(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 497 UNION. This township is bounded by Penn, Liberty, New Market, Hamer, and Dodson townships, in Highland county, and by Clark and Green townships, in Clinton county. Its surface is generally nearly level, and, though varying in different localities, is most of it fertile. Turtle and Dodson creeks are the principal water courses within its boundaries ; yellow clay and black loam the predominant soils. Much fine timber remains, especially in the southern and western portions, and in these same districts there are large areas of flat and somewhat swampy land which only needs better drainage to make it as fine as any in the township. Nothing striking in the way of the picturesque is found in Union, but the eye of the lover of adorned nature is constantly delighted by the succession of beautiful and highly cultivated farms, encountered in riding through it. The staple crops are here, as elsewhere in Highland county, corn and wheat, with, perhaps, a preponderance of the latter, while much attention is also given to the rearing of cattle, swine and sheep. The business of sheep raising is still in its infancy, but is fast becoming an important and extensive industry. ORGANIZATION. The civil existence of Union, as a district township, dates from the seventeenth day of July, 1809, when the County commissioners, at a special session held at Hillsborough, laid off and erected it, with the following limits: "Beginning where the old Mad river road crosses the Anderson State road; thence, running a northerly course so as to include Joshua Hussey's; thence, in the same direction, to the Highland county line; thence, westerly, along said line to the Warren county line; thence, with said line, to where it joins the Clermont county line, at the crossing of said State road; thence, with said road to the beginning." This territory, so set off, took off all the southern portion of Richland township, and included the towns of Willetsville and Lynchburgh. The organization was completed in October of the same year, and at an election held during that month, Joseph Vanmeter, William Noble, and Abraham Vanmeter were elected trustees, and Absalom Vanmeter, clerk—the first officers of the township. During 1810 the line of the township was altered, by the following resolution of the county commissioners: "The line of Union township to be continued from where the old Mad river road crosses the Anderson State road; thence, with said road, easterly, so far as the intersection of the New Market road, from Morgan Vanmeter, the new way; thence, a northeasterly direction, to strike Joshua Hussey's, as formerly.” The second election in Union was held in October, 1809, at the house of Thomas Ratcliff. At this election Jesse F. Raysdon and Abraham Vanmeter were clerks of election, and thirty-four votes were cast. Men were not in those days in the habit of neglecting the duty of voting, and it is safe to assume that the number represents, very nearly, the entire adult male population of Union at that date. SETTLEMENTS. Robert and Absalom McDaniel were among the very first settlers of Highland. They both came to Union from North Carolina in the year 1803, and Robert settled on the farm, owned by George and occupied by Lewis, Foreman. Absalom purchased the farm where D. J. Hodson lives. During the summer of 1803 David Ross and family emigrated from Kentucky, and settled on the farm in the present township of Union, on which Isaac French lived and died. With the assistance of his wife he raised their cabin home, the country about him being an unbroken wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild beasts. His nearest neighbors were Morgan Vanmeter and the McKibbens, on the east fork of the Little Miami. Their nearest mill was on this stream, and during the unavoidable absence of her husband at mill, Mrs. Ross would remain in the woods through fear of the Indians. In the course of a year or two they had the satisfaction of seeing the country filling slowly with new settlers, and were no longer alone in the forest. About the year 1804 Robert Branson and family came from Virginia, and settled on and improved the farm afterwards owned by Rev. James Quinn. Shortly after building his cabin the family were much annoyed and alarmed by snakes crawling through the yard and about the spring from which their supply of water was obtained. These reptiles were so numerous that they feared to go after water at night. After living in constant dread