USA > Indiana > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Indiana, from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 23
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Along the National and old State roads, were the follow- ing: Hugh Allen settled early on township west line, on land lately owned by L. L. Lawrence, now by Charles Hood. John Hough, where John Bond lives. Samuel Cripe, on the quarter now owned by John and Lindley Miles and Wm. Shaffer. John and Win. Addison, on land now owned chiefly by Charles T. Hough and Jacob White. John Burkett, of Ohio, south of the State road, where Rudolf Burkett lives. David Cochran (perhaps not first) where John Huddleston resides.
The first School in the west part of the township is said to have been kept in a log house, half a mile from Dublin, on the State road.
John Stump (1815) was one of the earliest Blacksmiths in the township.
The Religious Societies outside of the towns are the fol- lowing :
A church, known as the Albright Church, somewhat simi- lar in faith and polity to the United Brethren and the Meth- odists, was formed in or about the year 1832, 2 miles north of Dublin. Daniel Hart, John M. Lawson, John Dill, Jacob
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and Samuel Dickover, John Richwine, James Iliff, and their wives, were carly members. Their first preacher was Burnett Fryar, who formed the class.
The Friends [Orthodox] formed the Bethel Meeting, about the year 1823, a mile south of Dublin. Another Bethel Meeting was formed by the other branch ot the Friends [Hicksites], whose meeting-house is near and on the south side of the town.
A United Brethren Church has just been organized, and built a house about 3 miles north of Cambridge City.
Town of Dublin.
The town of Dublin was laid out by Harmon Davis. The original plat, made out and signed by him as proprietor, was recorded Jan. 29, 1830. Additions have since been made as follows: First, by Robert Murphy and Eli Brown, trustees for Dempsey Boswell & Sons; in 1846, by Albertson Chap- pell, Abraham Symonds, Jacob Custer, Benj. Griffin, John Whippo, J. P. Creager, Caleb W. Witt, Wm. MeKimmey; in 1837, by C. W. Witt; in 1838, by Samuel Schoolfield; in 1868 by Samuel Pierce and Mark II. Perkins. When the town was first laid out, there was not a building on the ground. The first house was a log house built by Isaac King, on what is known as Cook's corner.
Of the early Merchants, the first three came the same year [1831]. The first, it is believed, was Samuel Nixon, who had bought the goods of Dempsey Boswell, who, as has been stated, had a store near town on the State road. The next was Thomas Owens, from Richmond, who had been in trade there, and who bought the little store building of Boswell, and moved it into town, on the lot now occupied by J. Brad- way as a stove store. He was compelled, from ill health, to quit in a few months; returned to Richmond, and died soon after. In December, Jacob Vore commenced his long mer- cantile career in Dublin. Nixon soon sold out to Boswell & Sons, who traded but a short time. Among the later mer- chants were James Vanuxem & Son, Benj. and Josiah Rey- nolds, E. II. Vanuxem, J. & B. Kirk, John Lebrick. Present merchants : Dry Goods-Dillon & Hill, Jesse Hiatt & Son,
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Thomas J. Layman, John G. Carmony, Jacob V. Hoffman. Grocers-Jacob & Wm. H. Vore, W. H. Kenworthy. Hard- ware-J. H. Hull. Druggists-Dr. John M. Bell, Hottendorf & Hale.
The first Physician in the town was John Beatty, in 1831 or 1832, afterward [1834] Caleb W. Witt, and about the same time, Lazarus E. Jones, and later, James Elder, Dr. Farns- worth, John M. Bell, John W. Smith, and others. Present physicians : John M. Bell, Samuel S. Boyd, Aurelius P. Taylor, Livingston B. Taylor, John W. Smith, and, it is be- lieved, another, whose name is not furnished.
The first Tavern in Dublin was kept by Samuel Schoolfield, from Va., his sign bearing the motto: "Our country, right or wrong."
