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 73
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The following have been the elders of the Associate Reformed Church and the United Presbyterian since its beginning, so far as can now be told :
William Caldwell, James Brown, Robert Grey, John Beckett, John McCracken, John Latia, James Scott. Alexander Young, Samuel Grey, Robert Caldwell, Will- iam Taylor, John McDonald, David Crawford, James Giffen, William E. Brown, George R. Caldwell, R. C. Stewart, Robert Scott, John Scott, John McKee, D. W. McClung, Robert Beckett, James MeKinney.
The members at the organization, or soon after; were William Caldwell, Mary Caldwell, James Brown, Robert Gray and wife, Nathan Caldwell, John Caldwell. Grizelle Caldwell, John Latia and wife, Samuel Gray and wife, William Taylor and wife, Robert Little and wife, Robert Tweedy and wife, John McCracken and wife, John Beckett and wife, Joseph MeMaken and wife, James Scott and wife. Robert Scott and wife, Wm. Robertson and wife, John Nei- son and wife, James Bell and wife, James Lester and wife, John Smiley and wife, John Hall and wife, Robert Hall. Hannah Hall, Mrs. Millikin, Mrs. Andrew. Mrs. Ewing, Nancy Sutherland, James Ramsey and wite, Robert Lytle and wife, Margaret Blair, Ana Douglass, Sarah - nah McBride, Nancy King, Elizabeth Lane, Matthew Winton, Mary Gray, Alexander Young and wife.
On the retiring of Dr. MacDill, he was succeeded by the Rev. Williami Davidson, who remained here until February, 1874, when he resigned his charge. dying July 21, 1875. The Church had been most fortunate in these two pastors, who had preached the Word here for fifty-seven years. in succession, and it had grown strong and useful. During his term as a pastor, the Church.
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then the Associate Reformed, became known as the Uni- ted Presbyterian. The Associate Reformed Church, with half a dozen other smaller sects, was an offshoot of Scotch Presbyterianism, and the United Presbyterian Church was the union of these various forms of North British Calvinism under one fold. This happened on the 26th of May, 1858.
The Rev. Alexander W. Clokey was the next pastor. He was a son of Doctor Joseph Clokey, moderator of .the General Assembly of 1860. He was born in 1842, in Jefferson County, Ohio, and was graduated at Wit- tenberg College in 1864, studying theology at Xenia. He was stated supply at Indianapolis in 1867 and 1868, and pastor at Aledo, Illinois, from 1869 to 1872. He came here in 1874 and stayed till 1876.
His successor was the Rev. John W. Bain, an able and eloquent divine. He was born near South Hanover, Indiana, in 1833, and entered Hanover College in 1850. After a time he went South, traveled and taught two . years, and spent one year at Davidson College, North Carolina. He returned North, and graduated at West- minster College, Pennsylvania, in 1858. From that place he went to Xenia, Ohio, where he studied theology. His first charge was in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. He gave his services for some time to the Christian Commis- sion, then engaged in raising money for the soldiers, and in the Winter of 1863 and 1864 spent a while with the commission in the field on the Rapidan. He was then . three years at a mission station in Chicago, and came to Hamilton in. 1877. In this new field he was well thought of. His discourses were well reasoned and well ex- pressed, and he had the faculty of language. The Church throve under bis charge. He left here in March, 1882, to become the pastor of the Alexander Presbyterian Church, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He was succeeded by the Kev. Elihu C. Simpson, who was born August 6, 1849, at Morning Sun, Preble County, and lately has been pastor of a Church in Rich- mond, Indiana.
HENRY S. EARHART.
