USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 44
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The father of Dr. Millikin left Ireland, and came to Pennsylvania in 1771, when only nineteen years of age. He did what was then a very unusual thing, but what is now a common undertaking. He separated from his par- ents, his home, and his friends, and sought the American colonies under the ardent impulses of an adventurous spirit, to seek a home in a new country. He was not impelled to the movement by the importunities of rela- tives and friends who had preceded him. His example. however, was followed by his brothers William and Rob- ert, who both lived and died in Greene County, State of Pennsylvania. He had other. brothers in Ireland ; one a " factor," and another a merchant.
As all the children of James and Dolly Millikin are deceased, it is not now possible to ascertain accurately the residence, the pursuits, or the experiences in life of the father after he landed in this country and previons to his marriage to Dolly MeFarland, on the 31st of March, 1778. At the time of this union he was twenty-six years old. Mrs. Mitkkin was born near Dartmouth, in. Bristol County, Massachusetts, on the 6th day of June, 1762. and was consequently, when married, under the age of sixteen. This marriage was the union of a young, ad- vonturons Protestan Irishman to a simon-pure Massa- chusetts Yankee girl, which resulted in a prosperous and happy married tite and the rearing of a large family.
Doily Mittikin was the daughter of Danici MeFar- land and Sarah Barber Mcfarland, who were married on
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the first day of July, 1752. They had a large family. 1 Eight of their children were born in Bristol County, Massachusetts, and two in Burlington, Burlington County, in the State of New Jersey. One of her brothers, Daniel McFarland, removed from Pennsylvania to Warren County, Ohio. Another brother, Abel MeFarland, con- tinned to reside on Teu-mile. He was an active, intelli- gent man, of more than usual prontinence, having rep- resented his county of Washington in the General As- sembly of that State. His family was munerous. One of his sons, Major Daniel MeFarland, was an efficient and accomplished officer, and was killed at the battle of Bridgewater during the var of 1812.
Another brother, William, continued to reside in Washington County, where he raised a large family. He was the father of Major Samuel MeFarland, who be- came a prominent citizen of the county. He was con- spicuous for the maintenance, of his convictions, and for his fearless and uncompromising advocacy of antislavery .doctrines, and was the candidate for vice-president of the United States of the Liberty party, in 1844, on the ticket with James G. Birney, the candidate for Presi- dent. William MeFarland had also a son named James, who was the father of Noah C. MeFarland, who, for many years, was a prominent lawyer and politician in Hamilton. He was the junior member of the law firm of Scott & McFarland, and represented Butler and War- ren counties in the Senate of Ohio. Subsequently he removed to Topeka, Kansas, was elected to the Senate of that State, and is now commissioner of the General Land Office of the United States at Washington City.
Dr. Joel B. MeFarland was a nephew of Mrs. Dolly Millikin. He took up his residence in Hamilton in 1835. He was a popular practicing physician in this county for many years, and represented the county in the Legisla- ture in 1841-2. He afterwards removed to Lafayette, Indiana. There, too, he practiced bis profession, and represented the county of Tippecanoe in the Legislature of Indiana.
Mrs. Dolly Millikin, in view of the privations of her early life, residing, as she did, before and after her mar- ringe, in the almost extreme Western settlements, where even limited opportunities for mental culture were not to be found, proved to be a woman of good sense and of great usefulness to the community in which she so long lived. She was higldy esteemedl for her intellect and her energy and exemplary life. The father and mother were industrions, frugal, and thrifty for their day and generation. They did not accunndate wealth, as others did not ; bat they became comparatively casy and inde- pendent, so that they could provide for the wants of their large family, and give them such advantages as ex- i-ted for the acquisition of a very imperfeet rudimentary marise Their children left the paternal roof well trained in their morals, and with characters that were unblemished, to make their own living, and to stand or
fall according to their own merits. They had born to them eight sons and one daughter, all of whom attained to manhood or womanhood. They were Daniel, Jamies, John H., Samuel, William S., Robert B., Andrew, Abel, and Mary. All of them married. All of the sons, with a single exception, have been residents of Ohio, and five of them were residents of Hamilton, and now have their final resting in Greenwood Cemetery.
