: Felix Marsh, S. P. Wilson, John V. Campbell, William Hock, Jacob Chambers, Robert Pryor, John A. McKemy, William A. Bloomfield, Gideon Albright and Joshua McCoy; also the following ladies: Mrs. Rachel Marsh, Mrs. Ann E. Campbell, Mrs. Matilda Hock, Mrs. Catharine Chambers, Mrs. Pryor, Mrs. Albright, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Lucinda Huffman. The first officers elected were the following: Felix Marsh, B. P. T.; Catharine Chambers, S. P. S.; John V. Campbell, B. V. T.; Rachel Marsh, S. V. T.; John A. McKemy, P. B. P. T.; Elizabeth Wilson, P. S. P. T.; Robert E. Pryor, B. R.; Jacob Chambers, B. U.; Ann E. Campbell, S. U.; Lucinda Huffman, S. G.; Gideon Albright, B. S.

This was the next temperance organization effected in Eaton after the disbanding of Columbia Temple of Honor. It was instituted February 8, 1867, with the following charter members, subsequently elected to the offices here indicated: James A. Gilmore, W. C. T.; Lida Larsh, W. V. T.; J. H. Fleming, W. R.; J. W. Coffman, W. A. R.; S. S. Dix, W. F. S.; Sallie Straud,

R. H. S.; May Fleming, L. H. S.; Hyram Johnson, W. C.; Robert Crisman, W. T.; J. A. McCabe, W. M.; Lizzie Quinn, W. D. M.; Addie Hendricks, W. J. G.; William Nation, IV. O. G. This organization was maintained and active work kept up until 1874, or the following year. Meetings were held regularly at Temperance ball, and the lodge, by small but frequent accessions of members, became one of the largest organizations of the kind which ever had an existence in the town or county.

A council of the members and ministers of all the churches was held Saturday evening, May 19, 1877, in the Methodist Episcopal church. A temporary organization was effected, and I. N. Lake was chosen president.

On Monday evening, May 21, 1877, the first meeting was held in the city opera house. The meeting was addressed by Judge James A. Gilmore and others. At the close about one hundred and fifty signed the following temperance pledge:

Nearly all the signers at the first meeting were church members and temperance people, one or two only were secured from the drinking ranks at this meeting.

The meetings were continued for one week, but were only partially successful in attracting the attention of those who needed reformation. A few, however, attended, and some were induced to become members.

The temporary organization was at this time disbanded for the purpose of placing the work in the hands of the reformed men, the officers resigned and the following officers were elected to serve six months:

President, Judge James A. Gilmore; vice presidents, Frank Mitchell, Fred Tyler, Tim Kelly and Silas Bellows; secretary, Robert Morgan; treasurer, W. C. M. Brookins.

The services of the famous, Timony brothers (John and Ed.), of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were secured for one week. During their stay the excitement was intense. Crowds were nightly compelled to turn from the door of the opera house for want of room. Men, women, and children of all classes worked in union with a zeal worthy any cause.

The result of their labor astonished everybody and cast a mantle of gloom over the men engaged in the whiskey traffic.

Hundreds this week signed the pledge, from the moderate drinker down to the habitual drunkard, and many of them pushed to the front rank of the working force. The little badge of blue was everywhere to be seen. A few short weeks had worked a complete change in public sentiment. At the close of the week's labor of the Timony brothers, one thousand names adorned the roll.

Meetings were held during the summer at the court house. In July Burr Robins' circus gave an

exhibition in the town, and the proprietor gave the people permission to use his tent on Sunday for a meeting. At the close of the night's performance the announcement was made from the ring of the meeting next day—Sunday, at three o'clock P. M. At noon on Sunday the town was filled with people from the surrounding country. The circus tent was filled to overflowing.

The meeting was addressed by Judge James A. Gilmore, of Eaton, and Dan Rouzer, of Dayton, Ohio. Near two hundred (t00) signed the pledge at the close of the meeting, among whom were thirty members of Burr Robins' circus company.

In the fall of 1877 James Dunn (known as Jimmy Dunn), of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, labored one week with us. Large and enthusiastic meetings were held nightly in the court room.

Jimmy Dunn added new life to the cause, and left the work on a more solid foundation than it had been from the start.

The citizens realized the fact that the work could be carried on successfully without the aid of strangers, and good work was done.

The Eaton Murphy choir became famous throughout the county under the leadership of Professor W. H. H. Eson. Upon invitation they visited West Alexandria, Camden, Winchester; also Richmond, Indiana. They numbered thirty young ladies and gentlemen of the town.

The ministers of the town all worked in the cause, but the most active among them were the Rev. A. Meharry (since deceased), and Rev. A. J. Reynolds. The faithful services rendered by them never will be forgotten by the reformed men.

May 21 and 22, 1878, one year from the commencement of the work in Eaton meetings were held in the fair grounds; five thousand were in attendance each day; the anniversary was celebrated by speeches, songs, and in the evening of May 21st, by a grand torchlight procession. Five hundred torches were in the procession.

The effect in the community was good. Fewer criminals were arraigned in the county courts; fewer arrests were made; the cost for maintaining or assisting the poor classes during these two years was less than ever before in the history of the county, so great was the decrease in this respect that it was commented upon by the county papers. Men who for years had been compelled to ask aid for their families, from the township trustees, not only supported themselves and families comfortably, but by economy and total abstinence laid by enough of their savings to secure comfortable homes, and are to-day living monuments of the good results of the Murphy movement.

Although the good accomplished was great, and the future of the moral suasion temperance plan bright (had they continued the work—"With malice towards none and charity for all"), they became divided in their opinions of the manner in which the work should be conducted.

The two opposing parties consisted of the prohibitionists and the moral sussionists, and much time was used in discussing the question—how to proceed. The people lost interest in the work; the drinking men ceased attending, and the work stopped. But there are many today in the village, who owe their happiness to the great Murphy temperance movement, and will honor and keep the pledge they have taken unto death.

The presidents who served for each term of six months, were Judge J. A. Gilmore, Benjamin Hubbard, John T. Deem, Frank Mitchell and S. More Surface.

In 1837 the first brass and reed band in Preble county, was organized under the leadership of Professor Jerry Guild, and composed of the following members: Ellis Minshall, Jacob Sweeney, Joshua Lockwood, E. P. Lockwood, David Hunter, Andrew Mikesell, Isaac Colby, J. Severs Hawkins, Josiah Campbell, James Curry, Cornelius Banta, John Glines, Isaac Van Ausdal and George Waggoner. The instruments used were eight clarionets, two concert horns, one plain trumpet, bass and tenor sliding trombones, flutes and bass drum. The first piece of music played was the "March from Bluebeard," familiarly known as "Calf's Tooth." During the three years that this organization remained in existence, Dr. A. H. Stephens, Alfred Denny and John P. Acton were received as members. In 1840 the band went to South Bend, Indiana, and played for General William Henry Harrison. An orchestra was also organized with five violins, two flutes, concert horns and clarinets. The first concert was given in the old Public church, and the programme, including such songs as "Old King Cole," "Rosin the Bow," etc. The next entertainment by the band was at this place, at the hall on the south side of Main street, between Barron and Beech streets. After the campaign of 1840 was over the interest in the band waned, and at length the organization was given up. In the fall of 1841, however, another band was formed with the following members in addition to those who had composed the first: William Stagg, James Mitchell, Henry Lockwood, J. L. Lockwood, G. R. Lockwood, Samuel Lockwood and C. W. Lockwood.

This band gave a series of concerts, travelling from place to place upon horseback, with E. Pond and Cuff Lockwood as advance agents. Entertainments were given before paying houses at Muncie, Winchester and Newport, Indiana, and Granville, Ohio. This organization was maintained until 1856, when it was disbanded and another one formed, with Professor Edward O. Reid as leader. The new members were, H. B. Van Ausdal, B. F. Larsh, D. Richey, A. B. DeGroot, John Fenerbaugh and Oliver Loy. This band was kept very busily employed during the campaign of 1856, and obtained a rank second to none in the State. Very handsome new silver instruments were secured. When the war broke out several members went into the army, but the organi-

zation was kept up until 1865. At that time the interest was revived and the band was again reorganized, with W. H. Eason, W. H. Ortt, Perry Lockwood, J. C. Hoover, C. F. Churchill, John Lockwood, jr., S. IV. Lockwood, E. 0. Lockwood, Frank Lockwood and Charles Lockwood as additional members. It will be observed that from the first the Lockwoods had a prominent place in the composition of the several Eaton bands. They have all been good musicians, and in recent years the descendants of those of the name who took part in the earlier orgnizations are following in their footsteps. This band during the years it remained as organized in 1865 had many `:good times" in the nature of annual excursions to the Shelby county "Reservoir" concerts, festivals, fishing excursions, etc. In 1874 Professor C. F. Churchill, assisted by others, started a new organization with the following members: E. 0. Lockwood, A. A. Churchill, W. B. Robinson, H. Donohoe, 0. Jefferson, Richard Lockwood, W. H. Eason, Samuel IV. Lockwood, W. H. Ortt, A. G. Minshall, J. S. Lockwood, John Lockwood, jr., and James H. Tizzard. The band started under adverse circumstances, but by energy and pluck succeeded in securing, during the first year of existence, a new set of silver helicon instruments, new uniforms, etc. Of the amount expended the citizens of Eaton contributed one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The second year the band purchased a new wagon, new music, and several other things which they needed. During these two years about twelve hundred and fifty dollars was expended in equipping the organization. The present organization is constituted as follows: C. F. Churchill, leader; M. Lally, A. A. Churchill, E. 0. Lockwood, O. Filbert, W. H. Eason, Edward Albright, Calvin Churchill, 0. Jefferson, W. B. Robinson, Horace Donohoe, Luman Lockwood, A. G. Minshall, Marks Nation, John Pollas, J. J. Chase, William Nation, Thomas J. Noe, and H. Kester. Of the whereabouts of some of the members of the early organizations who are still music makers, it may be remarked that C. W. Lockwood is the leader of the band at Muncie, Indiana; Richard, Charles and Nathan Lockwood are in the same town; Frank Lockwood is at Arcanum, Ohio; Perry Lockwood is at Champaign, Illinois, and J. C. Hoover is leader of the band at Lincoln, Illinois.

Eaton has one of the most appropriate and beautiful resting places for the dead to be found in the county. But few burial places excel it in natural beauty, of chasteness in art adornment, or in elements of historic interest.

The cemetery is located between the village and the site of Fort St. Clair. It is bounded upon the west by the bluff banks of the Garrison branch, has a large frontage upon the maple-lined West road, and contains about twenty-five acres. Originally there was laid out a small burying-ground in the northeastern part of the town; but William Bruce, the proprietor, very soon afterwards donated four acres now included in Mound cemetery, and nearly all of the early burials were made within this piece of ground-the portion nearest the road, in which the old marble slabs and weathered freestones stand most thickly. The first burial in the cemetery was that of a little daughter of Abram Eaton (or Heaton), and was made in September, 1806.

As the years passed it was found that the original limits of the cemetery were too circumscribed, and an addition was made which rendered the ground ample enough until recent years, when the boundaries were again extended. The whole has been tastefully laid out in walks and drives which follow, for the most part, graceful curves over the undulating surface. The beauty of the cemetery is enhanced by the presence of a variety of native forest trees and evergreens judiciously introduced.

The peculiar and distinctive feature of this burial place and the one most interesting to the stranger, is the Lowerey monument. This stone, which surmounts.one of the beautiful and symmetrical mounds left as the memorials of an unknown race, and within are buried the bones of fifteen soldiers of Wayne's army, among them, Lieutenant Lowerey and Ensign Boyd, who sacrificed their lives in wresting this country from the Indians. They were killed October 17, 1793, a short distance from where Zion's church now stands, and near the forty foot pitch, on Lowerey's branch, about four miles from Eaton.* On the next day they were buried side by side near Fort St. Clair. On the Fourth of July, 1822, the remains of Lieutenant Lowerey were disintered and buried in the northwest corner of the cemetery, and on the seventeenth of October, 1847, the fiftieth anniversary of their fall, the remains of all the soldiers were deposited in the mound where they now lie and will, probably, remain. An appopriate funeral oration was delivered by . Abner Haines, esq., and the late Rev. Charles W. Swain acted as chairman. The monument which marks the resting place of these brave soldiers was erected on the occasion of their final burial by the contributions from a number of generous and public-spirited citizens of Eaton. It bears on one side the inscription to that effect; upon the other the Latin words "Dula et decorum est pro patio more," and upon the front the following inscription :

Lieutenant John Lowerey. of the Second sub-legion, and Ensign Boyd, of the First, and thirteen non-commissioned officers and privates, who fell about five miles north of this place, in an obstinate engagement with the Indians, on the seventeenth day of October, 1793. Lieutenant Lowerey was from New Jersey. and had served with reputation in the levies of 1791, under General St. Clair. Ensign Boyd was a young man of much promise ; they were in command of an escort of ninety men, having in charge twenty wagons loaded with stores and provisions for the army of General Wayne."

A severely plain but massive sandstone monument marks the burial place of William Bruce, the pioneer and proprietor of Eaton. Very appropriately the monument rests upon a base composed of two mill-stones—they are the buhrs made by John Banfill, and long did service in the second mill built by Mr. Bruce, the one now standing, which was the first merchant's mill in Eaton. It is probable that some of the furrows were chiseled by the hand that is now in ashes beneath them. The monument

* See chapter entitled Wayne,s Campaign, in General History department of this volume.

bears a simple inscription to the memory of the " good, kind miller," setting forth the facts in regard to his laying out the town in 1806, and his practical liberality in providing for churches, schools, and donating public grounds. He died February 25, 1830, at the age of sixty-seven years and six months.

Some of the newer monuments are very striking in workmanship and massiveness, notably those of granite, which bear the names of Van Ausdal, Van Doren, Donohue, Campbell and Hoffman, as also the older marble monument which marks the burial place of the Brooke family. The remains of that stalwart pioneer of Methodism, the Rev. James B. Finley, lie in the vicinity of the last mentioned. Near by is the grave of the Rev. J. G. Brooke, and at a little distance—designated by a simple memorial marble, is the resting-place of another worthy man of God, who has left in Eaton in his works a far grander monument than any which could be reared by hands above his grave. The Van Ausdal monument is a fit memorial to the pioneer merchant of Eaton.

One of the older gravestones which is an object of interest to all visitors, is that which stands on the grave of Fergus Holderman, who died in 1838. It is an unusually large slab of freestone, and only differs from others in the superiority of its carving. It was the work of Clevenger, the sculptor, who, in after years, went to Italy, to study and there made himself famous. The stone bears a large medallion, on which the inscription is cut, and around it are wreaths of roses and oak leaves, myrtle and ivy, with cherubs, and the emblems ever present upon old mortuary suclptures, the urn and weeping willows. The workmanship shows marked excellence, and it is cherished by those who knew Clevenger as one of the first indications of a genius which was afterwards highly developed. Clevenger, who was brought up in Eaton, lost his life on the ocean when returning to his native land from the old world.

Just at the right of the most eastern entrance of the cemetery is a small monument, which stands over the grave of a stranger who died in Eaton many years ago. The grave remained for twenty years unmarked save by a decaying wooden post, from which the inscription has been obliterated by the weather. The present stone was erected by the young men of Eaton in 1853. It is inscribed:

a native of Ontario county, New York, died September 10, 1832, aged about thirty years. Whilst sojourning in the village he was taken ill and died among strangers, who, in the hour of affliction, administered unto him, and as a token of their esteem have erected this monument to his memory.”

The older portion of the cemetery is thickly crowded with stones, which mark the graves of old and young. The pioneer residents of Eaton who have gone down to the grave ripe with years, and revered by all survivors, and children of tender age, whose untimely death made fond parents mourn. By each of these graves of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, lovers, and sweethearts, bitter tears have been shed, and life hopes have gone out.

An event so recent as the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the birth of the Republic is, of course, fresh in the minds of all men of to-day, but as years' from now the young and those yet unborn will read the pages of this volume, we give a brief statement of the observance in Eaton of the Fourth of July, 1876.

The celebration of the Nation's one hundredth birthday began on Sunday in the churches. Each house of worship was decorated with flowers and garlands of evergreens, and the several ministers of the town in their discourses on that day blended patriotism with piety, and gave thanks to God for the century of progress which had passed since the dark days amidst the throes of which liberty was born.

On the following Monday the town was the scene of busy preparation, and on the morning of the Fourth Eaton was bright and beautiful in her gala day attire. Day was ushered in with the firing of a salute of one hundred guns and the ringing of church bells, followed by the inspiring music of the national airs, played by the band. As the day advanced crowds of people thronged the highways leading into the village, and every township was represented by as large a proportion of its people as could through any possibility leave their homes. Jackson and Harrison sent in regularly organized delegations, that of the latter being a very extraordinary and striking turn-out. At the head of the long procession was the Lewisburgh band, and next came one hundred horses harnessed together, each bearing a rider, and drawing an immense flag-covered wagon, occupied by young girls. Jackson township sent in a wagon of huge proportions, in which rode just a hundred children.

A vast concourse of people moved to the fair grounds. Arrived at the place for holding the exercises John H. Boyce was elected president, and the venerable Albert Haines delivered an able, eloquent and highly valuable historical address. After this short speeches were made by Elder James Neal, Hon. William J. Gilmore, and 'Squire Thompson, an old and honored resident of Montgomery county sang a number of the songs of early times. The day was concluded with a fine pyrotechnical display, and the crowd dispersed late in the evening, after a celebration unmarred by a single accident or disagreeable occurrence.

Preble county abounds in mineral springs and flowing wells. The most noted in Eaton and its immediate vicinity are the Court House well and the group of group of springs or flowing wells just northeast of the village, at Mr. Jonathan Flora's and his neighbors. These springs have attracted general attention, are much talked about, and as they possess undoubted medicinal virtues, we present the reader with analysis of their waters, carefully made by F. M. Michael, M. D. Of the water of the Court House well the doctor gives the following analysis:

The water is very strong in sulphuretted hydrogen, the odor of which can be retained for a long time if the water is securely bottled. One of the peculiar characteristics of this water is that it does not deposit any trace of organic matter or mineral substance, the solution of the mineral salts being perfect. Part of the carbonic acid escapes when exposed to the air, but the larger portion is held in solution. Many persons have obtained relief from various disorders by the use of this water, and the well is regularly visited by many of the townspeople.