A School-perhaps not the first in town-was carly taught by Mary Schoolfield, now Mrs. Dr. John M. Bell.
A Female Seminary was established in 1835, by Caleb W. Witt, John Whippo, and Jonathan P. Creager; and Sarah Dickinson was employed as principal teacher for several years.
The Dublin Academy was established in 1837, by a joint stock company. The building was afterward occupied as a public school-house. In 1867 it was taken down, and the present house built, which was dedicated January 1, 1868. Its cost was about $15,000. Scholars enrolled, about 450.
Among the early Mechanics of Dublin were, John Crill, the first blacksmith, in 1831. Early carpenters, Robert Way, Charles Morgan, Albertson Chappel, Axum Elliott. Ansehn Butler came in 1834, a wagon-maker ; is now a pump-maker. The present carriage-maker is Samuel P. Herrington. Ilar- ness-maker, Oliver Gilbert. The first cabinet-makers in Dublin are said to have been Peck & Matthews, as early as 1829, who sold to Eli Pittman. Thomas Allen commenced business in 1832. Jesse Pike, who came that year, worked for him, and afterward started for himself, and still continues the business. Pike married a daughter of Samuel School- field.
William B. Reed, a blacksmith, came from Ohio to Dub- lin, in 1838, where he has carried on the business to the
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present time, excepting an absence of four years at Cam- bridge, and one or two years at Centerville. He is a justice of the peace. Two sons, Joseph S. and Alonzo W., served in the late war.
The first Tannery in Dublin was established by Reese Ridgeway in 1832, who sold to Benj. Griffin in 1833, and he to Axum S. Elliott. The present tannery was established by Benj. Kirk, about the year 1844, and is now owned by Ham- mond, Brown & Co.
Samuel Nixon built a Carding-machine near the present residence of Caleb W. Witt, but it was not long continued.
A steam Flouring-mill was built in 1866, by Jacob Vore, Jesse Hiatt, and Paul Barnard. January 1, 1867, Hiatt sold out to Wm. B. Mitchell ; April 1, 1867, Vore sold to his son, Wm. H. ; July 14, Barnard to Wm. H. Vore and Mitchell. In February, 1870, they sold to -- Cox, who failed to make payment, and the mill again [November, 1870,] came into the hands of its present proprietors, Jacob and Wm. H. Vore.
The principal Manufacturing Establishment in Dublin is the Wayne Agricultural Works, which may be said to have orig- inated in 1837, in a foundry established by John Whippo and Caleb W. and James Witt, near the site of the present tan- nery of Hammond, Brown & Co. In 1839 Caswell and Pleasant Witt bought out Whippo; and in 1840 the four Witt Brothers built the present foundry and machine shop on the National road [Cumberland street.] In 1845 they sold to James W. and Lovell L. Lawrence, who, a few years after, sold to Caleb W. Witt, Norton Davis, and Wm. Hollings- worth. After two or three years, the concern passed to Samuel Binkley, L. L. Lawrence, and N. Davis. Binkley sold his interest to Wilson Jones. Since then the firm of Davis, Lawrence & Co. has remained to the present time un- changed. They manufacture reapers and mowers, wheat drills, seales, hay rakes, etc. On the 1st of January, 1871, the concern was changed to a stock company. Its officers are, Norton Davis, president; L. L. Lawrence, vice-president; Wilson Jones, actuary ; A. L. Davis, secretary ; E. Lawrence, treasurer. The number of hands employed is from 60 to 75. Amount of sales, about $150,000 annually.
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The first Justice of the Peace was Nathaniel Malin; 2d, Levi Eastridge ; 3d, Jacob Chappell, a shoemaker. Wm. B. Reed, a blacksmith, is the present justice.
The cause of Temperance here found an early and power- ful support. Its friends, by united and persevering effort, succeeded in putting an end to the liquor traffic. Drunkards are not made in Dublin. There is not a drinking saloon in it. To this, mainly, is to be attributed the general morality of its inhabitants.