Daniel Millikin, the first of the family, was born on the fourteenth day of February, 1779, on Ten-mile Creek, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The early incidents of his boyhood life are not known by any of his surviving descendants. Being the oldest child of a young married couple, who had commeneed their mar- ried life with the view of acquiring and improving a home under the inevitable trials and privations incident to living on the extreme western border of the settle- ments, and in a neighborhood sparsely populated, it is fair to presume that his services as a boy and young man were constantly required in assisting his parents. The history of all boys on the then Western borders at that period will show that they had to perform much labor and to endure many privations.
The facilities afforded for obtaining even a very lim- ited rudimental education were necessarily very meager. What progress he made we have no means of knowing. When, however, he had arrived to the age of eightecit, about 1797, his father and mother found themselves able to give their oldest son some respite from the labors of the farm to afford him an opportunity of acquiring a better education than he could obtain at home.
Accordingly, in fulfillment of their desires. the son . was sent to Jefferson College, then located at Cannous- burg, abont six miles north of the town of Washington. in his native county. He remained there over a year, devoting part of his time to the languages, in view of reading medicine. Soon after leaving college ho com- menced the study of that profession under the care and instruction of Dr. John Bell, a prominent physician re- siding in Greensboro, Greene County.
After he had completed his studies uude: Dr. Bell, and was authorized to commence practice, be deemed it prudent to scek a wife. While residing at Greensboro he became acquainted with the family of Colonel John Minor, living near that place, and, in fulfillment of his purpose, he subsequently, on the 31st day of December, 1801, at the residence of her father, married Joan Minor. She was born where married, on the twenty-second day of September, 1782, being at the time of her marriage a few weeks less than nineteen years old, while he lacked a few weeks of being twenty-two.
The father of Mrs. Millikin, Colonel John Minor, was of the fifth generation from Thomas Minor, who was - born in England in 1605, and who emigrated to Amer- ka in 1630. John Minor, fifth sou of Stephen Minor. was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, ou the fifth day
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of January, 1747. He married Cassandra Williams in Maryland on the 20th day of February, 1771. She was born on the twenty-second day of December, 1753, and was the sister of General Otho Holland Williams, who was a distinguished officer under General Washington, in the war of the Revolution, and acquired high distinction for his gallautry in the battles of Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill, and Eutaw.
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Colonel Minor was the youngest son of his family, and after the death of his father resided with his brother William, in Washington County, Maryland. . His active, adventurous temper soon impelled him to go further West and engage in the stirring excitements which ex- isted at that period of the history of Western Virginia and South-western Pennsylvania. He and his brother William found new homes on Whiteley Creek, west of the Monongahela, in what ultimately proved to be in Wash- ington County, Pennsylvania. There he and his brother had removed previous to his marriage, and he had pro- vided a Western domicile for himself and intended wife before that event. "He had led the way in settling west of the river, and maintained his leadership in all that concerned the development of the country and the pro- tection of its settlers."
Holding a commission as colonel from the governor of Virginia, all South-western Virginia being theu re- garded as within the boundaries of Virginia, he was rec- oguized by the settlers as commander-in-chief of the militia in that region of the country.
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Under the instructions of General Morgan he built . stockade forts, and appointed spies and rangers, to in- sure, as far as possible, protection to settlers against the depredations of the Indians. The cabins of himself and his brother were fortified stockades, and were known as the Minor forts, to which settlers resorted when dangers were apprehended from the approach of the treacherous , Indians.
Colonel Minor, under orders, built the flotilla of boats designed for the transportation of the regiment of enlisted soldiers under the command of Colonel George Rogers Clark, who descended the Ohio River with a view of reaching British posts on the Wabash and ou the Mississippi. The boats were constructed at the mouth of Dunkard Creek, in Greene County, under the imme- diate supervision of Colonel Minor. Their completion was greatly retarded by the raids of Indians, which Col- onel Minor had to repel by organized companies of flying militia, under his command.