Henry S. Earhart, "the oldest inhabitant," and a man whose kindly nature will be remembered long after he shall have passed away, is one of the four residents of the county, now living, who were born in the North- west Territory. This happened three miles cast of Franklin, Warren County, on Clear Creek, on the 17th of February, 1800. He was the son of Martin Earhart and Catherine Site, who were among the first settlers that came to Chio. His grandfather Earhart was all through the Revolutionary War. Henry S. Earhart first came to Hamilton on a visit, about 1815, but did not reside in the county until the year 1822, when, in conjunc- tion with his tinele, John L. C. Schenck, of Franklin, the kading merchant of this section at that time, he estab- lishil a store at Jacksonburg. After remaining there a few years, he came to this city, and has been here
steadily ever since. On his first arrival, he was in part- nership with George W. Tapscott for a number of years, finally, however, discontinuing business. Possessed from youth with a love of the mathematics, be next took up civil engineering, and projected the hydraulic works and the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad. He was married on the 10th of March, 1828, in Franklin, to Elizabeth Tapscott, daughter of James Tapscott and Mary Hendrickson. They came from New Jersey in 1814 or 1815, and are now both dead, as is Mrs. Ear- hart. She was born in Allentown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, September 15, 1796. Mr. and Mrs. Ear- hart had five children, of whom the two oldest are dead. Jolin S. was killed in the army, and Martin W. by ac- cident. James T. lives in Kentucky, George T: in Hamilton, where he is the general ticket agent for the railroad, and Sarah S. is also at home. John was a cap- tain in the army, and George was also a volunteer. He rose from orderly sergeant to lieutenant, and attributes the loss of his health to the exposure he endured. Henry S. Earhart has now been for many years one of the leading men of the town. He was a councilman for six years, at about the beginning of the city organiza- tion, and has been civil engineer to the city and identi- fied with all its improvements.
Among the early teachers was Mr. B. F. Raleigh. He was a native of New York State, but came West before 1830, and located in Hamilton. He married Miss Maria Holmes, and resided here until 1853, then remov- ing to Highland County. He died in Wilmington, Ohio, in 1866. Many are still living in Hamilton who remem- ber him as their preceptor. He left a wife and four worthy and intelligent sous to mouro his loss.
Mr. Raleigh was a man of culture and had the con- trol of our best educational interests in Hamilton for a period of years, and was also county surveyor from 1842 to 1849. His remains were brought to the eld home, and interred in Greenwood Cemetery, November 6, 1866.
Captain William Robison, once county commissioner, was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where he was married, and soon after removed to Rockbridge County, Virginia, where Jamies, their oldest child, was born, in 1795. In 1805 Mr. Robison, with his family, came to this county, bought a farm, and settled on it, near Collinsville. At the beginning of the war in 1812 he raised a company of rifiemen, who called themselves the Bald Hornets, and went out with Colonel John Mills. At the siege of Fort Meigs Captain Robison, for his heroism and faithful discharge of his duty, was pro- moted to the office of brigade inspector. He was county commissioner in 1809 and afterwards. He was com- monly known in this neighborhood as Major Robison, bet it is not now known from: what he derived this title. He was a big, jovial man, everywhere well liked. He was the father of teu children, four boys and six girls, nine of whom grew up to be men and women, and three
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of whom are now living. He died when about fifty-five years of age, and was buried at the frame church in Collinsville.
MRS. MARGERY MCMECHAN.
Mrs. Margery (Hudson) McMechan, for many years a resident of Hamilton, was born May 22, 1780, near Banbridge, County Down, Ireland. Her parents, John and Ellen (Park) Hudson, were members of the society of Friends, a belief she also imbibed and adhered to until her marriage, in Dublin, April 17, 1800, with a minister of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. James McMechan, of Newry, a gentleman of culture and stand- ing. Such a step being in direct opposition to Quaker regulations, severed her connection with the seet.
Besides ministerial duties, accident had placed Mr. MeMechan for a few weeks at the head of a large edu- cational institution, during the temporary absence of the principal. This vocation accorded so well with his taste that he resolved to adopt it, and after his return to Newry he established such a school and conducted it successfully, achieving distinction as an educator. Through the persuasions of a brother, who had come to the new world, Mr. MeMechan was induced to emigrate with his family in 1817, landing in Baltimore October 6th of that year. Coming West as soon as practicable in those days of difficult and hazardous traveling, they arrived in Hamilton after a wearisome journey of six weeks, frequently consuming an entire day in gaining three miles. The discomforts of early Western life to one entirely unaccustomed to it, and the marked differ- ence of climate, proved unfavorable to the husband and father, who survived the change but two years. Left a "stranger in a strange land," the sole guide of a young family in the " straight and narrow way," Mrs. McMechan devoted herself to her great charge with a fidelity and energy that were characteristic. The children were Eleanor A., afterwards married to Charles K. Smith; William; Jaue, who became the wife of Jesse Corwin, and James, who lived with their mother at Hamilton, and John, a merchant of Eastport, Mississippi. Sara, the youngest, died during the passage to America.