for two or three years, Mr. Branson concluded that there must be a snake den in the vicinity. He procured the assistance of Robert and John McDaniel, and with them quarried the stone at the head of the spring, and killed sixty rattlesnakes, which broke up the den and freed the family from the annoyance and danger. Amos, Thomas, John and Edorn Ratcliffe came from North Carolina about the year 1804, and made extensive purchases of land in the northwestern portion of Union township. They, like most of the settlers from North Carolina, were Quakers, and were among the most desirable citizens of the northwestern region. The descendants of but one of the brothers, John, now remain in the township, the rest having gone to various western States. 498 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. Not far from the same time, came John Richardson, from Pennsylvania, and bought a large tract of land, embracing the farms now owned by Oliver Hall, William Fenner, Sarah Irving, Samuel Zink and Samuel Edenfield. Samuel Horn came out from Virginia in 18or or 18o2, and entered a tract embracing one thousand acres of fine land, adjoining the hamlet of Willettsville. This he cleared, improved, and subsequently divided into five farms, retaining one for himself, and distributing the others among his three sons, James, Jonathan, and Samuel jr., and his son-in-law, Robert McCoy. The farm retained for himself is now owned by the estate of Amos Smith. Benjamin Southard owns the James Horn property; Barton Devin, the Jonathan Horn farm; Thomas Hatcher, the property of Samuel Horn, jr., and Stephen Carey, that of Robert McCoy. Soon after the year 1800, an eccentric man, named John Hammer, removed, before the advance of cizilization, to Union township, and "squatted" on the land afterward entered by Samuel Horn. He was a "mighty hunter," and regarded the settlements with the hatred which his satanic majesty is supposed to feel for holy water. His time was spent in hunting and trapping expeditions, extending far into the wilderness in all directions. The vicinity of his cabin was fast becoming too populous for him, when he was saved the trouble of another removal by death, which overtook him far from the frontiers, in the wilds of Indiana. Joel Hart came from the State of North Carolina to Chillicothe, in the year 1801. His visit was one of observation, and resulted in his coming, in the year 1803, to Rocky fork, with his family. Remaining there but one year, he removed to the falls of Rattlesnake, where he was joined by his father, Heth Hart, whose name figures conspicuously in the history of that neighborhood. In the year 1806, he and his father removed to the bank of Clear and Fall creeks, in Liberty township, where, with the exception of a short time spent on the Little Miami, they remained until the year 1832, when they removed to Union township and settled on the Anderson State road, about one and one-half miles west of Dunn chapel. There both lived the remainder of their lives. Both Heth and Joel Hart were enthusiastic sportsmen. Joel killed the last bear ever shot in Highland county, in the year 1826, on what is known as the Isaac Robb farm, two miles west of Dodsonville. It is a curious coincidence that his son, Jonathan Hart shot the last deer ever killed in the county, in the year 1848. This occurred at the junction of Dodson creek and the east fork of the Little Miami. Joel Hart was the father of ten children, of whom eight, six sons and two daughters, are living: James, Jeremiah, and John, are residents of Union, as are Elizabeth (Runyan), widow, and Mary, unmarried. Joel, jr., is a resident of Penn township, and Joab of Fayette county. William Hart, son of Joel by a second marriage, also lives in Union. All of the sons are married, have families, and, like their father, are prosperous farmers. Jeremiah married Ruth, a daughter of John Scott, and by her has had the following children: William W., deceased; John W., living on his father's farm; Sarah A., deceased; Harvey W., who is living at home. Andrew Hart, a brother of Joel's, came to Union about 1806, and settled on the farm now owned by J. W. B. Ayres. John Scott came from North Carolina in the year 1815, and settled on Turtle creek, in Union township. He lived six years of his after life across the creek, in Dodson township, but returned and died in Union. He was one of the many members of the Friend denomination whom hatred of slavery drove from the south. Rhoda Cummins, a single woman of masculine