The peculiar group of springs adjoining the corporation upon the northeast afford a copious supply of apparently pure and very refreshing water, and are visited to almost as great an extent as the Court House well. The water is tonic in its qualities, and what is known as a chaleybeate water.

The spring on the premises, now owned by Robert Pryor and formerly by Judge Curry, was discovered by Peter Fleming about sixty years ago. He was digging a well for the purpose of securing water to be used in the process of making brick, and a very few feet below the surface tapped a small stream of water which has flowed continuously ever since, although of late years its volume has been considerably diminished. The water flowing from this spring, and the others in the neighborhood, if confined in pipes, will rise to a considerable height, an evidence, though not a conclusive one, that it has its source in a higher level than that at which the springs occur. Beside the spring on the Pryor place, there are others of almost exactly similar nature, at Nathaniel Haywood's at the home of Jonathan Flora, upon the Chambers lot, and one farther east. At Mr. Flora's a handsome stone fountain and basin has been constructed, and it is there that the water can most conveniently be examined and partaken of. Dr. Michael furnishes the following analysis of the waters which flow from the spring upon the Chambers lot, which is exactly like that at the Flora spring about four rods distant:

This township occupies the central part of Preble county, and is the largest of the twelve townships in the county. It is bounded on the north by Monroe township, on the east by Twin and Lanier, on the south by Gasper, and on the west by Dixon and Jackson. Besides being of the regulation width of six miles, it has a length of eight miles, being two miles longer than any other township in the county. This extra length it gains at the expense of Gasper township on the south, the latter being only four miles in extent from north to south. Washington township extended originally from Monroe to Somers, a distance of twelve miles, but at the time of the organization of Gasper township the lower portion, four miles from Somers township line, was severed to form this new township. The reason for making the new township smaller than the rest was that had Gasper been made six miles in extent from north to south, that part of Eaton, south of Main street, would be in Gasper, and the citizens residing there would have been obliged to go three miles to attend the township elections. For this reason the township was made smaller, to accommodate these citizens and those residing in the vicinity of Eaton, on the south.

The appearance of the township is that of a prosperous and well managed one. Good pike roads extend from Eaton as a center in all directions, rendering communication with the several townships a comparatively easy matter. The soil of the townships is good, although not equal to that of some of the other townships. By a continued system of thorough cultivation the agriculturalists have succeeded in giving to their farms a prosperous and pleasing appearance. The greater part of the land has been cleared, although extensive woods are still found. Beech is the prevailing .growth, the primitive growth of poplar and walnut having almost entirely disappeared.

Several large streams flow through the township, the prevailing course being somewhat east of south. Of these the most noteworthy are Banta's fork of Twin and Seven Mile. The latter skirts the western edge of Eaton, and is noted for the excellence of the stone which is quarried from the bed of the stream.

The history of Eaton, which is given at length, embraces almost everything that can be said of the township. Being the only place of any importance in the township it is there that the history of the several businesses of the ecclesiastical and educational interests will be found.

Originally the whole of the second range of townships in Preble county was constituted for civil and judicial purpose. One township was given the name of Somers.

Washington township was established by order of the county commissioners, May 7, 1809, but not as now constituted. It contained ninety-six square miles of land, originally, that is in addition to its present territory, all of Monroe township, and the northern half of the present township of Gasper, being sixteen miles in length from north to south. It was ordered that the

On June 5, 1815, Washington township was enlarged to include all of the territory now in Gasper, Somers being curtailed to its present size. As then constituted, Washington township was eighteen miles in length, and contained one hundred and eight square miles.

In 1817 this township was diminished by the establishment of Monroe. It was then twelve miles in length, and contained seventy-two square miles.

Subsequently the township of Washington was reduced to its present limits by the establishment of Gasper. It is now eight miles in length from north to south, and contains two tiers of sections, or twelve square miles more of land than the other townships of the county.

The first election held within the present territory of Washington township was in 1808, while it was an integral portion of Somers. The officers elected that year and in the year following we give below. The annexed extract is from the township record :

"Be it remembered that on the fourth day of April, in the year of Christ, one thousand eight hundred and eight, the following persons were returned as having been duly elected as township officers in this township, to-wit : Daniel Heaton, clerk ; Isaac Enoch, John Mills, and Abraham Heaton, trustees ; John Spacht and James Black, constables ; James Brannon, Dennis Pottenger, John Goldsmith and Henry Johnston, supervisors of the highway ; William Bruce, treasurer ; Moses Dooley and John Ward, overseers of the poor ; Joseph C. Hawkins, lister; William Sellers, appraiser; George Harlan and Samuel Holliday, fence viewers.

Very little business was transacted the first year besides the division of the township into road districts and ordering a township tax levy for the purpose of opening and keeping in order the necessary roads; said levy to be equal to that imposed for county purposes.

In 1809 the officers elected were as follows : Daniel Heaton, clerk; David Sherer, Samuel Holliday, and Samuel Pogue, constables; William Steele, William Sellers, and George Shidler, trustees ; John Spacht, lister; William Steele, appraiser; John Aukerman and John Spacht, fence viewers ; Moses Dooley and John Ward, overseers of the poor; Andrew House, treasurer; John Banfill, Dewalt Bonebrake, Alexander C. Lanier, George Harlan, and Silas Dooley, Andrew House resigned the office of treasurer, and John Spacht was appointed to fill the vacancy. Daniel Heaton resigned and William Shippin was appointed clerk in his place. This year three justices of the peace were also elected, viz.: Jacob Roman, James Crawford, and George Shidler. David E. Hendricks was qualified as justice of the peace January 25, 1810. The next justice of the peace elected was Alexander Mitchell. His term, and that of David E. Hendricks having expired, Moses Dooley, and Joscph Wasson were elected in 1813 to fill their places—James Butler was elected in 1814. Later than this date the names of justices are not regularly made a matter of record, and rather than give a very incomplete hst we refrain from mentioning them. When the election of all the minor officers is each year made a matter of record, and considerable space taken to chronicle the fact that Little Berry Blackley is appointed con- stable, Peter so-and-so, and Moses such a one, and Aaron somebody, elected fence viewers or supervisors, it is difficult to tell why the election of magistrates should not be mentioned, but such is the fact.

The number of voters at the first election in Washington township is not recorded, but the poll book of the election of 1814 is given, and it may be a matter of interest to some readers to know who and how many were the electors at that time in the township, or at least how many cast votes. Just forty votes were cast this year, and the names which appear upon the record are the following: Thomas Ramsey, George Hardy, Alexander Mitchell, John Day, Richard Leeson, John Stevens, Andrew Frick, Abner Dooley, Nathan Sellers, James Crawford, Robert Rhea, Moses Dooley, Elisha Sutton, David Stevens, George Crous, George Maxwell, James White, William Custer, Phillip Largue, Thomas Harris, James C. McCamey, Walter Buell, Charles Hand, Daniel Was- ham, John Spacht, William Crane, William Sellers, Alexander C. Lanier, James Crawford, Daniel McCoy, William Salle, James Cuttler, John Hawkins, Jonathan Lyons, Samuel Ward, Jonathan Deniston and John Ward.

The first settlement in what is now Washington township was made in the year 1805. Several entries of land were made the year previous, but no permanent settlements were made until that year. In 1804 there were no buildings standing within the limits of the township. Entries had been made, but the owners of these had not yet arrived. In 1805 several settlers arrived and proceeded to erect cabins. William Bruce, the proprietor of Eaton, a sketch of whose life and settlement will be found in the history of that city, is believed to have built the first house. In the same year, 1805, John Goldsmith emigrated into the township and settled on the northwestern quarter of section four, township seven.

John Meroney, a North Carolinaan, came into the county and settled on section thirty-four, in the same year that Bruce built. Both Goldsmith and Meroney, however, were later settlers than Bruce.

In the following year, 1806, as many as twenty cabins were built in different parts of the township. Several entries had been made in the year previous, and their owners came in 1806. A few of those whose names can be ascertained are given below.

George and Andrew Dooley emigrated from Kentucky in 1806, and came to Ohio. George entered land in section eight, of township seven.

Joseph, William and Nathan Sellers, Kentuckyans, settled either in section nine or ten, of township seven.

John Ward and his son Samuel came to Ohio from New Jersey in 1806, and settled in Washington township. Samuel entered land on the east side of Rocky creek. His wife was Phoebe Sutton, originally from New Jersey, who had moved to Pennsylvania, and from there to Ohio. Nine children were born to him, of whom four survive, viz: Elizabeth (Sellers), in Indiana;

Samuel Ward was third sheriff of this county, and was at one time county treasurer. He moved to Indiana in 1829, and died in Logansport, of that State, in the year 1856.

John Shipin settled in Eaton on what is now Main street. His cabin was built near the banks of Devenmill, on the north side of the road.

In the following year, 1807, Christian Shuey settled in this township. The land he entered was in section twenty-seven, where the county infirmary now stands.

Robert and John Day emigrated from Maryland early in 1808, and settled on section twenty-four.

Henry Whitesell, a North Carolinaan, came to Preble in 1805, and settled in Twin township. After two years' stay he moved to Eaton, where he lived for one year, and finally, in 1808, he removed to section seventeen.

John Aukerman settled on the farm where Jacob Gideon now lives, east of Eaton, in 1806. He was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and about the year 1789 removed with his parents from Virginia to the vicinity of Columbia, Hamilton county, Ohio. About ten years afterwards the family settled in Montgomery county, near Williamsburgh. There, in 1801, John was married to Mary Hole, and in 1804 came to what is now Lanier township, Preble county, and settle on the stream since called Aukerman creek. He resided there two years, and in 1806 sold out to Samuel Teal, and moved to the place before mentioned, near Eaton. Here he resided more than sixty years and until his death in 1867. He had the first "corn cracker mill," a hand concern, in this vicinity, and farmers came for several miles around to get their corn ground. Of his family of thirteen children, only three are now living, viz.: Frederick, in Darke county; Solomon, in Indiana, and John on a part of the old homestead, near Eaton. John was born on this farm in 1818. He has been twice married; first to Mary Overholzer, and after her death to Hannah Wysong, who is still living.

John J. Sherer was born in Pennsylvania in 1760. He afterwards moved to North Carolina, where he married Catharine Smith, born in 1762. She died in the year 1826. Ten children were born to them, of whom Jesse is the only survivor. John J. Sherer died in 1845. Jesse Sherer, sr., son of the above, was born in North Carolina in the year 1799. He came to Ohio with his parents in 1806, and settled on section seven. In the year 1824 he married Mary Jane, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Strader, born in 1804. The Straders came to Ohio in 1809, and settled on section eighteen. In 1830 Mr. Jesse Sherer moved to the farm he now owns, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres. Mrs. Sherer died in 1873, leaving six children-Jacob, who lives in Washington township; Elizabeth (Irick), in Illinois; Mary Jane (Pense), in Monroe township; David, in Jefferson township; Amanda (Harshman), in Washington township, and Jesse in Jackson township. Jesse Sherer owns thirty acres in section six of Washington township. Jacob Sherer, eldest son of Jesse, was born in 1825. In 1847 he married Rosa Ann Gephart, who was born in Jackson township in 1827. They have had ten children, four of whom still survive. Mr. Sherer owns a fine farm of some seven hundred acres.

David Bloomfield came from Kentucky to Ohio in 1806, and settled in Butler county in the spring of that year. After raising one crop he left, and in the fall of the same year settled in Preble county, on the farm now owned by his son, Reuben. His wife was Rachel Barclay. He had seven children when he came to this State. On his entrance into this county he entered one hundred and fifty-four acres, in conjunction with James Westerfield, whom he afterwards bought out, and, at the time of his (Mr. Bloomfield's) death, he was the sole owner of the farm. Nine children were born to him, two of whom survive, viz.: David, who is living in Illinois, and Reuben. The latter was born in Preble county in the year 1809, and in 1832 married Ann M., daughter of Elihu Hopkins, born in 1808. He had four children by this marriage—Sylvester B., Edmund M., John W., and Ann (Plummer). His first wife died in 1845, and in the following year he married Amanda, daughter of Andrew Harbison ; she was born in 1822. He had five children by his second marriage, all of whom are now living. Mr. Bloomfield owns a farm of one hundred and thirty-nine acres. His three sons were in the war of the Rebellion, Sylvester and Edmund in the hundred days' service, and John W. during the entire war.

Henry Duggins was born in 1787, and in 1806 he moved to Ohio. In 1811 he married Jane Sellers, born in 1781. He first settled in Gasper township, and afterwards came to Washington township, where he settled in 1811, the same year as his marriage. His brother, William A., came to Ohio in the same year that he did. Mr. Henry Duggins had six children—Cornelius V., John F., Nathan, William, W. P., and Caroline (Miller), who lives in Eaton. The first four of these are deceased. Cornelius V. was born in Preble county in 1812. In 1834 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry M. Monfort, of Eaton, born in 1814. Five children were born to them, four of whom are still living. Mr. Duggins died in 1849 on the old homestead where his wife now resides. He left a farm of one hundred and sixteen acres. During his lifetime he had a printing offrce in Eaton, where the Register office is now located. His son, John F., was in the war, in the Seventy-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and while in Florida was taken prisoner and sent to Andersonville, where he stayed for six months. W. P. Duggins was born in 180, and in 1844 married Mary, daughter of Alexander Lugar, born about 1826. He has nine children. His farm contains about sixty-five acres.

Benjamin Neal and wife, Mary (Sellers), came from Bourbon county, Kentucky, to this township in the year 1806, and settled in section two of township seven. After residing here for a few years, he moved to New Lexington where he died in the year 1818. His wife survived him for more than forty years, dying in 1858 at the age of eighty-seven. They had four children born to them in Kentucky, viz: Sarah, Nathan, James and Jane. Of these only Nathan and James survive. After

their arrival in this county, their family further was increased by the births of Benjamin, John and Mary Ann. Benjamin married Ann Kerlin, now living. He has been associate judge, and has held the office of postmaster at Eaton since the year 1871.

Some time before the War of 1812 Colonel Thomas Woolverton came to Ohio from Pennsylvania, and settled near the Shidler farm. He was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and became a noted character in his neighborhood. He is said to have been a large, blond man, whose weight was close on four hundred. He lived and died in this township; Colonel William Woolverton and others in Jackson township are his descendants.

Adam Frase was born in Preble county, Ohio, in the year 1810, and died in 1838. He married Sarah Williams, born in Kentucky in 1801, and who died in 1872. Five children were born them, three of whom are still living —Mary, Margaret and Jesse. The latter was born in Preble county in 1830, and in 1837, married Melissa C. Shaw, born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1839. Five children have been born to them, of whom four are living.

Christian Siler came to Preble county before 1812, from Virginia. His wife was Margaret Groover. Ten children were born them, one only of whom is now living. Christian Siler, sr., the only surviving child of the above, was born in 1794, and in 1822 he married Hannah, daughter of John Niecum, an early settler of Dixon township. She was born in the year 1801. Eight children were born them, six of whom are now living. Mr. Siler owns a farm of eighty-one acres, about three miles east of Eaton, where he is living at the age of eighty-six years.

John Kincaid came to Ohio from Kentucky about 1812. He was married in 1810 to Mary, daughter of Edmund Moody. Ten children were born them, seven of whom are still living, viz.: Sarah (Gauger) lives in Somers township, Samuel in Israel, Cynthia (Runyon) in California, John M. in Eaton, Mary Kesling in Winchester, Finley in Kansas, and Barthenia (Fudge) in Gratis. Mr. Kincaid served in the War of 1812. His son John M. was born in Gasper township in the year 1821, and in 1860 married Sarah D., daughter of William and Sarah Duggins. He has two children. Mr. J. M. Kincaid owns a farm of two hundred and forty acres, about a mile south of Eaton, which he purchased in 1863. He resides in Eaton.

John Kayler was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1776. In 1799 he married Catharine Haynes, born in 1782. He emigrated to Ohio in 1814. He was almost poverty stricken at the time of his arrival, but by dint of hard labor he acquired six hundred and forty acres. He died in 1839. His wife survived him three years, dying in 1862. Three sons were born to them— John Frederick, Benjamin' and William. John Frederick was born in 1801, and married Barbara Christman, a Carolinaan. Two children were born them, Lydia Ann (Clapsaddle) and John A. The latter married a Miss Blin. Fohn F. died in 1849. William, youngest son of John and Catharine Kayler, was born in 1808. He was but six years of age when his parents came to Ohio. In 1837 he married Rebecca Delawter, who had come to Ohio from Maryland in 1822. He died in 1876, on the farm where his widow and three children still live. He has eight children born to him. John J. Kayler, his youngest son, has purchased the principal part of his father's estate. He is the owner of four hundred acres. He was born in 1849, and in 1873 married Sarah V. Dalrymple. They have one son, who is the only great-grandson of the pioneer, John Kayler.

John Stephens came to Preble county from Kentucky in 1817. He was born in 1790. In 1810 he married Margaret Fisher, who was born in 1792. John Stephens died in 1827. His wife is still living. He was the owner of eighty acres in this township, one hundred and sixty in Gasper, and eighty in Camden. He had nine children, five of whom are living, namely: Thomas, living in Gasper ; John W., in Eaton; B. M. (Acton) and N. B. also in Eaton; M. F., in Greenville. N. B. Stephens was born in 1823. In 1838 he married Miss R. F. Conger, born in 1838. He is in the grocery business in Eaton, and also owns one hundred and sixty-nine acres. John Stephens, the pioneer, served during the War of 1812, for two terms of six months.

John Risinger moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1798, and afterwards to Montgomery county. In 1819 he settled in Preble county. His wife was Sarah Ann Pauley, a Pennsylvanian. His death occurred in Lewis- burgh, in the year 1837, having survived his wife one year. Seven children were born to them, only two of whom are living, namely: Catharine (Horr), living in Lewisburgh, and Elizabeth (Sayler), in Indiana. His son Abel was born in 1803, and in 1825 married Elizabeth Sayler. He had six children, five of whom are now living—Sarah Ann (Taylor), in Washington township, Melinda (Deem), in Eaton, Caroline (Shurkey), in Washington township, Levi, in Eaton, and William in Washington township. Mr. Risinger owned six hundred and sixty-five acres of land in this township. William Risinger was born in in 1826. In 1844 he married Lucinda Pense, born in 1821. She was a daughter of Henry Pense. Three children have been born to them. Mr. William Risinger ownes a farm of four hundred acres. He was county commissioner for three terms, from 1861 to 1870. He has lived on his present farm since the year 1848.