The population of Dublin, according to the census of 1870, was then 1,076.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES .- The Methodist Episcopal Church in Dublin was formed in 1834. Among the first members were Alfred Pierce and his wife, Mary Grove, Margaret Faulkner, Abigail Misner, James Bradshaw. Their first preacher is said to have been Robert Burns, followed by -- Kimball, Free- man Farnsworth, and others. Their meetings were first held at the house of Wm. Faulkner, a local preacher. They built a frame meeting-house in 1837 or '38; their present brick house, on Dublin street, in 1853-54.
The United Brethren formed a church in 1837. Among the members of the class were Caleb W., Caswell, James, and Wm. Witt, John Whittington, and the wives of some or all of them. Their meetings were held for several years in a room fitted up in the Dublin Foundry. They built a brick house in 1846, which was destroyed by fire in 1856; and in 1857, their present house was built.
The Christian Church of Dublin was organized January 11, 1866. Amos Tredway, Jacob Knipe, Lewis C. Wilson, Enoch Nation, and their wives, Landell Bowen, Susan Boyd, Ruth Boyd, Sarah Scott, were among the first members. Their first preacher was Daniel R. Vanbuskirk; 2d, John B. Marshall ; 3d, F. W. Parker; 4th, Wm. Grigsby, the present incumbent. Meetings were first held in other churches and the town hall. In 1869 they built their neat frame house on Dublin street. Their first elders were Enoch Nation, Lewis C. Wilson, Daniel R. Vanbuskirk.
The Universalist Church was organized in 1842; and reor- ganized in 1863. Members at the first organization were,
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John Whippo, Paul Custer, Jacob Custer, Gideon Myers, Edmund Lawrence, and others. Their meetings were first held in the Academy building. Their first preacher was John C. McCune, who officiated at the organization. Ilis successors have been Wm. W. Curry, Benj. Foster, their present preacher. Their house, which is on Milton street, was built about 1848.
The Friends [Orthodox] lately formed a new meeting, called Dublin Meeting, and meet for worship in the public hall.
Biographical and Genealogical.
SAMUEL SCOTT BOYD, son of John Boyd, was born March 31, 1820, in Jackson, now Harrison township. Laboring on the farm nine months of each year until he was twenty-two years of age, his education was limited to the branches usually taught in those times during three winter months. At the age of nineteen, he was promoted to teacher in the school-house in which he had finished his education, under the instruction of George W. Julian, of Centerville. In 1843, he and a brother- in-law bought and rebuilt the MeLucas mills on Green's Fork, two miles east of Jacksonburgh. He was married October 14, 1844, to Monimia, daughter of Dr. William Bunnell, of the town of Washington. His health failing, he commenced, in 1846, the study of medicine with his father-in-law. In March, 1849, he graduated in the Ohio Medical College, and in April located in Jacksonburgh, where he continued practice until the death of his wife, an excellent woman, and the mother of four children, of which three are living. Immediately after this event, which occurred January 7, 1862, he removed to Centerville. In September following, he was commissioned surgeon of the 84th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the army until the close of the war, sharing the many trials and triumphs of that regiment. In 1865, the doctor located in Dublin, where he is still engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. On the 5th of September of that year, he was mar- ried to Louisa E. Vickroy, of Pennsylvania. He has been a contributor to various papers and periodicals from early man- hood, and has taken an active part in promoting the causes of
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temperance and antislavery, and in efforts for the moral, social, and intellectual improvement of the community.
