USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 2 > Part 11
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In 1845, he induced his father-in-law, Ellis Miller, to move to Hamilton, and during that year they built a saw-mill on the hydraulic, near the north-east corner of Dayton and Lowell Streets, where the Bender Brothers' planing and flooring mill has since been erected. He then sold his interest in the saw-moill, and in 1846, built what is now known as Carr's flouring-mill, which fronts on Dayton Street and the hydraulic. This building he leased to Denman Ross and Martin Lemon, to be used by them for the purpose of spinning cotton. They did not, however, continue the Business long. Mr. Ross went East to get information concerning the improve- ments made in manufacturing in his line of business, and while in Lowell was offered a large salary to engage in business there, which he accepted. This building was sold by Mr. Potter and afterwards converted into a flour- ing-mill. It was the first factory building erected on the east branch of the Hamilton Hydraulie.
He also sold his stock of dry goods, and in 1850 removed to Camden, in Preble County, Ohio, where he again engaged in the mercantile business for several years, returning to Hamilton in 1856, and opening a real estate office (the first of its kind in Hamilton). This has been his principal business from that time to the present. During this period he was engaged in the lam- ber and eoal trade three years, and was also United States deputy colleetor of internal revenue in Butler County for three years, commencing in October, 1862. His business and fortune have been somewhat varied. They were generally prosperous, but the change in times eaused a large shrinkage in the value of real estate for a num- ber of years, commencing soon after the year 1870, and continuing up to near 1880, and this very materially changed his finaneial condition.
He has had five children, two by the first marriage and three by the second. Only one of each survives. As to the children of the first, Anna E., the eldest, remains at home with him; Laura died at the age of twenty-three years. As to the children of the present Mrs. Potter, Frank, her first child, died at the age of three year- ; her next, Mary P., died in May. 1881, at the age of thirty-two years; and Ellis M .. the youngest, is engaged in mercantile business in Cincinnati. Mary P. was the
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wife of John N. Wyman. He died in Topeka, Kansas, in June, 1879, where they had been living, and she died at the home of her parents, in Hamilton. They were both highly respected and their death greatly lamented by a large circle of relatives and friends.
Joshua B. Emerson was born March 23, 1782, in Vermont, and died September 30, 1863. He married Mary Burnham (widow of Samuel Phillips) born August 14, 1798, in Hartford, Connecticut. She died January 5, 1879. They had five children, of whom two are living. Anna Eliza was born September 4, 1829, in Fairfield Township, and is the wife of Andrew McCormick; Har- riet was born November 6, 1839, and is single. The two who died were Mary, who was born November 14, 1832, and died September 28, 1844, and Frances A., born June 22, 1835, who died February 5, 1867. Mr. Emerson came to Fairfield Township in 1830 with his father.
John J. Longfellow was born in Butler County in 1827, and was married in 1850, to Harriet Moudy, born in 1828, in Hamilton County. They have had one child, Othias M. Longfellow.
Stephen H. Elkins was born in Frederick County, Virginia, about 1781, and died about 1846, in Mont- gomery County, Indiana. He married Abigail Catterlin, born in New Jersey, about 1763, who died about 1850, and had nine children, seven of whom grew to maturity, and two of whom are living. Reuben was born April 28, 1808, and is married, and living at Symmes's Corners; Joseph was born October 7, 1814, and is married, living in Fairfield Township. Mr. Elkins came to Ohio in 1805, and settled in Fairfield Township. He had no capital when he came, and worked on a farm. He was drafted for the War of 1812, but was only out a few days, under Colonel Sigleson. He was discharged at Middletown. He was a member of the Baptist Church. His grandfather on his mother's side, Joseph Catterlin, was a captain in the Revolutionary War.
Moore P. Vinnedge, an old and respected resident of Fairfield Township, was born there in 1807. His parents were John Vinnedge and Rosanna Moore. The former was engaged in the Indian wars of the Northwest, and was married in this neighborhood, which was then a por- tion of Hamilton County. He settled on the Van Cleaf place, where he lived for over fifty years. His son, Moore P. Vinnedge, was married in June, 1833, to Nancy Kirk, and had by ber ten children, eight of whom are still living, five daughters and three sons. He resided upon one farm for forty-seven years, dying September 22, 1882. He was at the time of his death the oldest native resident of the township.