Agreeable in conversation, with a retentive memory, Mrs. MeMechan's reminisceuces of her early life were many and interesting. When the rebellion of 1798 oc- curred in Ireland, she was eighteen years of age, and a participant in many of its perils. The relation of one ordeal to which herself and friends were subjected will bear repetition. A young sister being in failing health, a change of air and scene was advised. Mrs. Hudson, taking her daughters, Margery and the invalid, left her home and went to that of a relative, in another part of Ireland, Mr. Ephraim Boake, of Boakefield, near Ballitore, a wealthy Quaker, who lived ap to the princi- ples of the sect to which he belonged, and took no part in the tumult that was agitating Ireland. He permitted he king's troops, during marches, to quarter on his es-
tate of Boakefield, and this, with his difference in _ religious views, was a ground sufficient to render him most obnoxious to the insurgents. Shortly after the ladies arrived at what they hoped would prove a haven of rest, the house was surrounded by an armed force of masked men, who peremptorily demanded admittance, which was refused as decidedly. They succeeded, how- ever, in effecting an opening and immediately commenced firing into the hall and stairway. Not less than sixty shots went tearing through this beautiful home, the in- mates barely escaping with their lives. The subject of this sketch was forced to make her exit down the fated stairway, which she did ahnost miraculously only a few moments before it was entirely demolished.
On another occasion, when the strife was carried into her own home, the sister already mentioned, a zealons young Protestant, was an object of dislike and vengeance, one of the gang singling her out for a murderous assault. Mrs. McMechan's mother was a woman of great nerve and self-possession, and seeing her daughter's peril, seized the nearest available weapon and dealt the invader a blow which rendered him helpless and gave freedom to his intended victim, a circumstance of which she was not slow to take advantage. She ran up the stairs and into the nearest apartment, followed quickly by another rebel, who, finding the window open and the room ap- parently unoccupied, abandoned the idea of killing Miss Hudson, thinking she had already lost her life by a suicidal leap. Driven almost to madness, by an ex- . tremity so appalling, the young girl had speedily found a hiding-place on the framework at the top of a bed, such as were in use in those days, a feat she could never have accomplished with her mind in its tranquil state, and was resting securely on this novel elevation when her assailant entered. This lady, after her mar- riage, lived in America, and was the mother of the late Dr. John MeMechan, who practiced medicine for many years in Butler County. More than sixty years after these events, Mrs. M.Mechan was doomed to witness the horrors of another rebellion, being over eighty years old! when the civil war in her adopted country took place.
Shortly after the family located in Hamilton Mrs. McMechan became a member of the Associate Reformed Church, of which the Rev. David MaeDill was pastor, and was throughout her life a consistent Christian, en- during with fortitude and patience the feebleness incident to age, and waiting uncomplainingly and with entire submission for the divine summons. Her life ended peacefully, in Hamilton, the sixth day of January, 1869, in the eighty-ninth year of her age.
William Cooper, in the publie prints, gives notice that, having lately taken the tavern stand on High Street, op- posite the court-house, formerly ocenpied by George F. Glasford, he begged leave to notify his friends that he had opened a house of entertainment, and solicits a share of public patronage. This was in 1822. 1
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In 1824 Hiram Wright respectfully informed his friends, and the public in general, that he had lately opened a public house on the corner of Dayton and Main Streets, in Hamilton, where he was ready to ac- commodate those who gave him a call. Liquors would be sold 50 per cent lower than heretofore in this place, if cash were paid down, otherwise the customary price. "Shoemaking carried on as usual. Butchering to eom- mence on the third day of August uext, where beef ean be bad of the best quality and in the neatest manner, ou Tuesday and Saturday mornings."
Somewhat later, George Vandegriff took the estab- lishment formerly occupied by William Cooper, "in the brick row opposite the court-house, where he is now keeping a house of entertainment for the accommodation of traveling gentlemen and ladies, and soheits a share of public patronage." The bill of prices is as follows :
Horse fare per night, supper and lodging, . 56} cts. Breakfast and horse feed, 315
Lodging, per night, . 61 66
.
Board by the week, . 50
Victuals-single mcal, 18 cts.
"N. B. Gentlemen and ladies ean be accommodated with private rooms. He has repaired the house in good style, and his accommodations are as good as any in the county."
The advertising art was not unknown in 1823. A professor of the tonsorial art thus makes known his qual- ifications :
BARBARISM.
GREEN BRIGGS,
Having taken a permanent residence in this place, tenders his professional services to the gentlemen of Hamilton, Ross- ville, and their respective vicinities. He may be found at any time at his office, where all business intrusted to his care will be diligently and faithfully attended to. He does not wish to make any great profession of his knowledge, or to speak in his own praise, neither does he wish to "antic- ipate the pleasure" which gentlemen must necessarily and inevitably feel while undergoing the operation of his ( exter- ous performance, but will merely state that he has nereto- fore never failed to give universal and unbounded satisfac- tion to his friends.