WILLIAM HAWKINS, son of John Hawkins, a native of South Carolina, was one of the earliest settlers at Cambridge City, and original owner of most of the land on which the town has been built. It had been entered in 1813, by his father, who did not live to occupy it. Nor did William, his son, to whom the land descended, make any material improvement on it until peace had been made with the Indians, in 1814. In 1817, he married Isabel Powell, by whom he had ten children : 1. Jane, who married Allen Williams, and died here. He re- sides at Xenia, O. 2. John S. N., a physician at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. 3. Mary, wife of Pyrrhus Woodward, of Newcastle. 4. Simon P., who died at 7. 5. Nathan S., who married Huldah C. Marsh, of Vt., and resides near Cam- bridge. 6. Tamar A., wife of David Binford; they live at Thornton. 7. William, who married Amelia Marshall, and lives at Leavenworth, Kansas. 8, 9. Amos, who died at 11; and Isabel, in infancy. 10. Lemuel, who married Caroline Brown.
SAMUEL K. HOSHOUR was born in York Co., Pa., Dec. 9, 1803. His early education was in German. At the age of 16, he was employed by a miller as a book-keeper, and during the ensuing winter taught a school. He soon after entered for the first time an English school, and the next winter taught a second term. He then entered an English classical school, though his highest aspiration was to become a German preacher in the Lutheran Church. He, however, pursued his studies through a collegiate course. He studied theology at the Theological Institute at New Market, Va., under Prof. Schmucker. The latter having been called to the Theological Seminary at Get- tysburg, Pa., and Mr. Hoshonr being able to preach in both English and German, he was chosen as the successor to Mr. Schmucker. He was married the same year [1826] to Lucinda Savage, of New Market, Va. He afterward accepted calls suc- cessively from congregations in Washington Co., Md., in 1828, and Hagerstown, in 1831. A few years after he embraced the theological views of Alexander Campbell. In 1835, being con- sidered by the Lutheran Synod as having "separated himself
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from the Lutheran Church, and no longer a member," that body expunged his name from the list of its ministers. He immediately set out for the West, intending to settle on a small farm, and in the same month, Oct., 1835, arrived at Cen- terville. After a short trial at farm labor, he found that his literary pursuits and his sedentary habits had greatly disqual- ified him for farming, and he engaged as teacher of a district school near Centerville. His success soon procured for him the principalship of the Wayne County Seminary in that town. In 1836, he was appointed by the legislature of In- diana a member of the board of trustees of the State Univer- sity at Bloomington, which office he held three years. In 1839, he removed to Cambridge City, where he was for seven years the principal of a seminary. Declining health com- pelled him to quit the school-rooms, and for several years he taught the German language in various institutions and large towns of the state. In 1852, he purchased a small farm near Cambridge City, with a view to a settlement on it for life. Having been persuaded to invest largely in the Richmond and Indianapolis Railroad, he became deeply involved, and lost his rural home. In June, 1858, he was elected president of the North-western University at Indianapolis. At the expiration of three years he became, from choice, Professor of Modern Lan- guages, which office he still holds. In addition to his literary labors, he has diligently and almost gratuitously performed the duties of a minister on the Sabbath.
DR. NATHAN JOHNSON was born in London Co., Va., Dec. 14, 1794, and removed with his father, in 1805, to Belmont Co., O .; thence, in 1839, to Cambridge City. In early life he taught school; studied medicine; and was licensed by the Board of Censors of the 17th Medical District, at Canton, O., in 1827; attended lectures in Pennsylvania University, at Philadelphia, in 1834-35. In February, 1839, he removed with his family to Cambridge City, where he has practiced medicine until within the last two or three years, and where he still resides. He was a member of the first antislavery societies formed by the late Benjamin Lundy, and an earnest advocate of abolition during the whole period of the antislavery contest; and has lived to witness the accomplishment of a long-cher-
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ished object. He was married in Belmont Co., O., to Sarah Hoge, Sept. 23, 1819. Their children were: 1. Nimrod H. [Sk.] 2. Ruth H., who married Alfred B. Williams, and re- sides in Cincinnati. 3. Lemuel R., who graduated at Starling Medical College, Columbus, O., in 1850; practiced, succes- sively, at Cincinnati, O., in West Virginia, and from 1855 to the present time in Cambridge City. He was in March, 1869, appointed postmaster, which office he now holds. 4. Elizabeth H., who married Paul II. Berkau, a native of Poland, now in the Pension Office at Washington.