S. B. Deom, of Collinsville, was born in Jackson Town- ship, Montgomery County, Ohio, September 7, 1845. He is the sou of Charles Deam, a native of Philadelphia, and Nancy Bachman, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and both of German descent. He attended the district
schools of Jackson Township. and the Lebanon Normal School, in Warren County. He was a teacher in the public schools of Mud Lick, Butlerville, Socialville, Westchester, and Wakefield, in the period between 1865 and 1874. In the Winters of 1874 and 1875 he traveled through the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkan- sas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. From 1876 to 1882 he taught school in Milford Township, with great success. He has been a justice of the peace from April, 1880, to April, 1882. He is now the freight and ticket agent of the Cincinnati, Richmond, and Chicago Rail- road at Collinsville. He was married on the 12th of November, 1874, to Edna J. Patchell, daughter of James Patchell, of Union Township. They have three chil- dren-Qua, Howard, and Warren.
Lonis B. Delacourt, editor and proprietor of the Na- tional Zeitung, and son of Charles A. W. and Seraphine (Haacke) Delacourt, was born at Colmar, France, Janu- ary 25, 1830. He is of mixed German and French de- scent. The family of Delacourt, or, to follow the original orthography, de la Cour, is one of ancient French pedi- gree, and being royalists in politics, its members fled across the Rhine on the breaking out of the French revo- lution, and found safety in one of the German states till that terrible epoch was concluded by the triumphs of Napoleon the First. The parents of Mr. Delaconrt re- moved to Magdeburg, Saxony, the year following his birth, and he received his education at the renowned polytechnic school of that city, graduating from the department of engineering in 1846.
At the age of seventeen Mr. Delacourt came to New York and devoted one year to acquiring a perfect knowl- edge of the English language, after which he engaged in the tobacco trade, dealing principally in imported cigars. In 1850 he removed to Charleston, South Carolina, where he remained five years in the same line of trade as in New York, and during the last year of his sesi- dence occupied the editorial chair of the Charleston Zei- tung, the first German paper established in the State.
Leaving Charleston in 1855 he engaged in the dry goods trade at New Orleans till the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, when he went to Havana, and remained a year, coming in the Fall of 1802 to Hamilton, where he soon afterwards established the National Zeitung. A man of nervous temperament and quick perceptious, with varied experience and an education that gave hin: perfect command of three languages, Mr. Delacourt was not long in making his paper a power in the community, Being also a good public speaker, he came frequently before the people in the political campaigns, and soon bad acquired an acquaintance and an influence second to no conatry editor in the State. His paper, reaching a large class of native Germans'in Butler County and the valley of the Miami who can not read English, has the advantage of appealing to them in their native tongue, and as an organ of the Democratic party has an influ-
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ence that is very pronounced. Mr. Delacourt has been a member of the school board for the city of Hamilton for nearly ten consecutive years, and has been instru- Mental in elevating the tone of the public instruction, and ingrafting some of the most useful features of the German system.
In 1852 Mr. Delacourt was married to Emily Heintz, then of Charleston, South Carolina, but a native of Zweibrücken, Bavaria, in which state her brother, Philip Heintz; a criminal lawyer of great renown, was a mem- ber of the landtag. Mr. Delacourt has had five chil- dren, only three of whom survive, two sons and a daugh- ter: William C. A., Louise Henrietta (now wife of Louis Sohngen, Jr. ), and Edward H. Delacourt.
Mrs. Hannah Davies was born in Virginia, March 31; 1806 or 1807, and was the daughter of Joseph and Rachel (Dunham) Kyle. With her parents she came to Ohio in 1809, settling in Eaton, where her father taught school, arriving at Hamilton in 1810. Mrs. Davies was educated at home, in Hamilton, and there remained until her marriage in 1830 to David Ott. He died in 1831. He was a successful business man, and was engaged in milling.
Mrs. Ott remained a widow for twelve years, but in 1842 was married to Evan Davies, a native of Wales, and a school-teacher by calling. He also conducted a farm. He taught in the city schools, was county ex- aminer of schools, and principal of schools in the First Ward. He was a successful educator, and was justice of the peace for some time, but resigned the position. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and also of the Masonic order. Mr. Davies was the father of one son, David W., now a resident of the State of Texas. He died in 1869, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Mrs. Davies has continued to live in Hamilton. She has been a muember of the Presbyterian Church since 1836, and is a genial and pleasant lady.