The peculiar situation in which he has fortunately located himself is strikingly singular. On one side of him is a law office, on the other a tavein. the court-honse in his front, Stable Street in his rear, and a printing office immediately above him. Possessing so many superior advantages, in point. of locality, political principles, and acquirements over his pre- .Inversor (Benj. Tolliver), who came before the public under arbitrary colors, Green Briggs flatters himself that his serv- icre will be duly appreciated, and that he will meet with the support and approbation of an enlightened community.
Notwithstanding the head prefixed to this notice may appear somewhat shocking, still there is no harm whatever intended. He merely wishes to convey the idea that he will
Shave and Cut Hair
en the most reasonable terms, in the best possible manner, and in the most superior style of Eastern elegance.
HAMILTON, Norember 24, 1823.
-
In 1826 a calamity occurred that sent a thrill through- out the community. A house in this town, occupied by Mr. James Boal, was struck by lightning, and the electric fluid caused the death of no less than four persons, thus bereaving Mr. Boal of an affectionate wife and two lovely children, one about five and the other about three years of age, and a widowed mother, Mrs. Perriue, of a daugh- ter in the bloom of life. Four other persons were in the room at the time, three of Mrs. Boal's children, and a daughter of Mrs. McCarron, who providentially escaped with but slight injury.
Fashionable gentlemen now may be interested in knowing what kinds of clothes were worn in those days. Mr. Basey's house had been broken into, and he had been robbed. He was a well-known saloon-keeper of the town. He thus advertises his loss:
" About nine o'clock last evening from the residenee of the subscriber in Hamilton, the following articles of elothiug : A drah double-milled Newmarket coat lined with silk ; a blne close-bodied coat with a few small slits in the tail of it; two silk velvet vests, one a black and the other a erimson color. Two pair of blue pantaloons, of the same quality as the close-bodied coat; one pair ribbed cassimere; one pair fine blue cazinett ; one pair sky-blue ribbed eazinett."
" The American museum of wax figures," exhibited here in 1825 at Colonel Vandegriff's hotel. The museum consisted of nineteen figures, General Jackson, Commo- dore Porter, John Q. Adams, General Marat, and Char- lotte Corday, Lorenzo Dow, Catharine, the empress of Russia, Harriet Newell and her infant, the American beauty, and two beautiful children, the fair sleeping Desdemona, and an infant child, Paul Cuffee, Turner the Hermit, two Lillipntians, and an African boy.
During the freshet in April, 1825, twenty-five boats descended the Miami River, laden with pork, flour, and whisky destined for New Orleans. One or two accidents oceurred. One boat struck the pier of the Hamilton bridge, and sunk a few miles below. Another was wreeked a short distance above town, and a Mr. Johnsou, of Rossville, was drowned iu assisting the owner to save the cargo.
The forty-eighth auniversary of our national inde- peudence was celebrated in 1824 by the citizens of Ham- ilton and Rossville. At half past 8 o'clock, A. M., a processiou was formed in front of Blair's Hotel and pro- cecded to the Presbyterian Church, where (after other exercises by some of Mr. Watkins's pupils) Taylor Web- ster prononuced a highly interesting and appropriate oration. At 11 A. M., the citizens assembled at the court-house. The Declaration of Independence was read by James MeBride, and the oration delivered by Mr. John L. Watkins; after which those citizens who wished to partake of the entertainment prepared by Mr. L. P. Sayre, in Rossville, were directed to form a procession at. the east door of the court-house, which was accordingly
40
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
done, and, preceded by a band of musicians, playing suitable martial airs, they moved to the place of destina- tion. Great cordiality prevailed throughout, and noth- ing occurred to mar the festivity of the day, which was ended in a very happy way.
The anniversary of Washington's birthday was cele- brated in a very becoming manner by the citizens of Hamilton and Rossville, on Wednesday, February 22, 1826. At 2 o'clock P. M. the farewell address of Wash- ington was read by Mr. Charles K. Smith before a large and highly respectable audience of both sexes, assembled at the court-house, after which Mr. Jesse Corwin pro- nounced an oration, the whole being much enlivened by. the performance of several appropriate airs by a band of music.