character, entered, in 1806, a tract of one thousand acres of land in Union, and superintended personally its clearing and cultivation. She carried her independence of the male sex to the point of terribly beating one of her tenants, with whom she had some litigation. She was eventually missed from her haunts, and some one going to the house, found her dead body in bed, where she had died alone some time before. Prominent among the Friends who came from North Carolina to express their disapproval of the slave system, were Isaac and David Kenworthy, who emigrated about i8o6. The former bought the farm where Josiah Newby now lives, and the latter the one owned by Peter Michael. Among others from North Carolina who came actuated by the same motives, at nearly the same time, were William Robinson, Conrad and Adam DeMain, John Dudley, Isaac Thornbery, and Gideon Stevens. John and "Wildcat" Shockey, cousins, came from Maryland, to the neighborhood of Willettsville, about 1803. Both were named John, and the nickname used above was employed to distinguish them. Balam Thompson came from North Carolinia, in the year 1808, and settled in Union township, on what is now known as the Cadwallader farm. He afterwards removed to the farm on the Lynchburgh and Hillsborough turnpike, where John Achor now lives, and there died, many years ago. John Barker came from North Carolina to Salt creek, about the same time as Thompson, and, in 1810, removed to the same neighborhood in Union, where he spent the remainder of his life. Thomas Johnson, and Ashley Johnson, his son, natives of eastern Virginia, came from Lynchburgh, and settled just north of Willettsville, in the year 1809, bringing with them Joseph Johnson, son of Ashley. The family remained in Union for some years, and then removed and scattered to various places. Joseph Johnson married Rachel, daughter of Samuel Terrell, who settled. at Leesburgh, in Fairfield township, in the year 1805. Joseph and Rachel Johnson had three sons, of whom the eldest, A. T. Johnson, M. D., now resides in Union; Cyrus, the second, resides at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Carey, the youngest, was mortally wounded at the second battle of Bull Run. Dr. A. T. Johnson is a graduate of the Ohio Medical college, of Cincinnati, and of the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He served, during the war, as assistant surgeon of the Forty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry regiment. He married Elizabeth F. Good, and has the fol- HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 499 lowing children : Mary R., Charles W., and Mabel L. Johnson. After an active medical practice of twenty- five years at Leesburgh, only interrupted by his term of military service, Dr. Johnson, six years ago, was compelled by failing health to retire from active life, and removed to the fine farm in Union township, where he now lives. Enoch Zink emigrated from Pennsylvania to Clear Creek in Liberty, in the year 1809, and came to the vicinity of Willettsville in the year 1818. His son, David K. Zink, lived in the neighborhood until 1880, when he removed to the vicinity of Russell's station. John and Gabriel Chaney settled in Liberty; Lewis Chaney in Dodson, and Evans, Edward and Benjamin Chaney in Union township, coming from Pennsylvania in the year 1810. The name is now a common one in each of the townships named, and in Union it is represented by John T. and Richard, sons of Amos Evans, and grandsons of Lewis Chaney, and by C. A., William, Riley and Joseph Chaney, sons of Michael, and grandsons of Benjamin, all of whom are farmers. David Fox emigrated from Greenfield county, North Carolina, to Union in the year 1811. He brought his wife and four year old daughter, Mary, and settled on the farm where William Sinclair had formerly lived. This farm is now owned by George Foreman. Mary Fox is the mother of D. J. Hodson, of Union. She married a son of George Hodson who settled, in the year 1811, on the farm where she now lives. Christopher Biderman, Absalom A. Gardner, John Tucker and William Doyle bought a large tract of land not far from Russell's station, about the year 1812. This property is now owned by Mrs. Catharine Zink and Jonas Trop. About the same time John Wildrnan settled on a farm in the same neighborhood as the above. Coming, as did they, from the. State of Pennsylvania. John Lowman came from Pennsylvania to Clear Creek in Liberty, about 1812, and from thence to Union in the year 1824, settling a short distance west