William McGriff was born in 1793. He came to Ohio in the year 1820 and settled near Eaton. His wife, Elizabeth Hole, was born in 1792, and died in 1873. Fourteen children were born to them, of whom ten are still living, namely: James, Ellen, Lucretia, Mary, Effre Ann, Matilda, Sarah, Margaret, Charles and John R. William, Elizabeth, Catharine and Hannah are deceased.

Levin T. McCabe came to Eaton in 1826, from Maryland, where he was born in 1807.

George Peters was born in Franklin county, Virginia, in the year 1817, and in 1828 he moved to Ohio and settled in Gasper township on the farm now owned by Aaron Brower. His wife, Sophia, daughter of William Smith, was born in the year 1813; seven children were born to him, all of whom are now living. Mr. Peters is

the proprietor of a large tile factory, which burns about fifty thousand tile a year.

Lewis Marker came to Preble county in the year 1839. He was born in Maryland in the year 1807. His settlement was made in the southwestern part of Twin township, where he purchased two hundred and forty-seven acres of land. His wife, Nancy Curtain, was born in the year 1809. He has had eight children born to him. He is now living on his farm, about two miles east of Eaton, on the Eaton and Dayton pike. Ephraim Marker, his son, was born in 1841 in Twin township. He married, in 1864, Rebecca J., daughter of John and Mary Craig, born in 1843. Her parents came from Virginia to Preble county in 1837, and settled in Washington township. John Craig died in 1873; his wife is still living and resides with Ephraim Marker. Mr. Marker came to Washington township in 1878. He has had four children born to him; all of whom are living. He has a farm of two hundred and three acres in Washington township, and twenty acres in Twin.

Ezra Creager was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, November 13, 1813, his father having emigrated from Maryland to that county the year previous. In 1834 he married Delilah Ford, who was born in Kentucky, July, 1814, and in March, 1837, moved to Preble and settled on one hundred and twenty-five acres where he now lives. He started in life poor, and his subsequent prosperity has been due to his industry and prudence. He has raised a family of nine children, six boys and three girls, and it is a somewhat singular circumstance that death has not yet broken the family circle. The children are Elizabeth Ann (Risinger), residing in Eaton; Lydia Ann (House), Mary Ann (Disher) and Levi A., in Monroe township; John R., Catharine (Fudge), Angeline (Risinger), and Joseph F., in this township, and Sarah Jane (Christman) in Iowa.

Joseph F. Creager was born in Washington township, in 1847. He is the third son of Ezra and Delila C. Creager, who were early settlers of Preble county. In 1870 he married Elizabeth Ann, daughter of Buckner and Mary Ann Deem; by whom he had one child. He has a farm of one hundred and three acres of land in section ten, township eight, of Washington township, about five miles north of Eaton.

Samuel Weist was born in Camden, in 1849, where his parents now reside. In 1875 he was married to Elizabeth Lewellen, born in 1858. They have had no children. Mr. Weist lives on the farm in Washington township now owned by his father. His wife's parents reside in Dixon township.

John Tyler Sloan was born in Preble county, in 1840, and in 1871 married Hannah Woodring, who died soon after her marriage, leaving no children. Mr. Sloan has since remained a widower. He is a huckster by trade, and is extensively engaged in buying butter, eggs, etc., which he ships to Cincinnati

Jonathan Switzer was born in Virginia, in the year 1808. He afterwards came to Ohio, and in 1839 married Nancy H. Dooley. Four children were born to him by his first marriage, three of whom are still living. His wife dying in 1849, he married in 1852, Susan, daughter of John Fisher, born in 180. By this marriage he had four children, all of whom are living. Mr. Switzer has a farm of one hundred and thirty acres in this township, which he purchased in 1861. He has held several offices in the township. His son, George H., was in the war of the Rebellion, during the hundred days service.

Marks Deem, son of W. T. and Susan Deem, was born in 1846. He married Alvina Flora, who was born in 1851, and whose parents were old settlers of Jackson township. To Mr. and Mrs. Deem have been born two children, both living. Mr. Deem owns fifty acres of land and resides about three and a half miles west of Eaton, in Washington township.

M. B. Keely came to Preble county about 1830, from Butler county. His wife, Nancy S., was from Campbell county, Kentucky. Nine children were born to them, seven of whom are still living: Sarah H. (Winters), in Eaton, J. C., in Washington township ; Jeremiah D., in Gasper; Francis M., in Dixon; Nancy S. (Campbell), in Gasper; George H., in Eaton, and Mary A. (White), in Gasper.

J. C. Keely was born in the year 1833. His wife was Barbara Jane, daughter of Jonas Crumbaker, born in 1836, and whom he married in 1856. They have no children. Mr. Keely owns a farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres.

Robert Myler was born in Virginia in 1799, and came to Ohio in 1835, where he settled on section nine, township seven, of Washington township. When he came to Preble county his only possessions were a pair of horses. He entered the service of John Gardner as a teamster, and by saving what he could out of his wages of three dollars a day, he finally was able to purchase a farm. In 1825 he married Deby Athens, who was born in Maryland in 1800. Five children were born them, four of whom are now living in Preble county. His farm contains over sixty-three acres, and is situated two miles southwest of Eaton.

John I., son of William and Mary Bailey, was born in Pennsylvania, in the year 1807, and from that State emigrated with his parents to Ohio. In 1840 they moved from Perry county to Preble county. In 1843 he married Marry Ann Lehmer, daughter of Henry and Catharine Lehmer, natives of Pennsylvania, both of whom are deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were born ten children, nine of whom are still living. Mrs. Bailey is the owner of over one hundred and sixty acres in section nine, of Washington township. She is now a widow, her husband's death occurring in 18—.

Arthur Riggs, son of E. and Jane (Homan) Riggs, was born in Warren county in 1833, and in 1844 moved to Preble county, where he settled on section twenty-one, of Washington township. His wife was Eliza, daughter of Jacob and Julia Chrisman, early settlers of Preble county. Two children have been born them, both of whom are now living. He owns a farm of one hundred and thirty one acres on section six, township seven, of Washington township, about two and a half miles west of Eaton.

Jacob Franklin Ridenour was born in Union county, Indiana, in 1841, and in 1842 came to Preble county with his parents, who located near College corner. In 1861 he enlisted in the Eighty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until 1864, at which time he was discharged, on account of a wound in the left arm, received while in Georgia in 1864. His arm was amputated, and he left for home. In 1866 he was married to Miss Mary Ann Cotterman, who was born in this county in 1847. Elmer Ellsworth and Franklin Otto are their children's names. Mr. Ridenour owns sixty-six acres of land in section twenty-one.

Charles Collins was born in Wales in the year 1793. In 1812 he came to America and settled in Washington county, Ohio. In 1841 he moved to Preble county and settled in Dixon township. His wife was Mary Gavin, born in Ireland, who came to America with her parents in 1812, and settled in Butler county, Ohio. Four children were born them, all of whom are living in Preble county. Mr. and Mrs. Collins are both dead. He died in 1880, having outlived his wife three years.

Absalom G. Collins was born in the year 1835, and in 1869 he married Martha Harvey, who was born in 1848. In the year 1866 Mr. Collins served a term as township assessor of Dixon. During the war of the Rebellion he served two years in Ohio volunteer infantry and one in the cavalry. He was wounded in action in the right leg. He owns a farm of eighty-six and a half acres, in section twenty-nine of Washington township.

John Halderman, now resrding in Eaton, came to Preble (then Montgomery) county with his parents from Virginia in 1806. The family settled in Lanier township, in section thirty-two, and a sketch of their settlement may be found in the history of that township. Mr. Halderman was born in Virginia in 1805, and consequently was only about one year old when his parents removed to this county, which was then inhabited principally by Indians and wild animals. He married, in 1829, Jemima, daughter of Jacob Shidler, who settled about fourteen miles north of Eaton about the same time as the Haldermans. Mrs. Halderman was born in 181 1, and is the only survivor of twelve children. Of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Halderman, only three are living, viz.: Furguson, in Wabash county, Indiana; Mrs. Emanuel Lick, in Fayette county, Indiana; and Mrs. Dayton Kelley, on the old farm in this township.

Henry Young moved from Maryland to Ohio about the year 1805, and settled on Aukerman's creek. His wife was Elizabeth Woods. His death occurred in 1844. Eight children were born to him, of whom two only survive, viz.: Henry, living in Gasper township, and Mary (Hickman), in Lanier. His son, Adam Young died about the year 1865. He was born in 1803, and married Catharine Brubaker. Seven children were born to them, of whom six are living. Levi Young his son, was born in 1824, and in 1843 married Huldah Barnhart. He had eleven children, ten of whom survive. Mr. Young owns three hundred and forty acres, part of which lies in this county, and part in Indiana. He moved to his present farm, about three miles northeast of Eaton, soon after his marriage, and has resided there for thirty-two years.

The earliest church of which we have any information was one located in the Shidler neighborhood, in 1823, by the Christian denomination, but made a free church, because assistance was solicited and received from people of all faiths and people of none. An interesting relic of this church has been preserved, and we here present it. It is a subscription paper circulated to secure the completion of the church edifice, and reads as follows:

" We, the undersigned subscribers, obligate 0urselves to pay David V. Stephens the sum annexed to our names, in wheat, rye, corn, and pork, if paid by the tenth 0f January next ; or in good sugar, to be paid after sugar-making, at the cash price, delivered in Eaton ; or in good whiskey, to be paid by the first of February next, at cash price, delivered at the place above mentioned, in payment to aid said Stephens for a job of joiner work done by him, amounting to twenty-five dollars, in a meeting house 0n a certain lot of land obtained from George Shidler and Thomas Woolverton. Said house to be free for all Christians to worship God in,—December 3, 1823:

Although whiskey was one of the articles which the paper stated would be received, it will be observed that not one of the subscriptions was paid with it. Some progress has been made since those days, for now no church would agree to take whiskey in payment for subscriptions or other obligations.

The active men in this church were Jacob Spacht, after whom the building was called "the Spacht meeting house;" George Shidler, and Thomas Woolverton.

This church, located about five miles north of Eaton, was organized by Rev. Lewis Morgan, in the year 1819. A small log cabin answered the needs of the congregation a portion of the time for some years. Services seem, however, to have been more frequently held in private houses and barns than in this little cabin. The first trustees were John Kayler and Henry Kisling, both of whom have gone to their heavenly reward. There is no account of the organization having any other church officers than the two named above. Neither have we any account of the length of time this little band of believers

was served by Rev. Morgan, but after his resignation, services were occasionally held by Revs. Man and Espich, both of whom, of course, were Lutheran ministers.

The next regular supply we meet with is in the person of Rev. Jacob Gruber, who, to the best of our knowledge, is yet living on his farm near Ottawa, in the State of Illinois. He took charge of Zion congregation about the year 1829, and closed his pastoral duties in the year 1855, since which time it has been under the care of the present encumbent, Rev. George Baughman, with the exception of two years and five months, namely, from July 1861, to December, 1863, during which time it was served by Rev. George W. Busby.

In 1840, during the pastorate of Rev. Jacob Gruber, this congregation erected a small brick church, then considered a large one, being, in the order of time, the third brick church in the county. On the second day of October, 1875, the congregation resolved to. supplant it.

The church was completed the following year, and dedicated to the service of the Triune God on the twentieth of May.

The congregation numbers some over one hundred communicants. Its standing, financially, is good. G. Baughman, pastor.

The German Baptist church in the western part of this township was built in 1868. It is popularly known as the Beech Grove church. No facts concerning its first organization can be ascertained.

Besides the cemetery at Eaton there are three burial places in the township, some of which are under the charge of the trustees, and are open to the public. They are named and located as follows: The Sherer cemetery which was used as early as the year 1810 or 1812, is located near the center of section seven in township eight. It is in charge of the township trustees. Zion cemetery is situated near the Lutheran church of that name, in section eleven. It is under the charge of the Lutheran church, and is used by that body exclusively, unless special permission is given for burial. The Bonebrake cemetery, which is under the charge of the township trustees, is located in the northwestern quarter of section nineteen. It is open to the public.

The first burials in the township are currently reported to be somewhere in the northeastern part of the town of Eaton. At an early date some interments were made there. These were forgotten as the town increased until at present only a few of the oldest citizens can recollect anything about them. The names of the persons buried there cannot be obtained, and even the exact locality is a matter of doubt. It is supposed that they were two children of some early settler, whose absence from the township caused the name to be forgotten.

A high type of pioneer life and character was exemplified in William Bruce, the founder of Eaton. He was of Scotch descent, and in him were preserved many of the distinguishing and admirable traits of the people to whom he belonged. His father and five brothers, Highlanders, came to America during the Scottish rebellion of 1746, and located upon the waters of the Potomac in Virginia. Here the subject of our sketch was born on the twentieth of September, 1762. When he was nine years of age his father removed to Redstone, Pennsylvania, near Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh). Young William Bruce sought employment and was engaged while a mere boy as packer of goods across the mountains. In this vigorous and perilous occupation he developed that physical vigor and fearlessness as well as the sturdiness of character which fitted him for the life he was to lead. When of age Bruce abandoned the toilsome vocation at which he had for several years labored, and, with a brother-in-law, emigrated to Kentucky, where he settled in the famous Cane Ridge locality, included in the civil division of territory now known as Bourbon county. In Kentucky William Bruce married, about 1791, Frances Lewis, born in 1771. They emigrated in 1793 to Warren county, Ohio, and for six years lived near Shakertown. They then moved into Butler county, and from there to Montgomery county, from which locality they moved to Eaton, their permanent place of residence, in June, 1806. Prior to this time Mr. Bruce had prospected for lands along Seven Mile, and, doubtless, had then conceived the idea of founding a town, for he purchased three sections, or nearly two thousand acres of land, including the site of Eaton, the "Old Garrison," and all of the ground between, being led to this measure, very likely, because of the general attractions of the lands and the particularly fine mill site which the falls of the creek afforded.

Mr. Bruce built a cabin on the hill south of the site of Eaton, laid out the town, and built a saw- and grist-mill, which proved of great convenience to the settlers in the surrounding country. The village fast gained population under the proprietor's generous scheme of management, and, in a few years, almost entirely through his influence, it excelled in good morals and in true prosperity many of its young rivals which had better natural advantages. Mr. Bruce made liberal donations of land for public buildings, churches and schools, and also gave lots to a number of settlers, besides encouraging the worthy poor by various other methods. It is related of him that he seldom took any "toll" for grinding the poor man's grist, and that he frequently gave outright to those who needed it, quantities of flour, meal, and the other simple provisions which were in use among the pioneers and early settlers. He was a very humane man, kind-hearted and, if such thing is possible, generous to a fault. His life was a long and constant exercise of a very unusual energy, and his labors redounded as much to the good of the

general public as to himself or immediate family. With all his earnestness of purpose, his. unswerving devotion to the right and scrupulous regard for morality, he was original in his ideas, and refused to be governed by popular opinion—a trait of independence which gained for him

in some quarters the reputation of being eccentric, and in others created positive ill-will

He was once a member of the Christian or "New Light" church, and a very consistent one indeed, with the exception that he could not be persuaded from the idea that it was not wrong to grind corn on Sunday for the poor, and in some cases absolutely destitute settlers.Being remonstrated with by some members of the church George Bruce had three sons: William, deceased;John W., and James, in Indiana.

he withdrew from their fellowship. His creed was that the great practical good to be obtained was superior to the harm of nominally infringing a law of the church, and he continued to run his mill down by Seven Mile on Sundays as well as week days, when there was necessity for so doing, and the water was high enough. This circumstance served well as an illustration of the character

of William Bruce. He was a plain matter-of-fact man, utilitarian, very decided in his views, and direct in giving them expression. He wished to infringe upon the rights of no man, and would allow no man to infringe upon his. He preferred to do good in his own way, and always unostentatiously. His donations were usually accompanied by some provision enjoining the recipient to perform some work for himself, and thus he secured to the community and individuals the fullest benefit, both directly and indirectly, of his benevolence.

Mr. Bruce's sterling traits of character gained and maintained for him the universal and unqualified respect of the people, a fact that was evidenced when he was made the first treasurer of Preble county, and in later years by the number of private trusts reposed in him.

The subject of our sketch was a jovial man, of high spirits, enjoyed life, and was very fond of association with his fellowmen. He was good humored, fond of conversation, and a man of far more than ordinary mind.

Mr. Bruce died in 1832, and was buried in Mound cemetery, where an appropriate monument, formed in part of the grinding stones of the old mill, marks his resting place.

This pair of pioneers were the parents of nine children, nearly all of whom grew to maturity and reared families, whose members have, as a precious legacy, the good name and fame of the patriarch William Bruce. All but three are now deceased, viz: George, who for the past fifty-three years has lived in Indianapolis; Washington and James, residents of Preble county. The eldest of the family, Hannah, married Jacob Spacht; Charles, the second child, born January 15, 1796, married Eliza Lease; Hardin was born July 1, 1798. He married for

his first wife Jane Cook, and for his second Susannah Danforth (Swihort). Mary (familiarly called Polly) was first married to James Holliday, and after his death, to Levin T. McCabe; George, born July 27, 1802, married Dove Regan; John L., born November 4, 1804, died unmarried; Washington, born in 1809, married Sarah Redmond; James and Alexander, twins, were born April 15, 1815. The latter died in infancy, and the former is now living in Washington township.

Charles Bruce was the father of nine children: George, a physician, in Winchester, Indiana; Jerusha (Morgan) in Eaton; William, deceased; William C., in Eaton; Melvina (Avery) in Indiana; Mary (Danford) in Eaton; Josephine (Williams) in Indiana; Julia (Minor) deceased; and John H., physician in Eaton.