Daniel Dunwoody was born in Hanover Township, May 20, 1896, and is the son of Joseph Dunwoody and Sarah Johnson. The father was from Pennsylvania. Daniel attended school and worked on the farm until he attained the age of twenty, when he began learning the carpenter's trade. This has since been his occupation, with the exception of a year in the drug business, and one year in the hardware trade. For the last six years he has been on the police force in the city of Hamilton. He was married at Hamilton, on the 18th of November, 1869, to Clara Ann Lovell, daughter of the Rev. Charles R. Lovell, and Mrs. Harriet. V. Lovell, whose maiden maine was Pilcher. She was boru at Somerset, Hamilton County, November 10, 1840. They have four children. Charles L. was born August 8, 1870, and died March 9. 1851. Elmer R. was born May 17, 1573; - Bossie E., December 28, 1875, and Carl L., January 31, LOTS.
Mr. Danwoody's grandfather, ER Johnson, was in the War of 1802. Two brothers, L. R. and Samuel Dun-
woody, were in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, and one brother- in-law, Isaac L. Fisher, was a member of the Thirty-fifth Regiment. The following is a record of the family: Joseph Dunwoody was born November 1, 1791; Mrs. Dunwoody, October 26, 1800, dying in 1875; Eliza, a half-sister, was born March 1, 1816; Joseph, a half- brother, May 22, 1817; Nancy, September 23, 1819; Lavinia, September 7, 1821; David, December 23, 1823; Eli, April 2, 1826; Loammi R., July 8, 1829; Robert, October 2, 1833; Daniel, May 20, 1836; and Samuel, August 11, 1839. Those that are living are David, Nancy, Loammi, and Daniel.
John Dillon was born in Trenton. Madison Township, February 14, 1833. He is the son of Samuel Dillon and Eliza Sehavier, both now being dead. His parents came to this county at an early day. His grandfather, Samuel Dillon, was the first coroner ever appointed in Butler County. John Dillon was married Angust 7, 1856, to Martha Jane Hall, daughter of Samuel and Susanna Hull, who are both dead. They came to this county in 1819. Mrs. Dillon was born May 14, 1834. They have had five children. Eliza E. Millepangh was born June 28, 1857; Mary E., May 27, 1859; Lewis A., April 4, 1866; Martha Jane, December 12, 1864; and Flora May, May 2, 1869. Martha Jane died January 27, 1868.
One of Mr. Dillon's brothers, Samuel P., was in the late war. He was a member of Company D, Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded as Chickasaw Bluff, in the right hand. He now draws a pension. He is a resident of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is a minister of the Gospel of the Presbyterian denomination. Mr. Charles Dillon was originally a farmer, but has been a tile manufacturer for the last fourteen years, in which he has excellent facilities. He usually manufactures about one hundred and twenty-five thousand per year, finding ready sale for all he can make.
Mrs. Eve Davis was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1804, and is the daughter of Adam and Mary Miller. She had limited opportunities for education, and came to Ohio with her parents in Sep- tember, 1816, settling on a place some three miles from Hamilton, on the Springdale Pike. Adam Miller was an carly seitler. He reared a family of eleven children, of whom but three survive, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Thompson, and Mrs. Catherine Duke. He diel August 27, 1819. Mrs. Miller lived until 1862, and was then in her eighty- seventh year. Eve Miller was married February 11, 1844, to James Davis, who was born in Pennsylvania in 179S, and came to Ohio at an early day. He was a farmer by occupation, and owned a farm on the Middle- town Pike, living there the remainder of his life. He was an active member of the Methodist Church. He died July 19, 1850. Mrs. Davis continued to live on the farm for six years, when she soll the place, and pir- chased another near Somerville. She was there four years, and then bought a farm near her oll home en die
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Springdale Pike. She was engaged in farming all these years, and in 1866 came to Hamilton, where she has since lived. She has built and sold four houses since coming to this place, and is now erecting a handsome residence on Second Street, which she intends to occupy. She has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1832.
Godfrey Doeller, druggist, was born in Cincinnati in 1851. He is the son of Angust and Mary V. Doeller, natives of Germany. The father was out with the three months' nen.
Vincent D. Colice, son of Vincent D. Cohee and Re- becca Moore, was born near Hamilton, February 15, 1825. Mr. Colice, Sen., was born January 8, 1781, in the State of Delaware, and removed here in 1811. Mrs. Colec was born May 14, 1786. He died in 1868, and she about 1854. They reared a family of ten children, six of whom are still living. Mr. Cohee was in the War of 1812, and the muster roll of his company is still pre- served in the family, as also a government note calling for four hundred dollars. It is now (1881) just one hundred years old, having been issued in 1781. The present Mr. Cohee has been a resident of Butler County for over fifty-five years, following farming until cighteen years of age, and since then being a carpenter and cabi- net-maker. The remainder of his family now reside in the State of Indiana, excepting one sister, the widow of the late Charles Sprague, who lives with him in Ham- ilton.