After Indian troubles had ceased, and peace prevailed in Western Pennsylvania, and the true location of Wash- ington County bud been defined and settled, Colonel Minor was three times elected as a member of the Leg- islature frem that county He procured ultinistely the passage of a law which authorized the organization of the county of Greene out of the territory which belonged to Washington County. Subsequently he held! several
offices in the new county of Greene, and for several terms served as an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Of him a gentleman, in writing of the early his- tory of Greene County, recently said: " His life was one of eminent success and usefulness. He was probably the most prominent public man that Greene County has ever produced-a man of moral worth and character."
Mrs. Cassandra Minor died on the third day of March, 1799, aged forty-five years, and Colonel Minor died on the 30th day of December, 1833.
The result of the marriage of Colonel Minor with Miss Williams was the birth of twelve children-six sons and six daughters. One of the latter, Joan Miner, he- came the wife of Dr. Millikin, as before stated. After the death of the mother of these children, Colonel Minor married a daughter of Colonel George Wilson, by whom he had one son, L. L. Minor, an attorney-at-law, now residing in Wayneville, in the county of Greene, and one daughter, Minerva Minor. None of the children of - Colonel Minor now survive, with the exception of L. L. . Minor.
Immediately after his marriage Dr. Millikin com- meneed the practice of medicine, residing at his old home. The sparseness of the population and the general healthfulness of the neighborhood did not furnish a very encouraging prospect for a young physician. Besides the spirit of emigration was prevailing, and young men, es- pecially those who were ambitious to improve their con- dition, were contemplating new homes in the farther West.
Strongly impressed with the prevailing conviction that " Westward the course of empire takes its way," Dr. Millikin determined to investigate for himself, and, by personal observation, to see whether it would be wise to follow that course. Accordingly, in 1804, he came to Ohio, and visited the valley of the Miamis. As the re- sult of his investigations, ultimately he and his two brothers-John H. Millikin and Sammuel Millikin-on the 7th day of April, 1807, took choir departure from their cherished home. The separation was an occasion of deep feeling with parents and sons. They, however, had made up their minds for the undertaking, and went forward. John H. Millikin and wife intended to locate in Knox County, Ohio. Sinanel assisted his brother to drive his stock as far as Zanesville, and there they sepa- rated. Samuel continued his journey on horseback to Cincinnati, where he expected to meet his brother. Dr. Millikin, with his wife and three children, embarked on a flat-bottomed family boat at Fredericktown. on the Mo- nongahela, descending that river to Pittsburg, and thenee going by the Ohio River to Cincinnati. After remaining there for a short time, he, with his thmily and his brother Samuel, took his departure for Hamilton, reaching it on the night of the 7th of May, 1807.
The first house he occupied wis a story and a half hewed log house situated on the precise spot now occupied
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by the paper-mill of Snider Sons, en lot No. 160. Dar- ing the ensuing Fall and Winter he built the two-story hewed log house still standing on the north end of lot 202, on Second Street, north of Heaton Street, to which house he removed in the early part of the Summer of 1808. Afterwards he purchased lot No. 118, on the corner of High and Fourth Streets, upon which he erected the frame house now remaining, and into it he removed his family on the eighteenth day of September, 1819. He resided there for eighteen or twenty years, and afterwards he built the house on the north end of lot 155, on Third Street, where he resided until within a few years of his death.
Dr. Millikin and wife had a large family. Their children were born as follows: Stephen Millikin, on the second day of January, 1803; John M. Millikin, on the fourteenth day of October, 1804; Anna Millikin, on the sixth day of September, 1806; Thomas B. Millikin and James H. Millikin, on the eighth day of May, 1808; Anna Millikin, on the fifth day of March, 1811; Joan Millikin, on the tenth day of May, 1813; Mary Millikin, on the twenty-second day of August, 1815; Daniel Mil- likin, on the seventeenth day of April, 1818; Jaue Mil- likin, on the twenty-zceond day of September, 1919: James Millikin, on the Sth day of July, 1822; Otho W. Millikin, on the 22d day of January, 1826. The three first were born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and the others in Hamilton. Anna and James H. both died young and previous to the birth of others of like name. Nine of the foregoing arrived to lawful age, and were all married as follows : Stephen married Eleanor Ewing, April 17, 1823 ; John M. married Mary G. Hough, Sep- tember 6, 1831; Thomas B. married Catherine Hough, November 10, 1831 : Anna married Amerieus Symmes, February 21, 1832; Joan married Robert Kennedy, De- cember 6, 1832; Mary married D. D. Conover, October 19, 1838 ; Daniel married Sarah J. Osborn, February 1, 1843; Jane married O. P. Line, April 25, 1843; Otho W. married Lida Schenck, January 11, 1854. Stephen and Thomas B. lost their wives, and were subsequently again married. All raised families, and only four -- John M. Millikin, Joan Kennedy, Jane Line, and O. W. Mil- Bikin-now survive. Stephen and Thomas both removed West. and both died, leaving families.