Hardin Bruce had several children by his first wife, of whom Margaret A. (Redmond) in Cincinnati, is the only one living. By his second wife his children were: John, Ervin, Mary (Deem), Frances (Deem), Catharine, Emma and Laura, all resident in Eaton.

Mary Bruce, wife of James Holliday, had four children by her first husband, viz: Sarah, deceased; Caroline, wife of the late .W. H. H. B. Minor, M. D; and Frances, wife of Alfred Denny, both resident in Eaton; and James P., deceased.

Captain David English Hendricks, the first permanent settler of Eaton and the builder of the second house in the village, which is still remaining, had a large experience of frontier life, and the story of his career even told as briefly as is necessary in such a work, as this can not fail to be of interest to those of that fast narrowing circle who remember him, and to all of the younger generation who have respect (and who among them has not?) for the brave and self-sacrificing pioneers.

Captain Hendricks was born at Middletown Point, Monmouth county, New Jersey, June 15, 1765. His father, grandfather and several others of the family, emigrated from Holland to the British colonies in America early in the eighteenth century, and through energy and foresight acquired property and position in their adopted home. At the time the Revolutionary war broke out, the father of the subject of this sketch, a large shipper and extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits, had become quite wealthy, and for the purpose of saving his property from confiscation, took sides with the British, though two of his brothers espoused the cause of the revolting colonists. Young Hendricks' mother dying about this time, he was temporarily under the care of these uncles, and so strongly did he become imbued with the American feeling, that he refused afterward to join his father in resisting the rebellion. This conduct on the part of the boy so incensed his father that he threatened to disinherit him, but he still persisted in his conviction of right and justice. When, after the battle of Trenton, the cause of the patriots began to brighten, many of the tories, at that time called refugees, sought

safety in Canada and Nova Scotia. To the latter country went the father of David E. Hendricks, accompanied by two of his sons. David refused to accompany him in his exile, and remained true to the cause of the revolutionists to the end of his life. When his father departed he left a large landed and personal estate in New Jersey, which was confiscated by the Colonial government. His patriotic uncles had spent their means in the cause of the colonies, and when the war was ended David found himself a penniless boy, with no prospect of success save through his own exertions. A few years later, led by love of adventure, and longing to take a part in the stirring affairs of the day, to have a hand in quelling the evil feeling in the west, which resulted largely from the action of British emissaries in keeping alive among the Indians that hatred which had grown out of the war, young Hendricks made his way to Pittsburgh. There he met, and became well acquainted with Lewis Wetzel, the famous borderer and Indian fighter. He descended the Ohio with him and came to the American settlement at Marietta in the first or second year of its existence, 1788 or 1789. There he met Generals McMahon and Josiah Harmer and many others, who were either already celebrated or destined to be, as frontiersmen and pioneers. Although still quite young, David E. Hendricks was well advanced physically, was active and at once began to perform valuable services as ranger and spy. He was with Generals Harmer and Arthur St. Clair in their disastrous campaign, and afterwards with "Mad Anthony Wayne," who already crowned with the laurels won in the east in the struggle against the British was still fresh and eager for further glories in the western border.

It was late in the fall of 1792, when, after consolidating at Fort Washington (or Cincinnati), the army took up its march northward into the Indian country. Hendricks was a volunteer in this expedition, which was destined to avenge St. Clair and to secure a lasting peace. He was at Fort Hamilton (on site of Hamilton, Butler county), under Major Rudolph, when the deserters were hung, and afterwards was with the advance when Fort Greenville (Danube county), was built. While stationed at this fort, during the winter of 1793-94, General Wayne desired to send an important despatch to Fort Washington, which was about seventy-five miles distant. It was necessary that the service should be performed immediately and with all possible haste. General Wayne requested that some man should volunteer for the dangerous duty. There was not a man in the ranks who did not know that the country was full of hostile Indians; that the chances of capture overbalanced those of getting safely through, and that whoever undertook the mission did it at the peril of his life. For a time it seemed as if no one could be found who was willing to assume the terrible risk. Finally, however, young Hendricks stepped forward and volunteered his services. His offer was accepted. The best horse in the fort was brought out, and after he had received the message to be conveyed, our hero mounted and galloped away, General Wayne calling after him, "God bless you and preserve you on your way," and rounds of enthusiastic cheers going up from the soldiers of the entire command. Day was just breaking as the young soldier left the fort, and before the sun had gone down he had arrived at Fort Washington and delivered his important dispatch. In those portions of the woods where there was little or no undergrowth, and the danger was supposed not to be so great as elsewhere, he followed the trail or "trace" as it was technically called, by which the army had marched through the wilderness, but in localities more exposed he picked his way through the woods, avoiding the beaten path. The weather was very cold and he suffered much while on his ride—among other discomforts frosting his feet so severely that they troubled him at intervals all of his life. The young man was promoted to the rank of corporal for the service he had rendered, and shortly after rejoining the army, on its march from Fort Greenville into the Indian country, he was attached to the dragoons. He acted as a spy, or scout, and was almost constantly in advance of the main body of the army. In the battle of Fallen Timbers, or Maumee Rapids, he took a prominent part, and acquitted himself with so much gallantry as to secure the very highest praise of his superiors. Mr. Hendricks was present at the making of the treaty of Greenville in 1795, and at its conclusion received an honorable discharge from his old and honored commander.

Elsewhere in this volume a full account of Wayne's campaign is given, and considerable space is devoted to the narration of the fall of Lowery and his men in October, 1793, at a spring near where Zion church now stands. When the survivors of this battle reached Fort St. Clair, a party of soldiers were at once detailed to pursue the Indians. The subject of this biography was one of this company. They soon struck the Indian trail, but the wily warriors knowing that they would be pursued, had separated near the headwaters of the White river, and beyond that point the soldiers did not attempt to follow them.

After the treaty of Fort Greenville Mr. Hendricks rementurned to Fort Hamilton, settling there with the intention of making it his .permanent home in the fall of 1795. About a year later—September' 10, 1796—he married Rossanna Stockhouse, by whom he had a large family of children, several of whom still survive. He built a log cabin in Hamilton, which was one of the first there. Afterwards he bought a farm, and made a clearing on what is now known as Millikin's island. It was while living here, and when one day searching for a horse which had strayed away that he came suddenly upon a party of Indians, encamped just south of the site of Eaton. He was at first much alarmed, but as the Indians had seen him, he went toward them in an unconcerned manner, and the chief whom he afterward found to be the celebrated Tecumseh, received him kindly, and wholly allayed his apprehensions. He dined at the camp, and soon after, started out to renew the search for his horse, securing from the Indians some* information which assisted him. During the afternoon he killed a bear on the land now known as the Silas Dooley farm, from which

he had a good supper. As darkness came on, he put out his fire, and walking some distance away from it, secreted himself, and went to sleep. The next morning he found the estray horse grazing in a little opening in the woods, and rode it home.

He resided for some years at the Millikin's island location, intending, as soon as the land was surveyed into sections, to settle in the valley of Seven Mile, about where the village of Camden now is. As soon as this was accomplished, and the lands were put in the market, he bought three quarter sections, including the eastern part of the present town site of Camden, and moved there in 1803. Here he remained until William Bruce laid out the town of Eaton. As soon as laid out, this point began to be talked of as the prospective county seat for a new county to be erected from Montgomery. On this account chiefly Mr. Hendricks determined to locate there, and did so in the spring of 1806. He built the second house upon the town plan, the one in which S. H. Hubbell now resides, and in it kept the first tavern in Eaton.

In 1812 the subject of this sketch, actuated by his old time patriotism, and true to his early inclinations toward activity and adventure, raised a company of skilled frontiersmen, of which organization he was appointed captain. His company was divided during the war that ensued, one detachment being stationed at St. Mary's and the other at Lorramie's station, which had years before been a French trading post. The object was to so distribute this company and others as to protect the infant settlements from the apprehended attacks of the predatory northern Indians, who adhered to the British. After serving what was called a "full tour of duty" the company returned to Preble county.

The remainder of Captain Hendricks' life was passed quietly in the pursuit of business, most of the time at Eaton. He died at the home of his son, George D. Hendricks, at Eaton, an the eighteenth of September, 1845, and his remains were followed to their last resting place, in Mound Hill cemetery, by a large proportion of the town's population.

Captain Hendricks was a hero of two wars, a pioneer who passed through the most rigid trials that beset the rugged pathway of life. All honor to him and to the noble class of which he was so high a type!

In his personal character our subject was blameless so far as integrity of action and conscientious devotion to principle was concerned, and he was a man of the utmost kindness of heart. But, withal, it must be said that he was as bitter an enemy in some cases as he was a warm friend in others. He was very positive in his likes and dislikes, was fearless, independent and outspoken. Physically he was of medium height, compactly built, very strong, as straight as an arrow, and of fine and dignified bearing.

son of David E. Hendricks, was for many years prominently identified with the interests of Preble county, both as a public man and in a private business capacity. He was born within the present town site of Camden, on the third of October, 1805, and came with his father to Eaton as a babe in arms. As he grew up he acquired, for the time, a good education, which he constantly improved by reading and observation, until he was, without doubt, as well an informed man as there was in the county. During the early years of his manhood he taught school, lectured on English grammar, gave instruction in writing and, at the same time, kept up a diligent course of self-improvement. By a process of natural selection he entered the field of politics, for which he was well fitted by the variety of his knowledge, his unlimited understanding of human nature, and the possession of nearly all of those qualities which combine to render a man popular. He was first elected auditor of the county, then representative, and finally State senator. He was also chosen as sheriff of the county, and after he had in a measure retired from public life, he was appointed postmaster, and once elected justice of the peace. His military title was gained in the service of the United States, while he was assisting in dissevering Texas from Mexico. He fought side by side with General Samuel Houston, and Colonel Sidney Johnson, and gained the highest credit for bravery and good judgment. When not engaged in politics Colonel Hendricks followed agriculture and dealing in lands. He seemed to have remarkable foresight in conducting the latter business, and had at one time acquired a large property, and was, in fact, considered as quite wealthy. But through the unsuspecting qualities of his nature, and his desire to constantly assist others, he was financially ruined. The payment of security debts reduced his large means to a mere pittance, and in his old age he was obliged, or, at least, considered it necessary, to begin anew, and did so, opening a land agency in the west, which he has conducted with much of the energy and activity which were characteristic of him in his earlier years. He has succeeded, we learn, in establishing a good business.

Colonel Hendricks is in many ways a very remarkable and admirable man. He has always been noted for his strong will and the cheery elasticity of nature with which he recovers from misfortune and bears up under adverse circumstances which would make most men despondent. He is naturally of a fine disposition, inclined to look upon the bright side of life, and is noted for the encouragement which he has lent others by the sturdy healthfulness of his own nature. He has always been noted for his practical benevolence and has done a vast deal of good by bestowing such gifts as were within his power upon the worthy poor, as well as by encouraging the improvement and progress of individuals by his words. Socially he has been looked upon as a model of geniality and good humor, and being a fine conversationalist, has ever been a favorite and one of the leading spirits in whatever circle he mingled.

Colonel Hendricks was married September 4, 1839, to Miss Almira Harbaugh. The offspring of this union were ten children, six of whom, with the parents, are now living.

the pioneer merchant of Eaton. The subject of this biography was the first merchant in Eaton, and his career as a business man extended through the period from 1806 to the time of his death in 1870. Beginning with a small stock of goods in a cabin situated in the woods, with the scattered pioneers of a large section of country, and roaming Indians for his patrons. he continued his mercantile career, through all of the varying conditions of development, down to the present era of multiplied advantages and enlarged scope. His long life linked the era of western beginnings with that in which the full and grand results of pioneer labors were flourishing in fruition.

Cornelius Van Ausdal was born in Berkeley county, Virginia, on the second day of October, 1783. About the time that he attained his majority he came west and spent the winter with his brother Peter, who had shortly before settled in the wilderness, within the present limits of Lanier township. The young man was fascinated with the wildness and independence of western life, and saw an opportunity to make a successful start in this region. The severity of the labor necessary to establish oneself in the new country, the danger to be encountered, and the difficulties which must be overcome, did not deter him from deciding to return to Ohio and make it his permanent home. With this object in view he returned east in the spring of 1805, and brought into exercise, probably for the first time in his life, that business tact which was to ensure his success. He bought a quantity of furs and skins, and packing them upon horses, through the sparsely settled region of southern Ohio, and across the mountains, sold them in Baltimore. Returning to his home in Virginia he obtained his father's sanction of his plans, and taking a load of wheat sold that too in Baltimore, and so increased his means to such a sum as was necessary to carry out his plans. He bought with his money a wagon load of plain, substantial goods, the few homely staples of pioneer life, and slowly made his way west again. This was in the early summer of 1806. The town of Eaton was then being laid out by William Bruce, and was already talked of as the prospective seat of the county, which must some day be erected from the western portion of Montgomery. Young Van Ausdal had customers before he could open a store, and sold them goods, directly from the Canastoga wagon in which they were transported from the seaboard.

He opened the first store in the town in a small log cabin which stood on the ground now occupied by the Reichel house, and about a year later removed to the south side of East Main street and located upon a lot which is now included in the court house grounds, and which was purchased by the county commissioners some years ago from Daniel Stetler. The second load of goods for the store was hauled from Cincinnati, then a small village, by John Goldsmith, who was gone upon the trip from eight to ten days. This second stock of goods, about all that could be drawn over the primitive road through the woods by a four-horse team, cost not far from one thousand dollars. Van Ausdal was energetic and industrious as well as shrewd. He made a reputation for strict integrity, and soon became very prosperous. He adopted his method of doing business to the needs of his patrons. There was very little money in the county, and he was accustomed to receive in exchange, and on account, the various products of the county, such as surs, skins, beeswax, maple sugar, gensing and pearlash. With these articles, or the money which they brought, he purchased more goods, and as the settlement of the county increased, he enlarged his trade, until within a few years he was considered one of the heaviest business men in southwestern Ohio. His reputation won for him more than a mere local business, and for many years he carried on a wholesale as well as retail trade. During the early part of his career as a merchant, Mr. Van Ausdal dealt largely with the Indians who dwelt in or roamed around southwestern Ohio, and that part of Indiana adjoining. Among them was Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee war chief, with whom the store-keeper was as intimately acquainted as any white man in the county. In his old age he frequently related anecdotes of this character more famous than any other among the redmen. In 1810 Mr. Van Ausdal was appointed United States deputy marshal, and in that capacity took the first census of Preble county. In the War of 1812 he was a paymaster of the army and a large amount of public money was disbursed by him. He faithfully discharged his duty, and upon the close of the war when his accounts were examined at Washington, they were allowed without delay or expense. In the year 1819 he was elected to the legislature, and represented his county to the utmost satisfaction of his constituents. About this time Mr. Van Ausdal owned The Western Telegraph, a weekly paper published at Eaton, which he afterward sold to William Tizzard, with whom he became acquainted at Columbus, and induced to settle in Eaton, and purchased the paper. A strong, personal friendship sprang up between these men, which was only severed by death. In 1822 the pioneer marchant erected the large brick building on the northwest corner of Main and Barron streets, which he occupied up to the time of his death, and which is now the home and business place of his son.

Mr. Van Ausdal's energy was not confined to one branch of business, large though that branch was made. He was engaged in various enterprises and was a broad, public-spirited man who was constantly seeking to benefit the community as well as himself. Benevolence was a very large component part in his composition. In the early years of the settlement he often used his means to save a poor man's home, advancing money to meet payments due the Government, and which if not met would imperil possession. He usually allowed the beneficiary to repay him in produce of some kind, and always gave

ample time for the satisfaction of the claim. In such cases he never exacted a mortgage upon the property, and so correct was his knowledge of human nature that he was seldom ever deceived by extending his generosity in that way to one unworthy. In the sale of goods he credited largely, and, undoubtedly, lost thousands of dollars by his generous impulses, but still he made money all of the time, and doubtless solaced himself with the reflection that he could afford an occasional loss for the sake of assisting the needy. To a young man in whom he had confidence, struggling in a laudable pursuit, he would often extend aid, when the only channel through which he could possibly be reimbursed was the success of the enterprise which he assisted, at some uncertain time in the future. It has been said of him by one who has had ample means of knowing whereof he affirms, that Mr. Van Ausdal forced fewer collections by distress than any merchant in the west in proportion to the magnitude of his business. His reputation for honesty and fair dealing was unexcelled. It was this reputation, constantly extending as the country filled up with settlers, which drew to him the enormous business from which he accumulated an independence, and which made him the first merchant of the county, and of an even wider section of country. His character in a general way was admirable, as it was in a business sense. He was rigidly moral in all the relations of life and thoroughly and conscientiously religious. He was very familiar with the Bible and with the tenets of Christianity, and frequently discussed questions of doctrinal theology with great clearness, applying them to the practical affairs of life. He was well informed, though uneducated in the collegiate sense of the word, and a remarkably easy conversationalist. Fond of association with his fellow men and full of genial, kindly humor, he was bright, sunny, and hopeful to a degree that was refreshing to his acquaintances and very beneficial, doubtless, to himself. His mental faculties remained almost absolutely free from impair even in the last few years of his life, when physical decay became the premonition of death. He died August J0, 1870, loved and revered by all, and leaving to his aged helpmeet and children the priceless legacy of an untarnished name.

Martha (Bilba) Van Ausdal, wife of Cornelius Van Ausdal, who is still living, was born in Virginia, November 12, 1793, and removed with her parents to Kentucky at an early date. She was married to Mr. Van Ausdal on the twenty-fourth of July, 1812, and was the partner of his joys and sorrows for fifty-eight years.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Ausdal were the parents of ten children, of whom one died in infancy, unnamed. John, the first, born October 16, 1814, and Sarah, born January 27, 1817, are deceased, as are also Julian, born June 29, 1824, and Rufus Leavitt, twin brother of Harvey Buell, born June 1, 1830. The children now living are Lucinda (Donohoe), born September 3, 1818; Isaac, born February 13, 1821; Harvey Buell, Emily (Gould), born February 17, 1835; and Sarah Ann (Nelson), born May 29, 1840.