The Hamilton Free and Easy Club met in February, 1825, at early candle-light, to discuss at Mr. Blair's As- sembly Room, the following question: "Were the Al- lied Powers justifiable in confining Napoleon Bonaparte on the Island of St. Helena?"
In 1825 the Cincinnati and Dayton mail stage ran once a week between Cincinnati and Dayton. It. left Cincinnati every Monday at 4 A. M., and arrived at Hamilton the same day by 6 P. M. It left Hamilton every Tuesday at 4 A. M., and arrived at Dayton the same day at 6 P. M. From Dayton it left every Friday at 4 A. M., reaching Hamilton the same day by 6 P. M. It departed from Hamilton every Saturday at 4 A. M. and arrived at Cincinnati the same day by. 6 P. M.
The stage offices were kept at Cincinnati by Hezekiah Fox; at Hamilton by Thomas Blair, and at Dayton by Timothy Squires. The owners were Henderson & Squires.
As an instance of rapid traveling, the newspaper says that the President's message, in 1829, was delivered at the city of Washington on the 8th inst., and "we, at this distance, publish it on the 11th-only three days after !! This is truly 'going the whole --- 'and stands unparalleled in our backwoods aunais of trans- portation."
In 1827, it was stated on the authority of Platt Evans, of Cincinnati, that goods were transported from New York by the canal at the following prices per hundred weight :
From the city to Portland, Ohio, nine days . . $1 18 From Portland to Cincinnati, fourteen days . . 2 00 $3 18
From the same city, by way of Philadelphia and Pitts- burg, Mr. Bard, also of Cincinnati, said it cost him five dollars per hundred weight, and required several days longer. It was, therefore, much cheaper, and equally safe, to take goods purchased in Philadelphia, for the western market, by the way of New York.
Advertisements for runaway apprentices were common in early days. We find the following in the Intelligencer:
THREE CENTS REWARD.
Walked away (too lazy to run) from the house of the subscriber, in Butler County, on the 11th inst., an indented apprentice to the coopering business, ycleped William Vaun, 16 years of age, about 5 feet high. He took with him a new drab tight-bodied coat, an old wool chapeau, &e. All per- sons are cautioned against harboring or employing him. The above reward (but no extra charges or thanks) will be given to the person who will " do up" the said walk-a-way in a bandbox, to prevent his taking cold, and deliver him safely to
JONAS WEHR.
HAMILTON, January 18, 1828.
Among the deaths recorded at an early date. we have Matthew Winton, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, in 1830; Moses Conner, in 1829; Sarah Wright, in the eightieth year of her age, in 1828; George Chesterson, an aged citizen, in 1825, and John Blackhall, in 1824.
The mayor's docket of 1834, when James McBride filled that position, has been preserved. It is full of in- teresting reading. The first case we notice bears date of October 28, 1834, and was the State rs. Ruber Meeker, on the charge of running a horse through the streets of Hamilton. The charge was made by Samuel Bayless, and the witnesses were John S. Gordon, John M. Millikin, George P. Bell, and Jolin Woods. The doeket shows a clear case against the defendant, and a fine of five dollars was annexed against him.
On the same day, and on the same charge, and provedl by the same witnesses, John Meeker paid a similar fine ; but John Meeker must have been indulging in something stronger than spring water, for the next case on the docket is that in which on a charge of assault and battery on Matthias Dungan he pleaded guilty, and was again fined five dollars and costs.
There are a number of cases against sundry parties for " keeping a grocery and retailing spirits without a license." Henry Amsden, John Jenkins, Benjamin Tu !- bert, James Elliott, James Ward, Charley Snyder, Billy Lohmann, and others, were so arraigned, and when they could not produce, and generally they did not, the per- mit of the Common Pleas Court to sell liquor, they sub- mitted to a fine of thirty dollars and costs.
The 21st of February, 1836, was a good day for the marshal of Hamilton. The weather had been unusually cold, and on that bright Sunday morning the basin was frozen over as smooth as glass, and as solid as a rock. Mr. Bayless had his hands full of warrants for the arrest of William B. Cameron, Ira M. Collyer, John Blackall, Alex. Richardson, William East, a boy of color; Will- iam Harrison, James Moore, Benjamin Vau Hook, and a half dozen others "engaged in the sport or amusement of skating on the Hamilton Basin on the Sabbath day." They were called upon to pay fines and costs ranging from one to two dollars
Shortly after this Henry Swain, commonly called " Dutch Henry," was fined three dollars and costs for riding his horse at a gallop through the streets. The
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