seventy years, eight months, and twenty days, and after a residence in Butler County of forty-two years and nearly six months.
The professional career of Dr. Millikin was not only protracted, but it was excessively laborions and severe. There was no mode of conveyance save riding on horse- back. Doctors had to ride in the intense, hot sun, and were exposed to the cold, the rain, and wintery storms. The roads were frightfully bad for a large por- tion of the year. As there were but few physicians, Dr. Millikin had a wide range in his practice, not only visiting in all parts of the county. but receiving occa- sional calls from adjoining counties. The pressing de- mands that were made on physicians during the Summer and Fall months, for twenty-five or thirty years of Dr. Millikin's professional life, can not be understood by those who did not live at the time referred to. Almost every household contained one or more patients needing med- ical treatment. Oftentimes the entire family would be prostrate with chills andl fever, or with a most malignaut case of bilious fever; so that there were not enough well persons in the family competent to answer the pressing calls of the sick. For continuous months the services of physicians were so much required that their average im- perfect rest did not exceed four or five hours out of the twenty-four. It is marvelous that the excessive toil, great exposure, and deprivation of comfort and rest did not destroy the most robust constitution or impair the health of the most vigorous and enduring.
In the practice of his profession at the period referred to, Dr. Millikin was enabled to endure much hardship. He was of a cheerful, genial temperament, and submit- ted to the hardships and discomforts of his professional life with but little complaint. His services were inade- quately compensated by those he served. The fees charged and collected were insufficient for the comfor ta- ble maintenance of a family. He was unselfish aul lib- eral in his nature, and had apprehensions lest he might demand too much for his services, or call too soon for the miserable pittance that he had charged his patients. He married a second wife, by whom he had several chil- dren, one of whori survives -- Samuel Millikin.
Outside of his professional life he had the confidence of the public, and occupied several honorable positions. He was in the war of 1812, in Colonel Mills's reginwut, as surgeon, and, for a period, as quartermaster. He was a trustee of Miami University for many years ; repre- sented the county as a representative in the Ohio Legisla- ture in 1816; was major-general of the Third Division of Ohio militia, composed of Butter and Warren Counties, ard served for three terms as an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Mrs. Joan Millikin had, for some years, been in fe- ble health, and died on the 28th day of September, 1830, Wing then only a few days past forty-eight years of age. Owing to the extremely severe hardships that Dr. Milli- kin had been compelled to cudure in the very extensive and laborious practice of his profession, in the earlier wary of his residence in Butler County, his stalwart frame was for years enfeebled by diease. For some time previous to his death he occasionally suffered se- The family of John M. Millikin and wife that attained full age consisted of three sons-Minor, Joseph, and Dan-and one daughter, named Mary. The two first verdy from acute attacks, while his general health was seriously impaired. He finally departed this life on the third day of November, 1849, having attained the age of | named were graduates of Miami University. Minor
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studied law, and attended Harvard Law School, but did Į not engage in practice. After his marriage and his re- turn from a visit to Europe, he located on a farm, and gave attention to agricultural pursuits until the rebellion broke out. He culisted in the first cavalry company or- ganized in Ohio, and became its first lieutenant. In con- nection with the other officers of the company, he was compelled to furnish the horses necessary for mounting their men, as, in 1861, the government had not become aware of the necessity of providing for a cavalry corps in a well-organized and efficient army. The government engaged to pay for the use of the horses, to provide - grain and forage, and to pay for horses lost in actual service. This cavalry company was first engaged in act- ual conflict under General Rosecrans at the battle of Rich Mountain, in Western Virginia. His subsequent service in the army will be noticed elsewhere.
