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 41
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where she still lives. She is single. He was a farmer, and owned about one hundred acres of land. He died about 1821, and his wife about 1814. His sons, Thomas, William, and Rezin were in the War of 1812. He was a Freemason.
Silas Williamson's father, John, was born in 1790, and was eight years old when he came out here with his father, David, They were of Holland descent. David Williamson, the grandfather, married Mary Van Dyke in 1787. and emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in June, 1797, and from Kentucky to Ohio in Novem- ber, 1798, and settled in Liberty Township, in Section 14. He had four sons: George, born 1788; John, father of Silas, born 1790; David V., born 1795, and Peter, born 1801. In 1797 there was a settlement formed on Beatty's place. Beatty was the first, and Voorhees the next. It is said this township owed its name of Liberty to old 'Squire John Morrow, who had formerly lived in Liberty, Pennsylvania, and that he went to Hamilton expressly to have the name given. There was a hand-mill at Mr. Beatty's place, and the stone was afterwards put under the corner-stone of a barn. Mr. Williamson was born in 1819, on the farm where he now lives, in Sec- tion 15. He was married to Christiana White in 1843, and has two children, Cordelia, born in 1849, and Milton, born in 1810. The latter was married to Ada Beatty in 1878. Mr. Williamson's mother's name was Christina Brewer. She was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, in 1798, married in 1817, and died in 1843. She had seven children: David, Silas, Mary Ann, Jane, John T., George W., and Margaret. Silas Williamson was elected township clerk in 1865, and has held the office ever since, with the exception of two years. He was elected a jus- tice of the peace in 1865, and has held that office ever since. He has been for many years a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, as were his father and grund- father before him.
Augustine E. Williamson, son of David B. William- son and Betsy (Elliott) Williamson, was born January 29, 1842, in this township, and was married in 1865 io Eliza Ann Swearingen, born Oetcher 12, 1846, in War- ren County. They have three children : Mineola, born October 8, 1866; Bertha, February 13, 1870, and Grace, January 18, 1875. He is engaged in the purchase of grain and stock, under the firm name of Kyle & Will- iamson. He owns two hundred and fifty acres of fine land, and has been an important and influential man in this community.
The first of the Woodmansces who came to Butler County was Daniel. He was born September 22, 1777. in New Jersey, and was married in 1801, in Pennsylva- nia, to Rachel Cushman, who was born in Pennsylvania, July is, 1778. They had seven children. Hannah was born March 3, 1862; Asa, July 12, 1504; Lorenzo Dow. November 16, 1806; Julia, Mareb 25, 1809 ; Sarah, Derember 18, 1811 ; James, April 20, 1814, and Mary,
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
March 15, 1818. The last is the wife of the Rev. Charles Ferguson, and lives in Clinton County. Lorenzo D. is married, and lives in Minnesota ; Julia is the widow of Hiram Jones, and lives in Illinois, and Asa is dead.
Mr. Woodmansee eame to Butler County in 1809, and sertled in Liberty Township. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, where he lived till the time of his decense, and which his son, James, now owns. He and his wife were both very prominent members of the Methodist Church, and, in fact, during its early years in their neighborhood, were its chief support. Their house was used as a meeting-house, and also for entertaining the ministers and congregations afterwards. He was a very hospitable man, and a prominent man in political circles. He represented the county both in the lower house and the Senate for a period of ten years. He was also a very prominent man in his own district, aet- ing as law adviser for all the neighborhood, and doing the work of a justice of the peace, although refusing to be elected. Hle also held several other important offices in the county and township, and, in faet, held office all his life long. Ile came down the river to Cincinnati in a flat-boat, which he loaded with iron eastings, sugar- kettles, etc., which he disposed of in Cincinnati. His father, James Woodmansee, and mother, Hannah Wor- den, came with him, and in a few years he sent for his brothers and sister to come. They were Samuel, James, Thomas, and Hannah, with her husband, John Gray, and their children. They all came and settled in this county, except the Grays, who went to Preble County. James Woodmansee, the father, was a soldier in the Rev- olutionary War. He went out with the first hostilities and was soon made a corporal. He was afterwards pro-
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moted to lieutenant, serving all through the war. Daniel, the son, died in 1842. His last vote was cast for Harri- son. His wife died September 7, 1875, and is buried in the Woodmansee Cemetery, in Sugar Valley.
James Woodmansce, the poet, was born April 20, 1814, and was married in October, 1874, to Fanny Sampson McGowan, born in Urbana, Ohio, February 24, 1844. They have three children: Cicero, Pauline, and Lethe Lois. Mr. Woodmansee received a good education, and was brought up to agricultural pursuits. He early developed a fondness for verse, and has written two epie poems: "The Closing Scene, a Poem in Twelve Books," and "Religion, a Poem in Twelve Books." The subject of the first poem is the great war between Gog and Magog, ending "with the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds." The second shows religion from the time the "spirit brooded o'er the water's face " to the millennium. Besides these poems he has written " Wrinkles from the Brow of Experience;" "Poetry of the Seasons, a Poem in Four Books, Descriptive of Every Month in the Year," and "The Prodigal Son, a Drama in Five Acts." "The Closing Scene" and " Wrinkles " are already published, and have received the highest praise, both in Europe and America. A previ- ous writer says: "Thomas Noon Talfonrd, the great critie and judge of Westminster, said : ""The Closing Scene" rivals the " Divina Commedia" of Dante;' and. Samuel Rogers, the auther of 'Pleasures of Memory,' says: 'I eall " The Closing Scene " the " Paradise Lost" of America.'" Mr. Woodmansee has traveled in Europe and America, but now pays the most of his attention to study and literary composition. He is at present living in Hamilton.