NIMROD H. JOHNSON, son of Dr. Nathan Jolinson, was born at Plainfield, Belmont Co., Ohio, September 16, 1820, and re- moved with his father's family to Cambridge City in February, 1839. He was admitted to the practice of law, May 11, 1843; commissioned as prosecuting attorney of Wayne county, Aug. 27, 1848; elected judge of Wayne common pleas court, Octo- ber, 1852; and commissioned as judge of the 21st judicial cir- cuit [Wayne criminal court], Oct. 23, 1867. He was married, Feb. 22, 1844, to Clarissa M. Ireland, of New Paris, Ohio, and had by her a daughter, Clarissa L. He was married to a second wife, Catharine C. Underwood, of Washington City, D. C., May 8, 1850, by whom he had two children, Henry N. and Robert U. Johnson. His children are all living. His useful life was suddenly terminated April 28, 1869, by taking, through mistake, tincture of aconite, instead of the tincture of gentian. He survived the taking of the fatal dose only about an hour. A correspondent of the Indianapolis Journal, communicating the sad intelligence, wrote : "The judge for many years lived here, and at one time practiced law here. He had attained the first order in his profession, and was recognized as one of the ablest and most brilliant lawyers in Eastern Indiana. His literary acquirements were surpassed by those of but few men. His reading extended through the whole domain of English literature, and could quote more extensively from his readings than any other man I ever met. As an advocate, he stood very high; before a jury, few men surpassed him." He had been for two years, and was at the time of his death, judge of the Wayne criminal circuit court. It may be added, that, though not a member of any church, he was the teacher of a
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class of colored children in a sabbath-school in Centerville, and a trustee of the society of the church of which his wife was a member.
SOLOMON MEREDITH was born in Guilford Co., N. C., May 29, 1810. He came to this county in 1829, and for several years lived in and near Richmond and Salisbury, and worked at farming by the month. In 1834, he was elected sheriff of Wayne county, and re-elected in 1836. In 1838, he commenced the mercantile business in Milton, and continued it in Cam- bridge from 1839 to 1843. In 1840, he was a delegate to the Whig national nominating convention, and again in 1848, and to the Republican convention of 1856. IIe has been a trustee of Cambridge Seminary ; president of the board of trustees of Cambridge City; and a member of the board of directors of the Whitewater Canal. In 1846-7-8, he was elected to the legislature. In April, 1849, he was appointed by President Taylor, United States Marshal for the District of Indiana, and removed by President Pierce in April, 1853. In 1854, he was again elected to the legislature, and was chairman of the com- mittee of ways and means. He was, in connection with John S. Newman, a financial agent for the completion of the Indiana Central Railroad, and was subsequently president of the Cin- cinnati and Chicago Railroad Company. In 1859, he was elected clerk of the courts of the county. In 1861, he entered the military service as Colonel of the 19th Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served to the close of the war. He was appointed Brigadier-General in 1862, and in 1864 brevetted Major-General. In 1866, he was appointed assessor of internal revenue for this congressional district; and, in 1867, surveyor- general of Montana territory, which office he held until July, 1869.
Solomon Meredith was married March 17, 1835, to Anna Hannah, who was born in Brownsville, Pa., April 12, 1812. They had four children, three sons and a daughter, Mary, who died in infancy. 1. Samuel H., entered the army in 1861 as a private, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 19th regiment; was also aid-de-camp on the staff of his father. He was severely wounded in the battle of Gainesville in 1862, and at Gettysburg, in 1863. He never recovered fully from the effects
3
Meredith
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JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
of the first wound. He was furloughed home in January, 1864, and died on the 22d, at his father's house in Cambridge City, aged 25. 2. David M., Lieutenant in the 15th U. S. Inf., reg- ular army, in which he served in the war; was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga; and was promoted to captain and to major in the 15th Infantry. He died at Mobile, April 4, 1867. 3. Henry C., who is a graduate of the state University ; enlisted as a minuteman in 1863; was married to Virginia Claypool, of Connersville, and is editor of the Cambridge City Tribune.