James Daugherty was born in Berkeley County, Vir- ginia, near Martinsburg, .on September 14, 1814. He came with his parents to Ohio in 1817, and settled in Deerfield Township, Warren County, in 1817. He re- ceived his education in the common schools, and was brought up to farming until he learned the cooper's trade. In 1839 he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Zina Doty, a former well-known resident of Butler County. She was born in this county in 1817. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty are the parents of eight children, of whom six are living. Aquila J. was formerly a well-known news- paper man. He was connected with the Cincinnati En- quirer and Garette, and was with the Lonisville Courier- Journal four years. He is now general western agent of the Erie and North Shore Railroad, at Keokuk, lowa. He is a graduate of Miami University. Lissa is now'as- sistant teacher in the high school in Hamilton, and has been engaged in that calling since 1861. In that time she has never lost but one week, which was when her mother died. Sallie V. and Jennie E. are at home. James N. is a resident of the State of Illinois. Annie B. is a music teacher by profession. Mrs. Dangherty died December 10, 1871.
Mr. Daugherty eame to Tlamilton in 1847, condnet- ing the coopering business for some years, and employing fifteen or sixteen hands. He was elected a justice of the pence in 1851, holding that position for seven years. He | one dollars.
was mayor in 1852, being re-elected for three terms. In 1857 he was elected auditor of Butler County. He represented his ward in the school board in 1858, and was active in educational matters. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
John Decher was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, in Ger- many, May 20, 1835, and is a younger son of Yost and Elizabeth Deeher. He was instructed in the public schools in Germany, and when fifteen began an appren- ticeship at the trade of shoemaking, but while doing so, on the 4th of July, 1852, he came to America. IIe worked in Buffalo, and also in Canada, as a journeyman. In 1857 Mr. Decher came to Hamilton, where he located, and was employed here by Isaae Whistler, dil September 13, 1861, when he culisted in the Seventeenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, being in the battles of Pca Ridge, Vieksburg, Arkansas Post, Yazoo Pass, and at the siege of Vicksburg. After the surrender of Vicksburg, he was attacked with typhoid fever, and was an inmate of the hospital for eight months. Upon recovering he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and was on duty in Virginia for a short time, being then transferred to Elmira, New York, acting as a guard until the con- elusion of his term of service, December 18, 1864.
He resumed his former situation with Mr. Whistler, and upon the death of the latter, in 1867 or 1868, he began business for himself, at which he has since coo- tinued. He is now at 112 Third Street, where he does a good business in custom work, besides having a well assorted stock on hand of ready-made goods. He was married in 1859, to Miss Kate Vinson, and is the father of seven children. Frederick R. is a shoemaker by trade, and a resident of Kansas. Carrie is the wife of Sidney Snider. George A. is a machinist, and the others are Lizzie, John, Lulu, and Sophia. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republie, and also of the Tem- ple of Honor, and in policies is a Republican.
The Rev. Truman S. Cowdeu was born in Gustavus, Trumbull County, May 11, .827. He is the son of James D. and Diautha C. (Ostrander) Cowden. He at- tended the common schools of the neighborhood till 1839, when the family removed to Gallipolis. He went to school there for some four years, graduating in 1845 or 1846. His youth was passed in acquiring an education, and he had decided to adopt the medical profession, but, while reading medicine, he received a license as an ex- horter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. This had beeu entirely unknown and unexpected to him. Three months later he reecived a license to preach, and a recon- mendation to conference as a suitable person to preach the Gospel. The presiding elder of the district, Mr. Free, with much persuasion finally prevailed on ale. Con- den to do so. His first work was as an assistant preacher on Jackson Circuit, upon which he had twenty-four ap- pointments. The emoluments of his first year were sixty-
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He entered the Cincinnati Conference in 1852, since which he has labored three years as pastor at Asbury Chapel, Cincinnati ; three years at Troy, Ohio, and the sune time at Hillsboro. At the request of Grace Church, Newport, he was transferred to the Kentucky Conference, and spent three years at Grace Church. Returning to the Cincinnati Conference, he was then three years at Eaton, coming to Hamilton in the Fall of 1880. Since his ar- rival here the Methodist Church has shown a material increase in membership, and the two years have been full of spiritual and financial success.