Colonel Samuel Hawkins, soldier in the Indian wars and in the War of 1812, and one of the foremost pioneers of Preble county, was born in the year 1762, in Botetourt county, Virginia. At the age of sixteen years he enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and continued in the service until the close of the war. He married Christian Worthington, the sister of a companion-at-arms, and without returning to his home joined a company of emigrants, and removed to the territory of Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon county. There he lived the life of a pioneer, toiling hard amidst all of the discomforts and dangers of the frontier; hunting occasionally, and sometimes fighting Indians. He was with Colonel Logan's detachment on the way to the Blue Licks to cooperate with Todd, Triggs and McGary, but unfortunately the battle was precipitated before the arrival of Logan's command, and theirs was the melancholy duty to bury the dead who fell in that hard-fought encounter. He was also engaged in several Indian campaigns in the territory now included in Ohio, and assisted in the destruction of the Piqua towns, where he narrowly escaped with his life. An Indian jumping up from his place of concealment in some high grass, leveled his gun at him, and at such close quarters that its muzzle almost touched Hawkins' face. The soldier saw his enemy, however, and in time to drive the rowels into his horse's side. The animal sprang forward just as the powder flashed in the leveled gun, bearing his rider out of range. His life was saved, but the comrade upon the opposite side of him, a captain Irwin, was unfortunately killed by the discharge. Soon after Wayne's treaty was made, Colonel Hawkins removed to the Ohio territory and settled on the Miami river, in Butler county. In 1799 he removed from that locality and became a resident of the spot on which Germantown, Montgomery county, was built. He was the first settler in that neighborhood. In 1806 he sold out and moved to Eaton. He built here a tavern or hotel on the lot adjoining the public ground on the east, and was "mine host" there until the War of 1812 broke out. After the surrender of Detroit, the Indians under Tecumseh, besieged Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison, and an express being sent to General Harrison informing him of the danger that menaced these posts, he called for volunteers to join him on his way to relieve the siege. On the eighth of September he was joined by Colonel R. M. Johnson with two hundred men from Kentucky, and on the ninth at Shawnee crossing of the St. Mary's river, was joined by Colonels Hawkins and Adams with eight hundred men from Ohio. From this point they made their way as fast as was possible toward the unprotected forts. Colonel Hawkins was in the advance, and when he had reached a creek about nine miles from their destination, he called a halt for the purpose of feeding and watering the horses. Just as he was stooping to pour out some oats for the fine animal which he rode, the head of the Kentucky battalion arrived in view, and a soldier in the front ranks, unaware that the other troops had

halted, catching sight of the colonel through the brush, supposed him to be an Indian, and fired upon him. The rifle ball was true to its mark; it struck Colonel Hawkins upon the right shoulder, and inflicted a terrible wound, from the effects of which he died two years afterward (1814) at the house of his second son, John J. Hawkins. His wife's death occurred about a year before the colonel's. And so at an early day passed away this pair of brave, true pioneers. Their deaths were untimely. Had they lived to the age which their robust constitutions indicated that they might, they would have gained some reward, perhaps, in quiet years towards life's natural close, for the pains and privations through which they passed in helping to redeem the wilderness and make it a safe planting ground for peaceful, prosperous, happy homes. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, who grew to manhood and womanhood.

A beautifully, clear, concise manuscript, admirable alike in composition and chirography, has afforded the facts we have presented in regard to Colonel Samuel Hawkins. It was from the pen of Joseph C. Hawkins, now, and at the time he wrote it, in his ninety-seventh year. He was born in the year 1784, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and came to Ohio with his father's family. He married near Germantown, Montgomery county, and in the year 1806 came to Eaton, where his oldest child, the late Mary Gray, was born, the same year, one of the earliest births in the town. Mr. Hawkins' wife, Isabella Pouge, died about the year 1820.

John J. Hawkins was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1789, and was seventeen years of age when he came with his father to Eaton. He was married to Nancy Sellers, July t0, 1810. In 1830 he removed to Jay county, Indiana, in which he was the second permanent settler. He died there in 1832.

Benjamin W. Hawkins was born in 1792 in Kentucky. He moved from Eaton to Putnam county, Indiana, about 1833, and died there when about seventy- five years of age. He married Ruth Sellers.

Samuel, also born in Kentucky, married Elizabeth Calvin. He died in St. Louis in 1871.

Byrd Hawkins, born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1802, died in Eaton in 1853. His wife was Diana Heath. The daughters' names were Sarah, Rebecca and Eleanor. The first mentioned was the wife of Andrew Fouts. She died in Terre Haute, Indiana, aged abont eighty. Rebecca married Andrew Tharp. She died in Henry county, Indiana, aged forty-three years. Eleanor, wife of William Smith, died in Eaton in 1869.

Samuel Tizzard was born in England, in the village of West Clinnock, upon the sixteenth of September, 1787. In 1801 he came with his father and other members of the family to America, and located at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

About two years after his arrival in this country, young Tizzard, then about sixteen years of age, was apprenticed to the printing trade, in the office of the Carlisle Herald. He faithfully served his time; obtained a thorough and practical knowledge of the " art preservative," and soon after he had attained his majority went to Philadelphia. He at first obtained a position as pressman in the large printing establishment of Matthew Carey, then, and for many years after, the leading book publisher of the United States. About six years of Mr. Tizzard's life were spent in the Quaker city, either in the employ of Matthew Carey or another publisher. In 1814, he joined in the popular western emigration and came to Ohio. In the meantime he had become a naturalized American citizen and had been married. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Brackin, who resided where Mr. Tizzard first became acquainted with her, at Wilmington, Delaware.

Mr. Tizzard located on a small farm about six miles from Chillicothe, in the beautiful and fertile valley of the Scioto, and lived there about six years—a portion of the time working his farm and the remainder setting type in the office of one of the Chillicothe newspapers.

In the fall of 1819, Mr. Tizzard was chosen representative of Ross county in the State legislature. While serving in that capacity he met Cornelius Van Ausdal, who had been elected the same year to represent the people of Preble county, in the same body. Circumstances conspired to bring them together as roommates during the 'session of 1819-20, and their acquaintance ripened into friendship. On the adjournment of the legislature in the spring of 180, Mr. Van Ausdal invited his friend to visit, Eaton, with a view of examining into its suitability as a place for establishing and conducting a weekly paper. A press and printing material had been brought to the village about 1816 by a Mr. Blackburn, but the paper which had been brought into existence had led only a weak, sickly life, and after many viscissitudes the press had passed into Mr. Van Ausdal's hands.

The subject of this sketch was so well satisfied with the general appearance of Eaton, and so confident that he could make a success of publishing a newspaper here, that he returned home, and moved his family to the town which was to be his future home, as early as was possible. That was some time in the spring of 1820, and in the early part of the summer following he issued the first number of The Eaton Weekly Register, his sole assistant being a young man named John Scott, whom he brought with him.

Mr. Tizzard continued to publish the Register until the year 1827, when he, in connection with Dr. D. D. Hall and the Rev. Jonathan Kidwell, commenced the publication of The Star in the West, a religious paper which proved a permanent institution, became a Universalist organ, and is now published in Cincinnati.

The publication of both papers was continued by Mr. Tizzard from the same office until 1830, when he sold the Register and removed the Star in the West to Cincinnati.

The subject of our sketch remained in Cincinnati only about three years, and then removed to Philomath,

Union county, Indiana. He remained there several years, and after making several other changes of location and disposing of his interest in the religious paper, returned to Eaton in 1839, and again became proprietor of the Register, which he continued to publish until a short time before his death, when he was compelled by the infirmities of old age to give up active occupation. As the editor for many years of the Register, Mr. Tizzard exerted a potent political influence, and assisted in advancing nearly all of the wise and beneficent measures undertaken in his time. He enjoyed the utmost respect of the people of Eaton and Preble county, both as a man and journalist. At the session of the legislature during 1827-28 he was appointed one of the associate judges for Preble, and faithfully and creditably served in that capacity until his removal from the county. He was an admirable man in all of the walks of life, active, earnest and conscientious. In early life he was an Episcopalian, and in his later years a. Universalist. He was a very zealous champion of this faith, and sought by every means in his power to bring it before men for their careful consideration and adoption. It was chiefly for the more effectual propagation of Universalism with which he hoped to benefit as many of his fellow-men as his influence could reach, that the publication of the Star in the West was undertaken.

Judge Tizzard departed this life on the nineteenth day of May, 1844, and his remains were buried in Mound Hill cemetery.

He was the father of a large family of children, of whom four attained or approximated maturity, viz.: William B., James, Samuel, and Jane. Of these two only are living, the first and the last named, the former in Eaton and the latter in Camden. James removed to Burlington, Iowa, and was postmaster there, and publisher for several years of the Hawkrye. Samuel died while the family was resident in Wayne county, Indiana.

William B. Tizzard, the well known citizen of Eaton, and eldest son of Judge Samuel Tizzard, was born in Philadelphia, December 6, 1813. He was between seven and eight years of age when he came with his parents to Eaton.

He has been a resident of the village ever since except during the years, when the family was in Cincinnati and Indiana. He obtained a common school education, and at proper age, learned the printer's trade, which he has ever since followed until 1873. After the decease of his father he became the editor and proprietor of the Register, and maintained in his management of the paper its former high standard. In 1850 he took as a partner, William F. Albright, and from 1860 to 1873 J. S. Moms was associated with him in the proprietorship of the Journal. In the year 1873 he sold out and purchased an interest in the Preble county bank, in the business of which he has since then taken an active part.

Mr. Tizzard, following in the footsteps of his father, is an Universalist in religion, and a Republican in politics, having been connected with the party from its organization, and previous to its formation being a Whig. He takes only such interest in politics as is consistent with good, intelligent citizenship, and has always shunned rather that sought political preferment.

He was married in 1844, to Amelia, daughter of Henry and Huldah Hice, of Preble county. She is still living, and the mother of five children, three of whom have several years since reached maturity, and gone forth into the world—Samuel B., the eldest, and William E., the third son, are both dentists and graduates of the Philadelphia college; the first located at Dayton, and the latter at Minneapolis, Kansas. James H. is at Portland, Indiana, and Benjamin F. and Emma Elizabeth are at home.

The venerable Judge William Curry has been a resident of Preble county since 1808, and of Eaton since 1824. He was the son of Matthew Curry, of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1792. His father removed to Campbell county, Kentucky, in the spring of 1796, and died in Cincinnati two years later, at the age of thirty-three years, leaving a widow and two children, of whom the subject of this biography was the eldest. When sixteen years of age young Curry removed to Butler county, Ohio, and there learned the tanner's trade, which he carried on for thirty-six years. Very soon afterward he removed to Preble county,,and located in Jackson township, where he entered a piece of land. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and served a portion of his time under General William Henry Harrison. In June, 1813, he married Sarah Van Ausdal, a sister of Cornelius Van Ausdal, and began housekeeping in the rude cabin which he had erected on his land, moving into it when it had no chimney or door, a blanket being hung up in the door space, and another over the window opening. In the spring of 1824 he removed to Eaton and erected a tannery, which he operated until 1844, when he sold out. He was also engaged for several years in the pork trade in Hamilton, but retained his residence in Eaton.' In addition to various local offices which he filled, such as justice of the peace, mayor of Eaton, etc., Judge Curry was one of the petitioners for the charter of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad, and after the organization served as one of the directors, and also as treasurer. From 1836 to 1844 he was one of the associate or "side" judges for the court of common pleas of Preble county. He was chosen to the general assembly of the State of Ohio in 1845 and represented the county in that body for one term. In 1850 he was appointed a deputy marshal of Ohio, and filled that office for several years.

Judge Curry has been a consistent member of the Presbyterian church for a great number of years, and for more than a quarter of a century has been honored with the office of elder. He has been twice elected a delegate to the general assembly of the denomination he is connected with—in 1855 to Nashville, and in 1866 to St. Louis. Politically, Judge Curry's affiliations were with the Whig party, and when the Republican organization was ushered into being he became naturally one of

its warm adherents, and has ever since taken a keen interest in its progress. though engaging in no active work as a politician. Judge Curry is now in his eighty-ninth year, and has been for seventy-two years a resident of Preble county, and for fifty-six a citizen of Eaton. Few men in the county are more widely known in this part of the State, and none more favorably. His long life shows a record without stain. His character is absolutely unblemished; and ignoring the fact that he has not been lavishly favored by fortune, that he has not attained great fame so eagerly sought for by men, and too often recklessly, and without a proper regard for higher things, ignoring these facts we can say what is obvious to all who know the man, that his career, viewed in the best light, has been a true success. Beginning life as a poor, fatherless boy, he pushed ahead fearlessly, always obeying the call of duty, in little things as well as large, laboring earnestly and conscientiously at whatever his hand found to do, "running with patience the race set before him." His sterling qualities have made him hosts of friends; in fact converted every acquaintance into an admirer, and even those who may have differed with him in matters of opinion could not fail to accord him respect for his always evident sincerity and the positiveness of his character, which sometimes has made him seem severe, though it has only been the complement of a complete and catholic charity. Judge Curry's wife died April 29, 1870. Their children are Mrs. Josiah Campbell and Mrs. Maria Smith, of Eaton, and James H. Curry, of Alexandria, Preble county.

The man whose name heads this sketch, has been one of the most active of Eaton's merchants, and as prominent a promoter of public improvements and the interests of his fellow men, as the county affords. He was the son of Amos and Zipporah (Jones), McCabe, who Were respectively natives of Delaware and Maryland, and was born in the latter State, Worcester county, on the twenty-third of December, 1807. His father was a farmer, a much respected citizen, and an exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died at the early age of thirty-nine years. Of a family of two sons and four daughters, Levin T. was the eldest son. The first eighteen years of his life were spent upon his father's farm, and all of the schooling he ever had, amounting altogether to about three months, he obtained during such intervals as he could make in the hard work of farming. In the spring of 1826 he started for Ohio, and after nearly one month, reached his destination, having walked nearly all of the way from Maryland. He arrived in Eaton on the tenth of May and obtained a situation as a farm laborer with William Bruce. Three years later he became the partner of Charles and George Bruce, sons of his first employer, in the business of buying and fattening cattle for the eastern market. He began his mercantile career in 1835, opening, in company with Mr. Henry Montfort, a "general store." He continued in this business, and with the same partner for six years, and then confining himself strictly to the grocery business carried that on until 1858. During the two subsequent years he dealt exclusively and extensively in grain, and in 1860 retired to private life. It is said of Mr. McCabe that so prudently and cautiously did he conduct his business that for thirty-seven years he never had a mortgage or incumbrance of any kind upon his property, and still he passed through some periods of severe vicissitude. With all of his conservatism and prudence Mr. McCabe was original and enterprising, and very bold whence he had once decided upon any line of action. He conducted business on a large scale, both in the grocery line and in his grain and provision buying. It may further be said that he was one of that class of men who kept abreast or even ahead of the times. That was a natural consequence of his pushing, energetic nature. He was the first merchant in Eaton who received a stock of goods over the Eaton & Hamilton railroad. He was one of the most highly esteemed merchants who ever lived in the county, and one of the most useful men. His prominent identification with public improvements is shown by the fact that he contributed more in donations, and subscribed more stock in railroads and turnpikes, in proportion to his means, than any other citizen of the county, though there were many who reaped greater advantage than he from those improvements. -Besides holding several other local offices Mr. McCabe was for nine years a member of the town council of Eaton, and from 1827 to 1853, in various ways connected with the old military organizations of the village and county. Politically he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party. He was a warm supporter of the old organization, and of the one which grew out of it, and has always taken a keen, though entirely unselfish and non-politic interest in the success of the party with which he has been identified. He was married on the thirteenth of December, 1832, to Mrs. Polly Holliday, the widowed daughter of William Bruce. She died in 1873.

The subject of this sketch, and of the portrait which elsewhere appears, is a native of Preble county, and the representative of one of its earliest pioneer families. His father, William Campbell, originally of Greenbrier county, Virginia, but reared to manhood and educated in Kentucky, came to Preble when it was still a portion of Montgomery county, in 1807. He settled in Lanier township, then unorganized and unnamed, and known simply as township five, range three. There he continued to reside and carried on the tanner's trade, farming and stock dealing, the remainder of his days, known throughout the neighborhood and county as a man of substantial and sterling worth. In the War of 1812 he was captain of an infantry company. He died June 16, 1837, and as he was born July 27, 1780, was fifty-six years, ten months and nineteen days of age. His wife, Catharine Van Ausdal, whom he married in 1809, was a

native of Berkeley county, Virginia, and sister of Eaton's pioneer merchant, Cornelius Van Ausdal. She outlived her husband many years, dying at the age of seventy three years and nineteen days, upon the third of February, 1859. This worthy pair of pioneers were the parents of five children, who attained manhood or womanhood, viz.: Maria, the widow of Francis A. Cunningham, esq., now a resident of Eaton and about seventy years of age; James, the present mayor of West Alexandria; John Isaac, who died in 1838, and William, who resides upon the Dayton turnpike, two miles east of West Alexandria.

John V. Campbell, our subject, was born December 27, 1815. In his childhood and early youth he attended the primitive schools of the neighborhood, held in log cabins, by poorly paid teachers, who did their best in spite of their lack of advantages, to give the young minds of the time the rudiments of an education. The light by which the boys and girls of sixty years ago conned their lessons did not fall through transparent glass as now, but struggled into the small, rudely furnished school-room through weather-stained greased paper windows, and there was a difference between the quantity and the quality of the intellectual light of those days and these, corresponding to the solar luminosity. As he grew older, young Campbell attended the Eaton school and others, and attained sufficient knowledge to enable him to hold the position of teacher when only sixteen years of age, at a school in Lexington. His brother-in- law, Francis A. Cunningham, being county clerk, he was, while yet a mere youth, employed as his deputy, and in that position began to obtain ideas of the practical affairs of life and of human nature. While in the county clerk's office, he began-such was his taste for study and improvement—to read law in the office of Messrs. McNutt & Hawkins—the same office, by the way, which Judge Campbell now occupies.