NOAH W. MINER, a native of North Carolina, came to what is now Union Co., when young, in 1807. In 1834, he removed to Henry Co., and, in 1840, settled in Dublin. He is by pro- fession a lawyer, and was admitted to practice in 1852. He was the second postmaster in Dublin, being the successor of Samuel Schoolfield, and appointed in 1846. He had four sous, three of whom served in the late war. 1. Milton L., who was mar- ried to Margaret Hood. (?) He was Captain of the 17th Indi- ana Battery, and died of sickness in the army. 2. Oliver H., who married Mary Morris, and is not living. 3. William H., who married Fanny Chambers, of Harper's Ferry, while in the war. 4. John B., married, and resides in Kewanee; was also in the war.
AARON MORRIS settled, in the spring of 1815, 1} miles south- west from Jacksonburg, on Martindale's creek ; and in Decem- ber, 1816, moved to a cabin where now Milton is, and cleared twenty acres of Jonathan Justice's land, which was first owned by Jacob Williams. In the fall of 1822, he bought a quarter section on the line of the Twelve Mile Purchase, 1 mile south- west from Cambridge, the principal part of the farm on the new Purchase, where he resided until the death of his wife in 1839. It passed to Josiah Bell and Eli Henby, and is occupied by the latter. Aaron Morris died many years ago. His chil- dren were: 1. John, who married Sarah, daughter of John Bell. Himself, his wife, and two daughters, died within the space of one month, in October and November, 1854. 2. Sam- uel, who married Sarah, daughter of Abraham Symons in 1827, and settled where he now resides, 1 mile south-west from Cambridge. His children were, Cyrus, who died at 14; Jason,
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who married Ruth Mills, and resides near Greensboro'; Lydia, who died in infancy; Mary, residing at home; Jason, in Henry Co .; Charles, who married Mary Jane Diven, of Cambridge City, and resides on the farm with his father. The wife of Samnel Morris died in the summer of 1871. 3, 4. Thomas and Eli, younger sons of Aaron Morris, reside on the farm of their father. 5. -- 6. Elizabeth, who married Matthew Ferris, who settled 1 mile west from Milton, and died in 1866. Their children are, William, who is married, and lives at Dory, Wabash Co .; Joseph, who married Deborah Atwell, and lives in Milton ; Edith, who married Jordan, son of Silas Hiatt, and lives in Fayette Co., a few miles west from Milton.
Dr. JOHN W. SMITH, son of Benjamin Smith, was born in Wayne township, and removed with his father, in 1824, to Jackson, 3 mile north of Dublin. He commenced practice as a physician, at Dalton, in 1836; practiced at Dublin from 1849 till 1855; since in Wabash county, and in Peru, Miami Co .; and returned in 1868 to Dublin. IIe was married to Abigail Misner, by whom he had three sons; all of whom and him- self served in the late war. Dr. Smith was a surgeon of the 155th Regiment. Amos C., his eldest son, served 4 years and 4 months; James D., to the end of the war; both wounded. Oliver C., the youngest, served 4 months.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
This township was formed in March, 1834, from the town- ships of Jackson on the south and Perry on the north. Its northern boundary is 6 miles in length; its width is five miles, with the exception of the two eastern sections taken from the sonthern tier in the formation of Harrison. It contains an area of 28 square miles. Martindale's creek crosses the township at a distance averaging about three-fourths of a mile from the east line. The West river crosses it about the same distance west of the center, touching the east border of Ha- gerstown, and receives the waters of Nettle creek half a mile below the town. Some of the best lands in the county lie in the valleys of these streams.
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