Mr. Cowden was married in 1851 to Miss Romain Rathburn, daughter of Dr. Rathburn, a former well- known physician of Jackson Court-house. They are the parents of four children, three of whom, daughters, are living. Their eldest child, Edgar H., died in 1877, in his twenty-first year. Mr. Cowdeu is a member of the Masonic order. While these sheets were passing through the press, Mr. Cowden was made a presiding elder, and has entered upon his duties.
Alfred Compton was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, July 16, 1833, being the son of Abraham and Abigail (Phillips) Compton, the former of whom is still living on the farmn where he settled in the woods, in Springfield,. Hamilton County. He is now in his eighty-first year. Hc raised a family of five daughters and five sons, of whom three daughters and three sons survive. . Alfred was educated in the common schools in that township, and was brought up to farming until he was sixteen, when he began an apprenticeship of three years at the trade of carpenter, in Hamilton. Upon the completion of his term he worked as a journeyman. In 1853 he went to Iowa, where he carried on building and con- tracting for some three years.
In 1854 he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Jane Luckey. They are parents of seven children, of whom four are living-Lester K., Thomas L., John A., and Francis M. Mr. Compton and family are members of the Christian Church. After marriage he remained in Iowa until returning to Ohio in 1863, when he located at Symmes's Corner. He came to Hamilton in 1872, and organized the firm of Compton & Brother, builders and contractors. That continued till 1875, when he be- gan the lumber business on the corner of Second and Sycamore Streets.
David D. Conover was born in Dayton, Ohio, No- vember 1. 1818, and is the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Deardorff) Conover. The father was a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and came to Ohio in 1802. Ile. first settled in what is now Lemon Township, two miles south of Middletown, afterward removing to Day- ten, where he married and remained till 1822. Returning to Butler County, he located at Monroe, where he spent the remainder of his days. He was engaged in merean- til business, in which he was successful, and reared a fiquily of five children, of whom three survive. Thomas J.
is a resident of Monroe, and Caroline is the wife of D. Y. Wintersteen, of Indiana. He died in 1832.
David D. Conover went to the common schools, but improved his education in later years. When sixteen he was thrown upon his own resources, and began an apprenticeship of four years at wagon-making. Upon completing his term, in 1839, he married Mary, daughter of Dr. Daniel Millikin. To this marriage were born two children, of whom one survives, Marietta, wife of Joseph Rodefer, of Hamilton. Mrs. Conover died in August, 1844. After marriage he removed to Hamilton, and in 1840 engaged in wagon-making. He continued in that till 1846, when he confined his attention to spring car- riages, at which he remained until 1852. He was then in the grocery trade, on High Street, some two years, and was also in the livery business for two years. He was in Rock Islaud, Illinois, in the saw manufacture, until 1859. He was then appointed general agent of the Butler County Insurance Company, and on the outbreak of the Rebellion became the commissary for supplying the recruits with provisions. Afterward he was with Job F. Owens, engaged in the purchase of forage for the government and supply of the camp in Hamilton, till the close of the war. He has been engaged in raising broom-corn, and also devotes attention to collections and real estate.
In 1847 he was married to Mary Easton, and had by her three children. Ellen is the wife of John Good- man, and Lizzie is the wife of William Loug, and is a resident of Toledo, Ohio. Mes. Conover died in 1853, and in 1856 he was married to Miss Mary Corriell, his pres- ent wife. He was appointed deputy United States mar- shall in 1861, and held the place until his resignation about 1867. He was reappointed in 1878, and is still filling that position. IIe and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. He has been a member of the Odd Fellows since 1850.
Charles M. Campbell, editor and proprietor of the Daily News and of the Hamil en Telegraph, was born in Middletown, Guernsey County, Ohio, January 1, 1852. He is the son of Dr. James Campbell, an eminent physi- cian, who enjoyed a large practice, and Susan Brown. His father died in 1852, and his mother in 1882. C. M. Campbell was educated in the common schools in his native place, aud afterwards went to Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and to the University of Wooster, in Ohio. He learned the trade of a printer, and was engaged as a partner iu the publication of the Cambridge (Ohio) News, and the Washington (Pennsylvania) Observer. During the centennial year he was at Washington, D. C., representing a St. Louis daily. In December, 1870, he purebased the Hamilton Telegraph, and ou the 22d of the same month began issuing the Hamilton Daily Nous. which has been a great success, and at this writing issues about two thousand copies : day. Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Pauline Straub, in Hamilton, on the 2d
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