of Willettsville. John Achor and Jacob Achor, father and son, came from Pennsylvania, the former to Clinton county in 1812, and the latter to Union township in 1813. The farm upon which Jacob settled is now owned by his widow, Rebecca Achor, and his daughter, Nancy E. Mowry. Two daughters, Mary and Julia Achor, own another farm, near by, on which their father spent his later years and died. The remaining members of his family are Jacob, Lemuel and Joseph Achor and Elizabeth Clevinger, all living in Union. William Newby came from Randolph county, South Carolina, and joined his brethren of the Friend order in the Fall creek settlement, Paint township, during the year 1817. He was accompanied by his brother, Josiah, who married a sister of Enoch Overman. After a residence of many years in Paint, William sold out and removed to the neighborhood of New Vienna, in Clinton county, where the rest of his life was spent. His son, Josiah Newby, married a daughter of Isaac Kenworthy, and now lives on the old Kenworthy farm in Union, where he has been since 1841. Mr. Newby has five living children, viz : Samantha E. (Green), of Charlotte, North Carolina ; Miriam E. (Linley), of New Vienna ; Sarah A. (Hussey), of Penn township ; Emma C. (Wilson), of Charlotte, North Carolina ; William A. Newby, living at home. Isaac Oldaker and Henry (and Isaac, jr., his sons) came from Virginia to Union township in the year 1818, and settled in the neighborhood of what is now Russell's station. They were followed, in the year 1819, by John W. Oldaker, a third son, who bought land near them. On their way out they made a stop of a few months at Milford, on the Little Miami, reaching there in the autumn of 1817. The only persons of the name now living in Union are Isaac W. Oldaker, son of John W., and his family. Isaac owns the farm originally entered by his father. He married Eliza B. Russell and has had the following children: Theresa A. (wife of E. G. Boatright of Union); John W.; Eliza P.; Lida W.; Virginia P. (wife of Christopher Jonte of Union); Nathaniel, living in Iowa; Kittie, and Simpson. A daughter, wife of Dr. D. B. Granger, of Russell's station, is deceased. John and Joseph Cashatt emigrated from North Carolina and, about the year 1820, settled on Turtle creek, in Union, where they both bought land. W. R. Cashatt, son of John, is the only remaining member of the family in the township. Henry Butcher settled at a point just north of the village of Fairview, before 1820. This farm is now owned by John S. Trop, son of Philip, and grandson of Henry Trop, who were among the earliest residents of New Market. John S. came to Union in 1876, purchased the Butcher farm, and, at nearly the same time, his brother, Henry, purchased the Riderman farm, above mentioned. Both brothers are married; John S. to Harriet Warson, and Henry to Martha Canton, and both are childless. Philip Roush came from Virginia to a point near Manchester, on the Ohio river, in the year 1800. After following the business of flat-boating on the river until 1808, or thereabout, he came to Hamer township. With him came his son Allen, who remained in Hamer until 1823, and then removed to a point one-half mile south of Russell's station, in Union township, where John Kirkhart now lives. Within a few years, Allen has retired from farming and returned to Hamer, where he lives with his son-in-law, J. Wilkin. His children are as follows: Mary (wife of Andrew Frost), Union; Samuel, Hamer; Nancy (wife of J. Wilkin), Hamer; John, deceased; George, Union; Catharine (wife of George Tedric), Illinois; Rebecca (wife of George Cleiborn), Hamer; Joseph, Dodson. George Roush owns a fine farm in Union. He married Elizabeth Tedric, and has the following children: Wesley P., John A., Mary L. (Reese), William F., Alva Siegel, and William C. Jonah Britton came from Frederick county, Virginia, in the year 1832, to New Vienna, where he remained 500 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. three years. In the year 1836 he bought of Amos Ratcliffe the farm now owned by Martha J. Britton, his widow. He died at that place in 1865. He brought with him from Virginia his wife and six children, and left a family of thirteen children, of whom eleven are now living. Of these, Elizabeth A. and Eliza L., two unmarried daughters, live with their mother, as does Marian D. (Brown). Jonah and William W. Britton, two sons, reside in Union, and, of the remainder, one is in Clermont county, one in Indiana, one in Illinois, two in Kansas, and