Under the administration of President Tyler, in 1841 he was appointed postmaster at Eaton, an office which he held for about ten years. While serving in this capacity, he also attained to considerable legal business, such as conveyancing and collecting government claims for soldiers of 1812 and the Mexican war. He was a busy man all through this period, for he kept a book store, and in addition to this business and the attention he gave to the mails and to the work of collecting and preparing legal papers, he had charge of the first express and first telegraph offices established in the town. During the Mexican war and the war of the Rebellion Judge Campbell served in the pay department, for considerable periods, both alone, and under his brother-in-law, Francis A. Cunningham. Although prepared to formally enter the list of att0rneys many years, he did not seek admission to the bar until 1852. Very soon after his admission, he was elected probate judge—the first ever elected in the county. After serving one term, he was re-elected and acquitted himself with the highest credit. Although a young man for the position, he bought to it marked ability of exactly the kind that was needed in the place, and he has always been regarded as one of the best probate judges the county has had. His first election was in opposition to the regularly nominated Whig candidate, and at a time when the Whig vote in the county had a majority of about nine hundred. Although Mr. Campbell was a Democrat, he not only overcame the Whig party's surplus of votes but was placed upon the bench by a majority of three hundred. In 1858 he accepted the offer of a law partnership with Judge W. J. Gilmore, but the latter being elected to fill the vacancy in the common pleas court, Judge Campbell, in the following November, formed a partnership with J. H. Foos, esq., which continued three years, when his association with Judge Gilmore was renewed, and continued until February, 1867, when a partnership with Judge James A. Gilmore was formed, which was terminated by the election of the latter to the common pleas bench in 1879. During the past twenty-five years Judge Campbell has followed without intermission the practice of his profession. In 1873 he was elected county prosecuting attorney, and served one term in that office. Outside of his strictly professional capacity Judge Campbell has been almost as active as within it. He has taken a deep interest in all movements for the public good, whether material or moral, educational or religious, and in most of them has been either a leader or a practical hard worker. Never shirking care or responsibility where it seemed to be his duty to bear them, yet never seeking self-advancement or popularity through his service.

He has been an efficient member of the Eaton school board for a long term of years ; since 1841 secretary and treasurer of the Preble County Bible society, and always an active supporter of temperance organizations, and has wielded a valuable personal influence in the direction of reform of every nature. He is regarded as the father of Odd Fellowship in this county, having in 1842 become a member of the order, and in 1844, assisted by four others, organized the first lodge in Eaton, of which he was the presiding officer. Twelve more lodges have since come into being in the county, as the issue of this one. For a number of years the order has been represented in the grand lodge of Ohio by Judge Campbell. He has also been a member and earnest supporter of other benevolent societies, and much of the good he has accomplished, though by no means all, has been attained through these orders and organizations. The true conception of fraternity, the fellowship and brotherhood of man has been with him one of the main controlling motives of life. He believes that through the exercise of the spirit of forbearance, charity, good-will and practical assistance, which is inculcated by close association, and intimate friendship, the greatest benefits have been secured and in future will accrue to humanity. Friendly feeling toward his fellow men, based upon the broadest kind of a foundation, has ever been a conspicuous trait in Judge Campbell's character, and therein doubtless lies, in a large measure, the secret of the success he has achieved in life, and of his almost universal popularity. None who know him could doubt the perfect sincerity of his attachment to those who surround him, or fail to see that it was thoroughly spontaneous, general, and free from taint of selfishness.

It is not going beyond the bounds of what we know to be true, to say that he had rather have a poor man for a friend than a rich man, and that because the outcome of his own feeling would be of greater value in the former than the latter.

Beginning life as a school teacher, Judge Campbell's love for children was early formed from practical knowledge of the purity and pathetic needs of their natures. He has ever been one of the warmest friends of the little folks, and in various ways through his official position in connection with the schools, and by private acts has done much to alleviate some of the asperities and increase the amenities of their lives.

Judge Campbell is a man of broad scholarship and catholic taste. One of the kind who are ever adding to their store of knowledge. He is at sixty-five not content with subsisting upon what he has gained during his many years of reading and observation, but both in his profession and out is constantly acquiring that which is fresh and stimulating, and renewing his interest in the life and spirit of the time. Never having been confined intellectually to his profession, he has a strong taste for general literature and belles lettres, which is the result of many years of varied reading and thinking. With all of his love for literature and keen interest in affairs, he has not allowed his professional work to be slighted, and has never placed himself in such attitude as to deserve or obtain the reputation of being in any sense impracticable, as too many professional men do, who have aims to accomplish or tastes to gratify outside of their profession. The controlling characteristic of equipoise is very prominent in Judge Campbell's mental and moral constitution. He is in nothing extreme, vioplent or illiberal, but on the other hand conservative, careful and thoroughly conscientious. Such being his mental and moral qualities, he holds the unqualified respect even of those who may differ with him in matters of opinion. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat. Religiously he is a firm adherent of the Christian faith, and is consistently controlled by it, as the writer has heard him express himself thus:

Judge Campbell married in 1842 Ann E., daughter of Robert Martin, then one of the judges of the court of common pleas in Preble county. The offspring of this union were three sons and eight daughters, of whom four of the latter are living, viz: Francis A., Eva Belle, Mary S. and Birdie Gertrude. The names of the children deceased are William H., Robert E., John B., Belle Maria, Anna, Emma, and Sarah M.

The life of Finley, the pioneer of Methodism, had a breadth and a far reaching influence which entitles it as fully to a place in State as in any county history. But if any county has a claim upon Finley as a citizen, which exceeds all others, that county is Preble. It was in Eaton that he spent the last years of his life, and all that was mortal of this sturdy and strange character reposes in the village cemetery. His life was one full of activity and adventure, and his characteristics essentially those of the pioneer.

His ancestors were Europeans, and his father, Robert W. Finley, a Presbyterian minister, who became a famous pioneer in Kentucky and Ohio, was born in Pennsylvania. He married, in 1780, Rebecca Bradley, and in the following year, in the month of July, the subject of this biography was born. In the fall of 1788 the family settled in Kentucky. Here the elder Finley became a popular religious leader, and figured prominently in the history of the Cane Ridge (Bourbon county) settlement. From this locality he led, in 1796, a colony to Chillicothe, upon the Scioto, one of the earliest established towns in Ohio. He first set all of his slaves free, and they accompanied him, by their own choice to the Northwestern Territory. Young Finley had studied while in Kentucky, and had become quite familiar with Latin and Greek, though, strange to say, he had never achieved any more than the merest elementary knowledge of the English branches.

On coming to Ohio he concluded a course of medical study began in Kentucky, and in the fall of 1800 was admitted to practice. The profession being unattractive to him, he did not follow it with any diligence or regularity, and soon after becoming entitled to practice he made an expedition to Detroit with a drove of cattle. After returning he spent the greater part of the winter in hunting and roaming through the woods, and it was about this time that the serious thoughts of how to employ the life that lay before him began to occupy the young man's mind. It seems that he thought over the advantages and disadvantages of many modes of life, and finally resolved to follow none of the ordinary occupations, but to become a denizen of the woods, a hunter. He married in 1801 a young woman named Hannah Strane, and soon after settled in the midst of the forest, in what is now Highland county. Here he resided, following the life of a hunter and pioneer farmer, until 1809. In 1801 he had been converted at a huge camp-meeting which he visited at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, and from that time until 1809 he felt, says he, "an almost constant calling to the service of God." After much consideration as to his duty and his ability, upon the solicitation of some of his friends and the urgent request of the Rev. John Sale, the presiding elder, he consented to go into the

field as a travelling preacher in Scioto circuit. And so the backwoodsman and bear slayer became a Methodist itinerant.

He was not regularly licensed until August, 1809, when the quarterly meeting conference was held in connection with a camp meeting on the farm of one Benjamin Turner, in the picturesque valley of Paint creek, not far from Chillicothe. He was first assigned to what was known then as the Will's Creek circuit, which was computed to be four hundred and seventy-five miles around. Its route was as follows :

" Beginning at Zanesville, and running east, it embraced all 0f the settlements on each side of the Wheeling road, on to Salt creek and the Buffalo forks 0f Will's creek, thence down to Cambridge and Leather- wood, on Stillwater, thence to Bartlesville and Morristown, thence down Stillwater, including all of the branches on which there were settlements, thence up the Tuscarawas, through New Philadelphia, to One-leg Nimishilling, thence up Sandy and on to Carters, thence to Sugar creek and down said creek to the mouth, thence down the Tuscarawas to William Butts, and thence down to the mouth of White Woman, thence, after crossing the river including all of the settlements of the Wapotomica, down to Zanesville the place 0f beginning."

After laboring for a year in this circuit, Mr. Finley was transferred to Knox circuit, and after that, until 1816 his field of labor was in the several circuits of eastern Ohio. After that, Finley had charge of the Ohio district, including eight circuits, and embracing the whole State of Ohio and portions of New York and Pennsylvania.

In 1819 he was appointed to the Lebanon district, which extended from the Ohio river to the lakes, and included the whole of Michigan. Soon after the Wyandot mission became Mr. Finley's peculiar field of labor, and he remained there until 1827. He succeeded so far in Christianizing the Indians as to build up from a small church organization a society which numbered nearly three hundred members.

Upon leaving the mission of Upper Sandusky, Finley again was appointed to the Lebanon district, and after that served at Cincinnati station, and upon the Chillicothe and Dayton circuits, and finally (in 1842) to the Zanesville circuit, which was the one where he had first served. He remained there two years, and then at the request of the directors of the Ohio penitentiary was appointed chaplain of that institution, a position which he retained three years and a half. In 1850 his health becoming feeble he took a superannuated relation, but a year later was made effective, and appointed to Yellow Springs. After that he had charge, in his seventy-second year, of the Clinton street church in Cincinnati.

Soon after he came to Eaton, and in this place he died, September 6, 1856, in the seventy-oneifth year of his age. His only daughter, Eliza H., was the wife of the Rev. John C. Brooke, who at that time was living in Eaton.

Finley was eight times elected a delegate to the general conference. To his labors as a pastor and presiding elder he added the preparation of his "Autobiography," "An Account of the Wyandot Mission," "A Volume of Sketches of Western Methodism," "Life Among the Indians," and "Memorials of Prison Life." He was a man of brusque, rough manners, but of great energy of character, of the most fervent piety. He was a powerful preacher, a popular manager of camp meetings, and other great assemblies "at which," says a Methodist writer, "by the power of his eloquence, as well as his tact and knowledge of human nature, he swayed the masses like trees swept by the winds, calmed the rage of mobs of ruffians, and moved along the path of his duty through that great and growing region of country (Ohio) as a prince and master in Israel."

The father of the subject of the sketch, the Rev. John C. Brooke, was for many years a resident of Eaton, and is buried in Mound Hill cemetery. He was a native of Virginia, and came from that State to Warren county, Ohio, as early as 1820. For a number of years he was engaged with the Rev. James Finley in teaching and caring for the Wyandot Indians at the mission in their reservation. Finley labored among them as a missionary and Brooke, who was also a minister, was under Government appointment most of the time that he was with them, and acted as agent, and assistant in all temporal affairs. Mr. Brooke came to Eaton in 1835, and was a resident of the place all the rest of his life. He died at the home of his son in Cincinnati, during the cholera epidemic of 1866. His wife was Eliza H., the daughter and only child of the pioneer of Methodism, James B. Finley. She died in 1863, aged about sixty-five years.

Mr. and Mrs. Brooke were the parents of eleven children, viz.: James B., deceased; Charles F.; Catharine R. (Taylor), now in New York ; Eliza Jane, deceased; Hannah M. (Clawson), a resident of Indianapolis; Sarah Ann (Roberts), in Wisconsin ; Clifford N. (Fleming), resident at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati ; William M., in Denver; John C., in Cincinnati; Thomas M., who was killed in the army; and Ashbury Y., deceased.

Charles F. Brooke, the subject of this brief biography and the representative of the family with whom the people of Preble county are best acquainted, was born November 17, 1826, in Warren county, Ohio. Nine years later he came to Eaton with his parents, and in this place resumed his education, and afterwards taught school, as he did also at Castine. In 1851 he went to Cincinnati and took charge of the mailing department of the Methodist Book Concern. Two or three years later he went into the employ of J. M. Bradstreet & Sons, commercial agents, and helped to build up their business, succeeding signally, and ultimately having entire charge of the firm's Cincinnati branch, a position which he held from 1855 to 1867.

He was a member of the Cincinnati city council for six terms, and resigned one year before his last term was to expire. He was also a member for a number of years of the board of health, and was in that position during one of the cholera seasons which proved so disastrous to the Queen city. As a member of the council he led the opposition against the Gas company, which resulted in the lowering of the price of gas from the exhorbitant figure of three dollars per thousand feet to

something like one dollar and seventy-five cents; a result which saved to the municipality, and to individuals, millions of dollars. From 1864 to 1874 Mr. Brooke was engaged in the business of carrying on a private banking house, being associated with W. M. and John C. Brooke, under the style of Brooke Brothers, and occupying the rooms now occupied by the Fourth National bank, on the corner of Walnut and Third streets. After dissolving partnership, Mr. Brooke, in 1867, came to Eaton, and soon after took charge of the First National bank, in which he and his brothers became largely interested, buying out the interest of Valentine Winters and others. Mr. Brooke acted as cashier for a number of years but of late has been the president of the bank. Mr. Brooke, and his brothers, W. M., and J. C., in 1873, bought out Joseph Walters & Company, and organized as a joint stock concern, the Excelsior School Seat Manufacturing company, which for several years conducted, an immense business in Eaton. Our subject was also the president of this company.

Mr. Brooke is a Republican in politics, and though he never has been a place seeker in any sense of the term, was much talked of in connection with, and came within two votes of being nominated for Congressional candidate in the Fourth district. He has been for many years connected with the Methodist church, and the society in Eaton, through his liberality, was aided materially in erecting the handsome church which it now occupies

Mr. Brooke has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1849, was Susan A. Matthews, and his present wife, to whom he was joined in 1872, Mary E. Martin. Mr. Brooke has eight children living, four as the offspring of each union.

was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the twenty- second day of September, 1832, and was the son of John and Barbara (Cochran) Heistand. Mr. Heistand's grandfather was a native of Germany, and came to this country when a very young man. His father and mother were both born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, the latter being of Scotch descent, and came to Ohio in 1818, locating near Dayton, where they carried on farming. The subject of this biography obtained a very fair education in the common schools, and there gained some practical ideas of business as a clerk in the store of his brother Jacob, in Dayton, and as teller in the Dayton bank. When of age, in 1853, Mr. Heistand came to Eaton, and took the position of cashier in the Preble county branch of the State bank of Ohio, which he retained until the institution passed out of existence in 1864. While connected with this bank he was also the agent of the United States in the sale of its "seven and three-tenths" bonds. When the old State bank wound up its affairs, Mr. Heistand became one of the organizers of the First National bank of Eaton. He was made cashier, and served in that capacity four years, when he was relieved from business cares by a vacation of five years, which he improved principally in travelling. During this period he visited among other interesting localities, the famous scenes of California and the West in general. In October 1873 he opened the Preble County bank, under the firm name of H. C. Heistand & Company, which he is still conducting. Mr. Heistand is one of the best known business men in Preble county. As is shown by the statements we have here made he has been activly engaged in Eaton for a period of twenty-seven years, with the exception of five years intermission. During these years he has gained the universal respect and confidence of the people, and is highly regarded as a solid, quiet, and conservative citizen and man of affairs.

Mr. Heistand was married in September 1869 to Nancy Margaret, daughter of John P. Acton.

John Du Sang, the father of the subject of this notice, was a native of Bordeaux, France, born about the year 1755. When about nine years of age, he came to America with his parents who settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1798 John Du Sang removed to Washington county, Maryland, where he died in May, 1838. His wife was Elizabeth Moyier, of the same county. She died near Hagerstown in 1837, in her forty-eighth year; having been the mother of nine children. Joseph A. Du Sang was born in Hagerstown, Washington county, Maryland, October 31, 1817. His education was obtained in the common schools, and at an academy of his native town. At the age of thirteen he left home, and made his way to Dayton, Ohio, where for something over a year he found employment as a clerk in a dry goods store. For two years subsequently he filled a position as clerk in the old Dayton hank. He then severed his connection with the bank, and went to New Orleans, and after a brief clerkship in a commission house, entered the State bank of Louisiana as teller He remained in the employment of that institution until' 1851, when he went to Jackson, Mississippi, where he purchased a plantation, the management of which engaged his attention for the next two or three years. During his residence there, in 1853, Jackson was stricken with the yellow fever scourge, which was terribly fatal in its effects. Nurses were in great demand, and almost impossible to procure. Mr. Du Sang was one of fourteen gentlemen of Jackson, who formed themselves into an association to attend .the sick so long as iheir services should be needed. Out of their number eleven took the fever and died. Mr. Du Sang, although stricken with the disease, was one of the survivors. Of his connection with this event, the Mississippi State Gazette of September 23, 1853, said:

We desire particularly to return the heartfelt thanks of the community to Mr. Du Sang, paymaster of the New Orleans railroad. He is a stranger in 0ur midst, scarcely known by sight to a score of our people. No persuasion could induce him to leave 0n the appearance of the epidemic, but although from the up-country and unacclimated here, he was one 0f the first to volunteer to nurse the sick, and has done so assiduously every night since. A more noble-hearted, gener-

ous man does not breathe, and so unostentatious is his goodness that we know we offend him by giving publicity to his name."

After assiduous attention to the sick and dying for thirty-five days and nights, Mr. Du Sang was taken down with the dreadful scourge, but after much suffering, finally recovered. In the summer of 1854 he returned to Ohio; located in Eaton, and became teller in the Preble county branch of the State bank of Ohio. In November following, he became a stockholder in the bank, and in 1864, was one of the organizers of the First National bank of Eaton, which supplanted the State bank. In 1868 he sold his interest in the bank, and for nearly a year afterwards, was engaged in the settlement of a Dayton estate. In the fall of 1869 he returned to Eaton, and again entered the bank as bookkeeper and assistant cashier. In March, 1879, he was elected its cashier, which position he still holds. He owns a fine plantation of two thousand five hundred acres in Pike county, Mississippi. Mr. Du Sang is a man of superior business ability; is exceptionally careful and exact in all of his transactions, and possesses the entire confidence of every one who knows him. He is unmarried.

Although only a resident of Eaton a few years, the citizens of the place feel themselves largely indebted to the minister of the Gospel whose name stands at the head of this article. They have a high regard for his character and cherish lovingly his memory.