Joseph Millikin, after he had graduated, engaged in the study of theology, and was a student of Princeton Theological Seminary. Subsequently he became Profes- sor of Greek in his Alma Mater, and, in connection with the duties pertaining to liis chair, he gave instruction in the Hebrew language. In 1873, upon the organization of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, located at Columbus, he was elected professor of the German, French, and English languages and their literatures. He continued to occupy the position of professor of these branches until June, 1881, at the end of the college year, when, from severe and protracted illness, he was con- strained to resign his professorship in that institution.
Dan Millikin, the third son, turned his attention to the study of medicine, and graduated at the Miami Med- icul College, in the city of Cincinnati, in 1875. In May, 1875, he opened an office in Hamilton, and proffered his professional services to the public. He is now actively engaged in the arduous labors of his profession.
The daughter married, and died on the 17th day of September, 1870, leaving one child, which survived its mother only a few days.
Samuel Millikin, fourth son of. James Millikin, was borni on the 28th day of February, 1787. He was, con- scquently, only a few weeks past the age of twenty, when he left his paternal home and the friends of his youth, and accompanied his brother Daniel to the West, and, as heretofore stated, reached Hamilton on the 7th of May, 1807. He made his home with his brother for some years, and, for the few first years of his residence in his family, devoted himself to the study of medi- cine. He became fully impressed with the conviction that the duties of the profession would not be congenial to his rather sensitive nature, and he declined to fully qualify himself the assuming the responsibilities of the profession.
He utilized the knowledge he had acquired, and opened the first regular drug-store that was established in Hamilton. He continued in that business for some
years and until about the time of his marriage. On the twenty-eighth day of September, 1813, he was married to Mary Hunter, sister of Mrs. Nancy Reily and of Mrs. Joseph Hough, all daughters of Joseph Hunter, of Tair- field Township. The result of this marriage was three children-two sons and one daughter -- who lived to the age of majority. Hannah Millikin, the oldlest child, be- came the wife of William Anderson, sonsof Isaac Ander- son and brother of Judge Fergus Anderson. She died on the twenty-fifth day of May, 1834. His oldest son, James H. Millikin, was raised a merchant, and became the partner of his brother-in-law, William Anderson. In 1845 Mr. Anderson died, and, as a consequence, the business of the firm was discontinued. James H. Milli- kin continued in business for some time, and removed to Indiana, where he resided for several years. He now resides with his family in Decatur, Illinois.
John Millikin, the younger son of the family of Sani- uel Millikin, now resides in the First Ward of Hamilton. His mother having died on the twelfth day of July, 1828, when he was only a few years of age, he continued to reside with his father in Ohio and in Indiana, and sub- sequently removed from Vermillion County, Indiana, to Hamilton, where he. has been engaged for many years as an agent of the firm of Long, Alstatter & Co.
Samcel Millikin was for a short time a partner of Mr. Hough in merchandising, in Hamilton; and after- wards he was engaged in the same business in Middle- town, but unfortunately counected pork-packing with the business of merchandising, and found himself financially the worse of the speculation. He closed his business in Middletown, and returned with his family to Hamilton. In the Fall of 1821 he was elected sheriff of the county. He was re-elected in 1823, and served ont his two foli terms with great acceptance to the public. As an officer, as a man, he was everywhere highly esteemed by those who transacted business of any kind with him.
His wife having died, as stated, on the 12th of July, 1828, he devoted himself for some time in supervising and closing up the business affinirs of Mr. Hough, who had become engaged in business in Vicksburg, Missis- sippi. Sulacquently he again became engaged in mer- chandising, for a short period, in Hamilton, but finally, in 1836, determined upon removing to Indiana, and en- gaged in the business of farming. His son John re- mained with him for most of the time during his stay in Indiana. Ultimately father and son deemed it advisable to return to Hamilton, especially as the father was in- firm in health and the son had a large family, consisting of wife, sons, and daughters. Having disposed of his property to his sons, he closed up all his business affairs, he and his son and family, in 1864. jeft their home in Indiana, and returned to Hamilton, where he had A) long resided, and where his sou and wife were both born.
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