one in Clinton county. Jonah Britton, jr., is a subtantial farmer, living a short distance north of Willettsville. He is the father of six living children, viz : Ida B. (Smith), Laura J., Stanley J., Everett L., Jennie E., and Leslie E. Nathan W. Ayres came to Union from Buckingham county, Virginia, in the year 1833, and purchased a farm in the immediate vicinity of Willettsville, where he spent the remainder of his life. This farm is now owned by his son, J. W. B. Ayres, who,. with Nathan Ayres, jr., of Hillsborough, are his only surviving children. J. W. B. Ayres married Mary A. Duval, by whom he has the following children: Walter Duval, Charles Albert, William Frank. James D. Smith, father of John J. Smith, the merchant at Willettsville, moved to that point, in 1834, from Buckingham county, Virginia, and settled on the Anderson State road, adjoining the Horn property. Of the ten children of James who grew to maturity, two, Benjamin and John J., live in Union township, E. G. Smith in Hillsborough, Thomas in Penn township, Virginia (widow of Alfred Cadwallader), in Union, and the rest in other States. Thomas Eaglin and William Hinton came from the State of Maryland to what was then Union, but is now Dodson township, in the year 1815. Settling near Lynch- burgh, in theyear 1845, Mr. Eaglin removed to Union and remained for a short time, when he returned to Dodson. Three years ago he came again to Union, to the Morrow farm, one and one-half miles west of Willettsville, where he still lives. Reuben J. Shepard removed from New Jersey to New Market township, Highland county, about the year 1800. There was born his son, William A. Shepard, father of Theodore Shepard, of Union. In another place is given a fuller account of this settlement. William A. Shepard died at New Vienna in 1871. In 1867 Theodore Shepard came to Union and purchased a fine farm northeast of Willettsville, where he now lives. He married Eliza A. Cox, and has four children—William A., Frances A., Charles A. and Leo. Benjamin D. Granger and Francis M. Granger, brothers, represent the medical profession at Russell's station. Both are natives of Brown county, Ohio, to which point their grandfather, Ephraim Granger, came from Cayuga county, New York, in the year 1814. Benjamin D. obtained his academic education in Fayetteville, Brown county, and, after taking two courses of medical lectures, came in 1858 to Fairview, in Union township, and commenced practice. In 1862 he returned to Starling Medical college, at Columbus, and graduated there in February, 1863. From that time to the close of the war he served as surgeon and assistant surgeon in the army, and upon being mustered out, resumed the practice of medicine at Russell's station, where he has since remained. Dr. Granger has been three times married. In 1859 he married Martha J. Oldaker, by whom he had one child Dora Marie now living. In 1862 Mrs. Granger died, and in 1865 the doctor married Mrs. Rebecca Martin. One son, Edward S., survived his mother, who died in November, 1869. After some time Doctor Granger married Miss Lizzie Morrow, who died in November 1879, leaving four children—Mary J., Frederick R., William T. and Lena E. Dr. F. M. Granger is a graduate of the Ohio Medical college of Cincinnati, class of 1873. CHURCHES. BAPTIST. Of this, the earliest religious organization in Union township, but a meagre account can be gathered. Now only the cemetery, on the Anderson State road near Willettsville, marks the place where it once stood, and no one remains in the community who can tell of its inception. Probably the organization was effected as early as 1812. George McDaniel was one of the first preachers, and among the prominent families who attended its early services, and were active in its cause, were those of Andrew Hart, Richardson and Marsh. Many years ago the congregation scattered, the old building passed away, and the meagre tradition above given is the only impression left upon the memory of the neighborhood by its years of work. DUNN'S CHAPEL. Next in point of age to the Baptist church, and oldest of the existing congregations of Union, is the Methodist Episcopal organization bearing the above name. Previous to 1825 there had been preaching, and other religious services held, in the neighborhood of the present site of Russell's station, by members of all religious sects combined, though principally the " New Lights" and Methodists. In the year 1825 a Methodist preaching place -was established at the house of John Bivens near the