It was principally through the energy and zeal of the Rev. Alexander Meharry that the Methodist Episcopal society of Eaton secured their beautiful house of worship, unrivaled by any in the State or in the western country, except a very few in the large cities, and one of the chief, if not the leading architectural 0rnament of the village. As the agent who brought about the existence of this superb church, and no less from the fact that the last years of Mr. Meharry's life were spent in Eaton, and that he was laid away to his final rest in Mound cemetery, the people of Eaton have a peculiar interest in the "good old preacher," and it is fitting that there should be preserved for them the record of thelife which came to the close of its earthly chapter in their midst.

Alexander Meharry was born in Adams county, Ohio, October 17, 1813, and died in Eaton, November 10, 1878, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and the thirty-seventh of his ministry. His father, Alexander Meharry, was born in Ireland, August 5, 1763; married Jane Frances, May 7, 1794, and soon afterward came to America; tarried four years in Pennsylvania, and in 1798 emigrated to Adams county, Ohio. He possessed remarkable energy and industry, and was a zealous Methodist. He was instantly killed by the fall of a tree while returning from a camp meeting in 1813, and his wife was left with a family of seven sons and one daughter to care for unaided. The youngest of the children, the subject of this sketch, joined the Methodist church at

the age of fourteen. He was reared on a farm, with only pioneer school advantages.

The first eight years of his majority were spent in a store at Ripley, Ohio, where he made such a reputation for integrity that he obtained the loan of one thousand five hundred dollars on no other security than his individual note. In September, 1841, he joined the Ohio conference as an itinerant preacher, and subsequently rode the circuits of Blendon, Bainbridge, Dunbarton, Deer Creek, and Frankfort, in Ohio, and Maysville in Kentucky. In September, 1848, he became the first Methodist city missionary in Cincinnati, and stood heroically at his post during the ravages of cholera in 1849-50. In September, 1850, he was appointed financial agent of the Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware, and with the exception of one year gratuitously given as agent to the Springfield Female college, served six years. In September, 1857, he became pastor at Franklin, Ohi0, where in two years he built a church edifice, besides liquidating some debts. In 1859 he took charge of the church in Middletown, and in 1861 became pastor of Finley chapel in Cincinnati, and was among the first of the clergymen who advocated the employment of colored troops in the Union war.

From 1863 to 1866 he was stationed at Wilmington, where he erected a church edifice. He then became agent of the Wesleyan Female college at Cincinnati. The old building on Vine street had been sold for debt, and a new structure would be erected. He succeeded, although many obstacles opposed, in securing the erection of the present building, which is an ornament to the city and a monument to Methodism. In the fall of 1868 he became pastor at Eaton, and remained three years, within which time the present house of worship was built. In 1871 he was appointed presiding elder of the Ripley district, and in 1872 transferred to the Springfield district. In 1875 he settled in Eaton. In 1877 the Athens Wesleyan university, of Tennessee, conferred upon him the degree of doctor of divinity. In 1878 he was appointed financial agent of the Delaware Wesleyan university. During a service of thirty-seven years he travelled nearly forty-five thousand miles, received into church connection over three thousand persons, and raised as agent for colleges and churches over one hundred thousand dollars. Since 1874 he had held superannuated relations to his conference. His long and active service had given him a warm place in the hearts of the multitudes for whom he had labored.

He was twice married. August 14, 1844, he married Ann Ransom, a niece of Governor Worthington, of Ohio. She died June 22, 1847. On May 1, 1856, he married Eliza Ann Ogden, of Clark county, Ohio.

Joseph Deem, the father of the well-known family in this township, was for many years a resident of Preble county and one of the best known and most universally respected citizens, and a man of true worth and the

most exemplary character. He was born on the twentieth day of September, 1801, in Campbell county, Virginia, and removed to Ohio with his parents in 1810. They settled near Middletown, Butler county, and there Joseph Deem continued to reside until 1836, when he was led to make his home in Preble county. Previous to his coming into this locality, December 18, 1823, he was married to Frances (commonly called Fanny) Torr, who was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, November 1, 1800. On coming into this county Mr. and Mrs. Deem took up their residence on the farm about two miles northwest of Eaton, where James Deem now lives. Here Joseph Deem remained and labored all of the rest of his life. He died February 14, 1873, and his wife January 15, 1874. Both were consistent and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Deem was converted August 12, 1821, at a camp-meeting held on Indian creek, Butler county, and joined the church three days thereafter. His wife became a church member in 1823, and was therefore connected with the denomination almost as half a century, and during that time were always to be

found among the active and earnest supporters of the several organizations with which they were identified, and especially of the church at Eaton, in which they enjoyed fellowship over thirty-five years.

Mr. Deem was, politically, a Democrat, during his whole life time, and it may be remarked in this connection that all of his sons are adherents of the same party to which the father belonged.

Joseph Deem and wife were the parents of nine children, and it is a noteworthy fact that of this large family, the youngest of whom is thirty-six years of age, not a William, who was born September 26, 1824, has been twice married, the first time to a Miss Kenzie, and after single death has occurred. The oldest of the family, her death to his present wife, Sarah Harshman. Buckner Deem, born August 19, 1826, married Mary Kesling; Mary Ann (Fall) was born April 28, 1828; Maria (Surface) was born April 2, 1831; John Deem, born June 6, in 1833, married Malinda Risinger; Jane (Spacht) was born November 13, 1835; Francis M. Deem, born May 26, 1838, married Flora Dunlap; George Deem, born June 13, 1841, married Fanny Bruce; James Deem, born

August 2, 1844, married Mary Elizabeth Bruce, born November 25, 1849, sister of the wife of George Deem, and daughter of Hardin and Susannah (Swigart) Bruce. They were married on Christmas evening, 1868, and have one child, Charles Hardin Deem, born February 14, 1870. The residence of Mr. and Mrs. James Deem, which is upon the old homestead of the Deem family, is

marriage, four of whom survive. His first wife died in January, 1854. In December, 1856, Mr. Albright married S. Virginia Stroud, daughter of Rev. Asa and Mary E. Stroud, of Eaton. She was the mother of four children, three of whom are living. Mrs. Albright died January 31, 1683. Mr. Albright has always been a printer, having begun his apprenticeship when he was sixteen years of age. His career as a publisher began in 1854, when he entered into partnership with W. B. Tizzard, with whom he had served the most of his apprenticeship. He has had a share in the Eaton Register since 1854, and became sole proprietor of that paper January 1, 1874.

the fourth and youngest son of Smith and Nancy (Kercheval) Charles, was born in Dixon township, June 20, 1815. In 1853 he married Mrs. Sarah E. Jackson, widow of the late Dr. W. M. Jackson. She was born in New Hampshire, in 1823. Although raised a farmer long as her husband. Both were communicants for one boy he decided to enter professional life, and accordingly commenced the study of law with J. M. U. McNutt in Eaton. After the death of his legal friend Mr. Charles

went to Tennessee, and finished his course of reading at Pulaski, in that State. In 1840 he was admitted to the bar. After his admission to legal practice he entered the office of Brown & Topp, where he remained only a few months before returning to Preble county. In 1841 he was licensed to practice in Indiana, but not liking his profession, gave up all ideas of further practice.

A few years after quitting the law he entered the journalistic field, and during the years 1845-7, inclusive, he was connected with the editorial department of the Eaton Register, and in 1848 bought the Hamilton Intelligencer, which in 1849 he sold, in order to go with Secretary C. K. Smith to St. Paul, Minnesota, at the organization of the territory. Officiating as clerk of the secretary he wrote up the earliest records of that territory, and called the roll of the first legislature that ever assembled in that commonwealth. Returning from Minnesota he was, in 1850, appointed to a clerkship in the pension office at Washington, from which office he was removed during the Pierce administration, at the instance of one Pierce of Preble county. Subsequently he was engaged in land agency in Iowa, and later served some twelve years in business connected with the Pennsylvania railroad. For a time he made his home in New Paris, but is now a resident of Eaton. In 1880 he again entered the editorial field and assumed editorial control of the Eaton Reister, which position he still retains. He has, during his whole life, been a newspaper man, and when not engaged in editing a Republican journal has always been a faithful contributor to its columns. He excels as a political writer, and being well informed and endowed by naturewith a forcible and clear style of writing, is entitled to no mean place among American journalists.

WILLIAM F. ALBRIGHT is of German ancestry. He was born in Preble county, March 20, 1823. He was married in 1844 to Elizabeth Riner, of this county. Five children were born of this

editor of the Eaton Democrat, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. December 17, 1831. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Rice) Gould, both natives of the same State. When a boy of thirteen years of age the subject of our sketch began to learn the printer's trade, which he has since followed, with some intermissions. He was one of thirteen children, and his parents being poor the young man was obliged to support himself, and had no opportunities to secure an education except those which he made for himself. The printing office, however, is a good school, and in it the young man not only made his living, but gained a practical education. In April, 1850, Mr. Gould, then aged eighteen, came to Eaton, and was employed for about two years in the office of the Eaton Democrat, then under control of his brother, W. C. Gould. He afterwards purchased the Lebanon (Ohio) Citizen, and in the summer of 1855 traded offices with his brother and became proprietor of the paper which he at present owns. He was married January 15, 1855, to Emily, daughter of Cornelius Van Ausdal. Two daughters were the result of this union, Edith L., and Mary V. Gould. In 1855 Mr. Gould retired from the Democrat, and for some twelve years he engaged in mercantile business and speculation. In the latter field of enterprise he lost all of his property and became seriously involved in debt. In December, 1870, he again became connected with the Democrat, which has since then had the benefit of his constant attention, and with good results, as is shown by its increased circulation and improved order of excellence. Mr. Gould has been for several years one of the trustees of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, and has been honored by being called to various official positions in the gift of the town in which he resides.

The first representatives of the Acton family in Eaton were John Acton and his wife, Nancy Buchanan Acton. The former was born in Maryland, October 23, 1781. He married his wife in Rockbridge county, Virginia, where she was born October 31, 1773. This couple, with their three children, located in Eaton in the year 1816, and the husband and father of the family immediately opened a little shop and began making hats—a trade which was much in vogue in early years, and considered one of the best a man could engage in. John Acton was, undoubtedly, a very good hatter, for he was successful in a pecuniary point of view and continued the business many years, in fact until a short time before his death. His shop, a small frame structure, stood precisely upon the spot now covered by the parlor of John P. Acton's home, and the house in which he lived is still in existence, incorporated with his son-in-law's substantial residence which, by the way, improved this site and the general appearance of West Main street as long ago as 1840. Mr. Acton was a very hard working, active man, and saved by frugality much of that which his industry earned. The whole object and purpose of his life, however, was by no means saving a fortune, or even accumulating an independence. He was one of the most liberal men in the community, and liberal alike with his time and money. There was no measure of public good undertaken which did not recerve the support of his labors and influence and means. He aided every church society which erected a house of worship in Eaton, during his citizenship, and it was very largely through his generosity that the "old public church" on the banks of Seven Mile, was brought into existence. He was not a member of any church, but a very moral man, one who by good works made manliest the possession of a noble theory of life's responsibilities and duties. His wife was a communicant of the Presbyterian church, and that society received from the family a very liberal support. It was one of Mr. Acton's deepest grounded beliefs that the highest good, morally, and therefore materially, was to be secured through education, and he therefore took an interest in school matters which was so constant and so intense as almost to become a noticable eccentricity in his nature.

No pains that he could take to improve the condition of the schools, or indirectly aid education, seemed too much for him, and no outlay of time or money too great. He was always active in looking out for the advancement of educational interests. For many years he was a school director, and during several terms was president. of the board. In early years he was a lieutenant colonel in the militia, and not long before the close of his useful life was honored with the appointment by the governor of the office of associate judge of the Preble county court of common pleas. He was never an aspirant for public place; had he been he could, doubtless, have held almost any position within the gift of the county, for. he was personally very popular and held in high esteem for his strict integrity of character, as well as his devotion to the public good. Politically he was a Democrat.

He died July 6, 1849, of cholera—one among the many of Eaton's worthy men who were cut down that year by the terrible epidemic. His wife died January 31, 1835.

This estimable pair of pioneers were the parents of three children, all of whom were born prior to the Acton's immigration to Ohio. Mary R., widow of Samuel Robinson, is the oldest. She was born October 14, 1809, and is still living, and located near Eaton. Her sister, Isabella Hall, wife of S. H. Hubbell, was born September 4, 1813, and is now a resident of Eaton. John P. Acton was born September 4, 1812, and is, consequently, in his sixty-ninth year. As boy and youth he had but very little schooling, a result caused in part by his eyes failing him, and in part by his rapid development to a condition of usefulness in his father's shop. Learning the hatter's trade at the age of fifteen he was soon placed in charge of the shop, his father stepping aside from the management to attend to other affairs, but retaining his interest. Young Acton only followed hat making for four or five years and 'then went into the grocery business, which he followed for seven years—from 1836 to

1843—a portion of the time alone, but the greater part in association with his brother-in-law, S. H. Hubbell. His store was where Andrew Coffman now conducts business. Soon after discontinuing the grocery business Mr. Acton engaged in the line which now occupies his attention. He began the business of buying and selling and manufacturing lumber. In 1849 he built a steam saw-mill just west of Seven Mile creek. He has been generally prosperous in conducting business at this mill, and quite uniformly so from year to year, with the exception that the property was burned out in 1864. The mill was soon re-built, however, and the business has since been carried on uninterruptedly. Of late years Mr. Acton has made a specialty of manufacturing hard lumber, walnut and poplar, and has conducted this enterprise on a large scale. His mill does but very little custom work. Speculation has not engaged Mr. Acton's attention. The independence to which he has attained, financially, has been reached by the slow, sure, laborious processes of legitimate business. Many other enterprises than his extensive lumber manufacturing have received a share of his energy and activity. In 1872 he was one of four men who established the Preble County bank, a deservedly successful institution. He has been for many years a very influential promoter of public improvements, and has done much toward giving Preble county its railroad and turnpike advantages. He was a director of the Eaton & Hamilton railroad in the early years of its existence, and is now one of the leading movers in the project of securing the construction of the Lake Erie & Southwestern railroad.

John P. Acton's name has become, during his long career in business almost a synonym for industry and integrity. He possesses the most substantial kind of ability and thoroughly practical business sagacity. His energy and enterprise have been something quite remarkable. His life has been characterized, too, by those qualities of kindness and benevolence which ought al. ways to be found in connection with ability and successfulness. Politically Mr. Acton is a Democrat. He has never sought political preferment, and we believe that with the exception of being deputy to the county auditor, and adjutant to the militia, during his early years he has not held public office. His taste has not been in that direction and he has been too busily engaged with other affairs to take any further interest in politics than is the absolute duty of the citizen.

Mr. Acton was married May 16, 1841, to Burthenia M. Stephens, his present helpmeet. Six children were the fruit of this union, viz: John Thomas, deceased; Nancy Margaret, wife of H. C. Heistand; Harvey H., deceased; Joseph W., Mary Isabella, and Elizabeth Ann, deceased.

Mrs. Acton was the daughter of John and Margaret Stephens, who came to Preble county in 1817, from Bourbon county, Kentucky, and located near Eaton. They were people very highly regarded among the early settlers. Both were members of the Eaton Methodist Episcopal church when it had only half a dozen communicants. Mr. Stephens was clerk of Gasper township at the time of his death in 1827. He was born October 29, 1792, in Kentucky, and his wife, who is still living, was born in Maryland, February 12, 1794. They were the parents of nine children, of whom five are living : Margaret (Honey), Lucy A. (Ware), Joseph L., and William D., are deceased. Those living are: Thomas F., in Gasper township; John W., in Eaton; Burthenia M. (Mrs. Acton), and Nathaniel B., in Eaton, and Martin F., in Greenville, Ohio.

was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 14, 1831. His parents were Sacket and Mary Anne Reynolds. He graduated at Woodward college, Cincinnati, in 1851, and at the Theological seminary of Princeton, New Jersey, in 1855. He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian church in 1856, was at Pleasant Run, Ohio, from 1856 to 1861; at Cumminsville, Ohio, from 1861 to 1869; at Lithopolis, Ohio, from 1870 to 1873; at Eaton, Ohio, from 1875 to the present.

He married Miss Charity P. Hunter, December 16, 1857, at Pleasant Run, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs Reynolds have had six children, of whom four survive—Clarence G., Mary E., Walter H., and Grace A., born respectively in 1859, 1861, 1864, and 1868. Clarence G. is a member of the senior class at the University of Wooster, Ohio.

Mr. Reynolds' ancestors, on his maternal grandmother's side, whose maiden name was Dumont, were French Huguenots, who were persecuted by the State church for their religious opinions, and some of whom fled to America. Mr. Reynolds still possesses two French Bibles, which belonged to their ancestors, and which are not only treasures to the antiquarian, but are mute witnesses to the nobility of soul which will not sin against conscience at the command of tyrants. Mr. Reynolds' maternal grandfather was Captain Moses Guest, who served in the Revolutionary war, and was a man of great purity of character, and some poetic talent. He formerly lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and came to Ohio with his family in 1817. He died universally lamented in Cincinnati, in 1828, aged seventy-two.

Mr. Reynolds' father, Sacket Reynolds, was one of the earliest printers in Cincinnati, coming to that city in 1806. He was long connected with the newspaper press in Cincinnati, respectively in the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, the National Republican, the Cincinnati Commercial, and the Cincinnati Press. He died in Cincinnati, aged seventy-one, in 1867.

John Quinn, who was the ancestor of the family of that name in Preble county, emigrated frcm the North of Ireland, about the year 1750, and settled in the State of New Jersey. Some time after his arrival in America he married a Miss Crooks, by whom he had ten children, seven sons and three daughters, five of whom, four sons and one daughter, ultimately coming to Ohio. The sons who came to Ohio were: John, Robert, James, and

Joseph C.; the daughter was Elizabeth, she married a man by the name of Bennett ; they moved to Indiana at an early day. John Quinn, the original immigrant, died in Maryland during the Revolutionary war. His sons, with the exception of Joseph C., were all born in New Jersey, but it is only necessary to speak of those who came to Preble county.

Of these, John Quinn, the oldest, was born about the year 1757; he removed from Maryland, or Virginia, to Georgia, where he married, and thence to Ohio; he entered the northwest quarter of section thirty-one, town six, range three east, and also the quarter north adjoining the same. He settled on the first named tract and remained there until he sold it and moved to Delaware county, Indiana, about the year 1834. While in Preble county he was for many years a justice of the peace of Twin township, and married quite a number of persons, as is shown by the old records. He died about the year 1839.

Robert Quinn, the second in age, who came to Ohio, was born February 24, 1761. He removed, while a boy, with his father's family to Maryland, where he remained, with the exception of a short time that he lived in Virginia, until he removed to Georgia in the year 1789. He served for a short period in the Federal army, during the Revolutionary war, and was married about the year 1787 to Elizabeth Lacey, a sister of General John Lacey, a provincial officer of that rank, holding his commission from the State of Pennsylvania, and captain in the Continental army during the struggle for independence. The Lacey's were of Quaker stock, having emigrated from the Isle of Wight, in the year 1699, and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Quinn, was born on the fourth day of December, 1760. She was a woman of more than ordinary ability and information for the times in which she lived, being well read in Homer (in translations, of course) and in the works of many of the best authors of her time. Robert Quinn and his young wife, after the birth of their oldest daughter, Jane, removed from Maryland to Georgia in the year 1789. They settled near Wrightsborough, in Columbia county, and here the remainder of their children were born. From Georgia they removed to Ohio in the year 1805, settling first near Germantown, in Montgomery county. From there the following year they came into what is now Lanier township, Preble county, although it was then all Hardin township, Montgomery county, and rented a farm about one and a half miles south of where West Alexandria now is. The same year he entered the southeast quarter of section thirty-one, town six, range three east, and shortly after the northeast quarter of section eighteen, in the same township and range. This latter he sold to a friend of his, William York, who emigrated from the same neighborhood in Georgia to Ohio, a few years later. To the first named quarter he removed with his family in February, 1807, and the day known among the early settlers as "cold Friday," was passed in an open camp. This farm he, with his son, opened up and it still remains the property of his descendants. Many hardships were endured, but game was plenty (as were Indians also, though not at that time hostile), and the family larder, which was often scantily filled from the newly enclosed fields, was bountifully supplemented from the surrounding forests. He was a natural mechanic, a wheelwright by trade; he could make, and did make, almost every article used on the farm, from a wagon to a pair of shoes. He and his wife continued to reside here until his death, April 10, 1844, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His wife survived him a little over five years, dying in August, 1849.

Of his family, Jane, the oldest, was born at or near Georgetown, in the present District of Columbia, in 1788. She was married about the holidays of the year 1813 and 1814, to Finney Hart, and settled in Dixon township, Preble county. In 1849 she, with her husband and such of her family as were not then married, moved to Peoria county, Illinois, when she died about the year 1863. John Quinn, the oldest son, commonly known as General Quinn, was born near Wrightsborough, Columbia county, Georgia, January 6, 1790, and was in his sixteenth year when the family came to Ohio. Like his m0ther, he had a great fondness for reading, and although his early education was limited, by the poor facilities that there were for acquiring knowledge in those days, yet by improving all that came in his reach he became finally a man of very good general information. On him in the beginning devolved a g0od part of the work of the farm, as he was the -oldest son; and as years went by his younger brothers, James and Robert, grew up and married, leaving him still there. He served for six months as a solicitor in the War of 1812, in Captain J. C. Hawkins' company of Ohio militia, and about the year 1824 he was elected general of the militia of Preble county, from which he obtained the title by which he was ever afterwards known. He served for one term as a member of the State board of equalization of real estate, and in the year 1830 was elected sheriff of Preble county, which office he held for two terms, retiring about January z, 1835. In the fall of the year 1837 he was elected a member of the State house of representatives, holding this office for one term only, after which he held no public office. A Whig and a Republican in politics, although very decided in his convictions, he seldom entered, at least during the latter part of his life, into political arguments with his opponents, and never into heated controversies. A member during the latter part of his life of the Disciples or Church of Christ, and for many years an elder in that organization, he was with his religious as with his political convictions, always firm, but always ready to concede to others every right which he demanded for himself. He was married July 19, 1831, to Mary Ann Pottenger, a daughter of Thomas Pottenger, one of the pioneers of Butler county, in which county Mrs. Quinn was born, January 2, 1804. To John and Mary Ann Quinn five sons were born, all of whom reached manhood, and three are still living. During the time he was sheriff, General Quinn lived in Eaton. After the expiration of his term of office he returned with his wife and one son to the farm, where his father lived, and there his other four children were born. On this

farm he continued to reside until March, 1872, when his age and infirmities compelled him to quit all labor; and as all of his living children had chosen other professions than farming he returned to Eaton to reside with his older living son, Robert W. Quinn, a lawyer of that place, with whom he and his wife continued to live until his death, which took place February 12, 1873. His wife survived him only two weeks, and the funeral discourse of each was delivered by Elder Levi Purviance, an aged minister who had united them in marriage nearly forty-two years before. He himself, who was nearly of the same age as General Quinn, survived them only about two months, dying in the following April. Thomas Pottenger Quinn, the oldest son of General Quinn, was born in Eaton, Ohio, July 6, 1832. He graduated at Farmer's college in 1853, and was studying law in Eaton in the summer of 1854, when the cholera broke out in the hotel at which he was boarding. He returned to his father's residence in Twin township on Saturday, but was taken ill with the disease on Sunday evening July 23d, and died the following day.

Robert Wilson Quinn, the second and oldest surviving son of General Quinn, was born September 28, 1835. He is a lawyer, resides in Eaton, and his biography is given more at large in the sketches of the. Preble county bar.

John Willett Quinn, the third son, was born near Eaton, July 25, 1838, and died at Monterey, Virginia, April 28, 1862. He was raised on a farm, and was following that business when the war of the Rebellion broke out. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted for three years in Camp Harris, company C, Seventy-fifth regiment Ohio volunteer infantry. The regiment remained in camp during the winter of 1861-62, and in March of the latter year was ordered into the field. After only about one months active service he was taken with typhoid fever, and died in a few days.

James Lacey Quinn, the fourth son, born September 21, 1841, is a physician of Eaton, and a sketch of him will be found in the history of the medical profession of the county.

Samuel Milton Quinn, the fifth and youngest son, born February 5, 1844, is an attorney of the Cincinnati bar. He was educated at the common schools and at Farmer's college; and served four months in the army during the Rebellion. He studied law with his brother, R. W. Quinn, in Eaton, and was admitted to practice in the year 18—. He afterwards took one course at the law school of the Cincinnati college, where he graduated in the class of 187-, He has since practiced in Cincinnati.

James Quinn, the second son of Robert Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, in the year 1792. He came with his father and mother to' Ohio, and served for about nine months as a soldier in the War of 1812. He was married to Sarah Glims about the year 1817, and died on his farm on the Dayton pike two miles west of West Alexandria, in the year 1839. He followed farming all of his life. By his wife he had five sons and two daughters, all of whom, except one son, are now living. John Lacey Quinn, the oldest, was born February 29, 1820, resides in Eaton, and was for many years engaged, in connection with his son, N. J. Quinn, in the grain and tobacco trade. Robert Marion Quinn, the second son of James Quinn, also resides in Eaton, as also does William D. Quinn, the fourth son. The latter has served for two terms as clerk of the courts of Preble county. James H. Quinn, the third son, removed to the State of Illinois about the year 1855, where he still resides. Joseph H., the youngest, died in 1852. The two daughters, Eliza Ann and Sarah Jane, married two brothers, George and Sylvester Irwin, of Randolph county, Indiana, where they, with their families, still reside. All of the children of James Quinn married except William D. and Joseph H. The former is a bachelor, and the latter died when a young man.

Robert Quinn, jr., or as he is better known as Colonel Quinn, a title he derives from holding that rank in the militia, the third son of Robert Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, February 2, 1795. He also came with his parents to Preble county, where his life was spent on the farm until he grew to manhood. He served for about three months in Captain Black's company in the War of 1812, as a substitute for his brother James. About the year 18— he married Sarah Warson, by whom he had several children, only two of whom, however, survive: Joseph W. Quinn, born March, 1823, and Nancy Jane, married George W. Christman, now residing in Indiana. Colonel Quinn was a man of powerful constitution, and although well advanced in his eighty-sixth year, he • still enjoys reasonable health and resides with his son, Joseph W., about one mile northeast of Eaton. Margaret, the second daughter of Robert Quinn, sr., was born near Wrightsborough, Georgia, about the year 1798, and was married about 1830 to Peter Aten, who died in 1843. She has since remained a widow, moving with her family to Illinois in 1849, and with her sons to Texas in 1877, where she still resides.

Elizabeth, the third daughter of Robert Quinn, sr., born about the year 1801, married Samuel P. Wilson, and after spending many years in Eaton, removed with her husband first to Cambridge city, and afterwards to Muncie, Indiana, where the latter died, and where she still lives as his widow. Mary Ann, the youngest daughter of Robert Quinn, sr., died unmarried in 1830.

James Quinn, sr., the third brother, who came to Preble county, was born in New Jersey in the year 1763. With his brothers he emigrated from Maryland to Georgia, and from the latter State to Ohio in 1803. He entered the southeastern quarter of section seven, town six, range three east, and resided on it until about the year 1838, when he started with his family to move to the then territory of Iowa, but was taken sick on the road, and died somewhere in the State of Illinois. His family, with the exception of two daughters, removed to Iowa where most of them still reside.

Joseph C. Quinn, the youngest of the four brothers, who came from Georgia, entered the east half of section

six in town five, range three east. He was a bachelor, and spent his time between Georgia, where he had one brother and two sisters still living, Ohio and Missouri. He died at the residence of his nephew, James Quinn, jr., in September, 1837.

The four brothers were equally divided politically, John and Joseph C. being Democrats while Robert and James were Whigs, and many and hot were the debates especially between James and Joseph, and laughable stories are told of their political quarrels.

the youngest son of Daniel and Mary (Ozias) Chrisman, mention of whose family may be found in Gratis township, was born on the old home place in Gratis township, July 6, 1811. His grandfather, Rev. Jacob Chrisman, died one year before Daniel was born. The latter grew up on the farm of his father, upon which farm he continued to work and reside until the year 1847. In the days of his boyhood educational advantages were few. His father, however, was anxious that his son should receive the full benefit of these few opportunities, and desired him to go to school as much as possible. He did go long enough to receive some education, but at that time he was full of boyish notions, and for him an unbroken colt had more attraction than a schoolmaster. He was reared in that strict morality and sobriety which has ever characterized his life. The hard work of the farm was not attractive to the spirited boy, but he more than made up for the little intervals of leisure which he seized when a boy, by too hard application in his early manhood. He feels that he would be a more vigorous man to-day had he been more economical of his physical powers. Being the youngest child, he was as the apple of his father's eye, and the hearts of father and son were knit together in bonds of affection peculiarly tender. As one by one the father saw his boys leaving the paternal roof to establish homes of their own, which were provided by fatherly affection, he could not bear the idea of giving up his youngest born, and accordingly exacted a promise from that son that he remain upon the old place with him. Daniel agreed to this, and after his marriage to Eliza A. Fudge, January 31, 1839, he continued to live at his father's house for nine years. His wife is the sixth daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Fudge, of Lanier township, the history of whole family is found in another part of this work. Being of a good and industrious family, Mrs. Chrisman was eminently fitted to be a helpmeet to her husband. After living with old Mr. Chrisman for nine years, he voluntarily released his son from his promise to remain on the home place, believing that his son's interests would be best sub- served by removing to the farm in Washington township, which the latter had purchased. Accordingly the younger Mr. Chisman removed to his farm, which consisted' of one hundred and sixty acres in section thirty-three of Washington township. This place, which was known as the Widow Fall farm, had on it a hewed-log house and a log barn, which at that time were considered very nice buildings. Here he continued to reside until after the railroad had been put through the place. It had been his intention to erect a residence near the old house, but the path of the locomotive crossed the proposed site, and, consequently, be decided to build on the quarter of section twenty-eight of Washington township, which farm had been previously presented to him by his father. Mr. Chrisman assisted in making the first "deadening" on this farm, which was cleared in part before he became its owner. While still in the first place, Mr. Chrisman's aged father, having for a time made his home with his other sons, made arrangements to make his permanent home with his son Daniel. He continued to live with the latter until his death, which occurred February 12, 1861. The old gentleman removed with the family to the new brick house which was erected on the Richmond pike in 1856, and in that house there is still a room which bears the sacred name of "father's room," in which the old man died. In the spring of 1857, Mr. Chrisman erected his commodious barn. Since he has moved to his present fine residence, he has greatly improved the farm, which is one of the most productive in the county. Judicious draining has greatly improved the quality of the soil. Mr. Chrisman has always been a very energetic farmer, and by economy and intelligent management has made a success of his farming, and has accumulated a handsome property. He has never made a specialty of stock raising, although he raises none but the best stock.

From time to time he has added to his real estate by the purchase of farms. In 1872 he bought the Meroney farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres of land, adjoining his old place. He presented to his eldest daughter one hundred and twenty acres of the Meroney place. In 1876 he purchased sixty acres of land, located about two miles west of Camden.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chrisman, two of whom survive. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was born October 28, 1839, and married James Banta; their youngest daughter, Mary Catharine, was born March 15, 1847; an infant son died March 28, 1857, when only four days old.

Mr. and Mrs. Chrisman and their youngest daughter united with the Methodist Episcopal church at Eaton, during the pastorate of Rev. A. Meharry, the eldest daughter having joined the church several years previous. Mr. Chrisman was reared in a religious atmosphere, his grandfather being a minister, and his father a most godly man, often having religious services in his house, in Gratis township. The Chrismans have been, first old line Whigs, and then strong Republicans, in whose faith Mr. Chrisman is a strong believer.

Colonel Williams was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 24, 1841. His father, Robert Williams, sr., was a native of Maryland, born in 1811; removed to

this county in 1856, and settled at Camden, where he has been engaged in business for many years. When a boy the subject of this biography learned the cooper's trade, at which he worked some six years, and had but limited school advantages. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, in April, 1861, he enlisted in company B, Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry, for the three months' service, and was sergeant of his company. In the fall of that year he was made captain of company B, Fifty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, for the three years' service, and appointed by Colonel Smith drill master of the regiment. At Paducah, in February, 1862, the regiment was assigned to the division commanded by General Sherman. Its first engagement was at Pittsburgh Landing, where company B formed on the extreme left of the army. Sickness had reduced its ranks to such an extent that the company had only forty-two men in line, and of these lost twenty-five in killed and wounded. At the siege of Corinth, early in June, Colonel Williams had charge of the provost guard, and in the engagement at Chickasaw Bayou, late in December, he commanded his regiment, and was severely wounded in the left breast. In January, 1863, followed the capture of Arkansas Post, and Col0nel Williams, being yet unable to lead his regiment, acted as aid-de-camp to General Smith. In this engagement he took a severe cold, which resulted in inflammation of the lungs. Soon afterward he was taken down with the small-pox, and was in the hospital from the fourteenth of April to the first of July. In the meantime— March 30, 1863—he was commissioned major of his regiment, having ranked as such from November 27, 1862. In the following extract of a letter from General Smith to Governor Dennison, will be found a handsome compliment to Colonel Williams' military valor;

SIR:—Herewith please find a petition from all the officers of my old regiment, the Fifty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, for the promotion of • • • • and Captain Williams. Of the conduct of the latter in the late affairs at Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post I cannot speak in too high terms. He led, at the former place, what was literally a forlorn hope. Twenty-three out of two hundred of his men fell dead and wounded around him while storming what afterwards proved an invulnerable rifle pit and battery. He never faltered 0r avered until struck in the breast by a minnie ball, when he was carried away tifetess, as we supposed, from the field. Fortunately the wadding of his coat, and other articles in his pocket, stopped the missile, and though the blood was forced from his mouth, ears and nostrils, by the shock, he rallied, and insisted upon taking the field in the next engagement at Arkansas Post. Unabre to watk, I furnished him a horse, and he acted as my aid-de-camp, rendering me most valuable service. He is cool, courageous, perfectly correct in his habits, perfectly temperate, highly accomplished in his profession, and the best, the very best, drill officer that I have met in the army. Therefore, I commend him to you with confidence that if you give him promotion you will render to the command most valuable service and through his example to the corps. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect.

January 8, 1864, Colonel Williams was commissioned lieutenant colonel, but on the fourteenth of the following September he resigned on account of inflammation of the lungs, resulting from his wound. In the fall of 1866 he was elected treasurer of Preble county, and re-elected in 1868, but resigned the following April, to accept the appointment of collector of internal revenue for the third collection district of Ohio, which position he still holds. In April, 1875, he became connected as editor and proprietor of the Eaton Register, but subsequently sold out. Colonel Williams is a man of excellent business abilities, and of unassailable integrity. Notwithstanding his decided opinions, he is genial and sociable, and is very popular. He was married in July, 1863, to Miss Elvira Elliott, of this county, who has borne him one son and four daughters.

proprietor of the Reichel house was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 26, 1830. When about fourteen years of age he learned the cooper's trade, and served an apprenticeship of three years. He worked at his trade in his native country until twenty-one, and shortly afterward, in 1852, came to the United States, landing at New York, in September of that year. From New York he went to Buffalo. On his arrival there he was penniless, not having enough money to pay for his night's lodging, but he soon formed the acquaintance of a gentleman who helped him to obtain employment at his trade. He remained in Buffalo about nine months and then came to Cincinnati, where he followed his trade for two years. He then came to Eaton and established a coopershop on Decatur street. There were at that time eight other like establishments in Eaton, but they soon went down, and every one of the proprietors afterwards worked for Mr. Reichel. He carried on an extensive and pr0fitable business for a number of years, employing from twelve to fifteen hands. The business finally becoming unprofitable, he gave it. up in 1877, and about two years afterward bought the Doty (now Reichel) house, which he rented to G. R. Lockwood until March, 1880, since when he has conducted it himself. June so, ass, he was married to Anna Kautzman, who was born in 1828, and emigrated from Wuertemberg, Germany, in 1853. The result of this union was eight children, three of whom are living.