Baptist church, under the charge of the latter denomination alone. This arrangement was continued at the same place until the arrival of the Dunn family, about the year 183o, when the place of worship was removed to the Dunn homestead. In the year 1834 a frame meeting-house was erected a short distance from the old Baptist building on the Anderson road. This building David K. Zink, now living, assisted to erect. The present brick church replaced the old one in 1849. OLDAKER CHAPEL. This congregation, commonly called the Russell station Methodist Episcopal church, was first organized as early as the year 183o, by the families of the neighborhood, prominent among whom were the Murphys, Oldakers, Duncans, Russells, Harris and Ayres. For some years the church flourished, and then, by one of those strange impulses for which it is difficult to account, the HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 501 members dropped off, some going to Dunn's, and others to other places, until the membership was reduced to four persons. In 1855 a reorganization was effected, with David Whitmore and Henry Stokes as preachers in charge. In this reorganization and in the building of the present tasteful edifice, Isaac W. Oldaker was prominent, both by his personal influence and by financial aid, as was his father in the original inception of the church. The present church trustees are E. G. Boat- right, D. B. Granger, W. N. Maxy, D. W. McCoy, A. Halsted, Josiah Murfin, J. W. Oldaker. Both of these churches belong to the Lynchburgh circuit, and are under charge of the Rev. E. M. Cole, assisted by the Rev. J. H. DeBruin. SALEM CHAPEL-CHRISTIAN. This was originally established as a Dunkard church, about the year 1820. Prominent among its early members were Joseph Kirkhart, Nathaniel Roush, and Lewis Roush. It subsequently became a Campbellite or Christian organization, and was very strong for some years, but has recently suffered by the removal of many of its members who have formed a new congregation in Liberty township. The present building, at Fairview, was erected in 1856. MOUNT OLIVET CHURCH-CHRISTIAN. This church was organized in the year 1833, by Milligan Clark, Nathaniel Walton, Robert McDaniel, Thos. Rogers, Jacob Achor, Hiram Hodson, David Fox and John Miller. The early meetings were held at private residences and at school-houses. The principal places of meeting were an old school-house in what is now district number two, of Union township, and at the house of Hiram Hodson. David Hathaway, Peter Shick, and Samuel Rogers were the leading lay preachers of the day, before any regular clergymen were engaged. Their first building was erected in 1845, near the present one, on the road from New Vienna to Willettsville. It is now standing, occupied by Peter Fox as a residence. The present building was erected in 1859, on land purchased of Jacob Jackson. There is, at present, no regular clergyman in charge of the church, but W. D. Moore preaches occassionally, and services are held every Sabbath. The following are the trustees last elected: George Foreman, Wright Kenworth, and W. C. Winter. The last named is deceased and his place vacant. The remaining officers of the church are J. J. Achor, Jonah Britton, elders; Harvey Brown, Lewis Foreman, Alfred Cadwallader, deacons. In addition to the churches named there is a congregation of the Protestant Methodist church at Sharpsville. VILLAGES. There are in Union four unincorporated villages, viz: Willettsville, Sharpsville, Russell' station, and Fairview. There is not much of interest in any of them. Willettsville was named for the purpose of securing a post-office in Union. A stone building was put up in the midst of the woods by Baylis Shepard previous to the year 1820, and sold to John Willett. It was on the line of a mail route from Hillsborough to Lebanon, and a post-office was established, with Alfred Thomas as first postmaster. A store has been kept there ever since. It is now owned by John J. Smith, who is the present postmaster. A post-office was established at Russell's station after the completion of the railroad. John W. Murphy was the first postmaster there, and A. A. Halsted is the present incumbent. Mr. Halsted also keeps a general country store at the same point. Nothing need be said of the business of Union beyond this. There is a general store at Fairview, and a small store at Sharpsville, and these, with a grist-mill on Turtle creek, owned by Daniel Pierson, and one or two small saw-mills, complete the list.