OXFORD.
OXFORD is bounded on the north by the county of | in 1822; Abram A. Chittenden. in 1823; Abram Martin, Preble, on the east by Milford Township, on the south by Reily Town-hip, and on the west by the State of Indiana.
The township once formed a part of Milford, and be- fore that of St. Clair. The boundary lines were fixed as they now exist in 1811. In 1820 the population was one thousand six hundred and fifty-three; in 1830, two thou- sund nine hundred and twenty-eight; and in 1840, three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight inhabitants.
The justices of the peace have been Joe! Collins and Levi Lec, in 1811: James M. Dorsey, in 1813; James Beck, in 1815; James M. Dorsey, in 1816; James Beck, in 1818; James M. Dorsey, in 1819; Daniel Strickland, in 1820; Abraham Martin, in 1821; James M. Dorsey,
in 1824; James M. Dorsey, in 1825; A. J. Chittenden, in 1826; Abram Martin, in 1827; James Crawford, in 1827; A. J. Chittenden, in 1828; James Ratliff, in 1830: James Crawford, in 1830; Abner H. Longley, in 1831; Gideon S. Howe, in 1832; Peter Sutton, in 1833; Jantes Crawford, in 1833; Gideon S. Howe, Peter Sutton, and Wales B. Bonney, in 1835; Gideon S. Howe, Peter Sut- ton, and Wales B. Bonney, in 1838: Joseph Hills. in 1839; Wales B. Bonney and Peter Sutton, in 18tt : E. A. MeArthur, in 1842; James Crawford, ja Ist#: and William A. Irwin, in 1845.
The old inhabitants of the township were unmed Beeler, Collins, Keely, Dorsey, Morris, Ludlow, De Witt, Alger, Minor, Boad, Wadley, Hughes, Chittenden, Aus.
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OXFORD.
tin, Adams, Mccullough, Greer, Chancy, Temple, Black- leach, Hong, Weller, Horner, Freeman, Crawford, Ratliff, and Doty. Most of these have passed away.
Oxford Township presents a variety of soils and sur- faces. The land is generally elevated and well adapted to grazing, the growing of wheat, and produce of all kinds. Farms are small, and the agricultural population large for the territory embraced. With the exception of two or more sections, the land belongs to the Miami University, the trustees of that institution leasing the land for ninety-nine years, renewable forever, subject to the annual payment of a quit-rent of six per cent on the purchase money.
Indian Creek runs through the south-west corner of the township, and in places the banks are high and pre- cipitous. The stream here is quite rapid, and in early times afforded many excellent mill-sites.
Four-mile Creek flows through the township diago- nally from north-west to south-east. The country border- ing this stream is hilly, and in some places almost wholly unfit for agricultural purposes. Bottoms of some width and fertility follow the streamn, on which fine crops of corn, wheat, and barley are usually grown. Four-mile has streams flowing into it of considerable size, among the most important of which are Cotton's Run, with a bevy of tributaries from the west, Harker's Run, from the north, likewise with many small branches, and other streams of more or less importance from the north. One of the remarkable features of Four-mile Creek is that it is larger in the township of Oxford than in St. Clair. The old settlers tell us it has ever been so, and that probably the water sinks into the sandy soil as it ap- proaches nearer and nearer the Miami, or Seven-mile, into which it empties.
The late Colonel Thomas Irwin, of Butler County, was appointed commissioner to lay out and make a road, which was accordingly executed during 1804 and the following year. James Heaton, who was the county sur- veyor of this county, assisted in the undertaking. The road terminated at the center of the township, and the timber was cut to that point, but soon grew up in bushes. When the town of Oxford was laid out, in 1810, and began to improve, the direction of the road was changed from a point some distance east of the township, and laid out to the town.
The commissioners of Butler County, at their session in December, 1808, made an order for laying out a road from Rossville to the west boundary of the college town- ship, nearly opposite to where James Crooks then lived, in the State of Iudiana. The persons appointed for the work -- Samuel Dick, William Blackburn, William Crooks, viewers ; James McBride, surveyor ; Benjamin Davis and Cyrus Timbrel, chainstuen, and Hampton Adkins, ax- man and marker -- accordingly met at Rossville on the 9th of February, 1809, and proceeded with their duty. This was the first county road laid out in Oxford Town-
ship. For many years it was traveled a great deal by the eounties that lay west of the State line.
The December commissioners of 1808 appointed the same viewers to lay out a road from Joel Williams's mill at Millville, to the west boundary of the county and State, at the west side of Section 6, township 4, of range 1.
The next publie road laid out was in March, 1811, from Derrough's Ford on the Miami River to the town of Oxford, and thence north-easterly in a direction for the town of Eaton, in P'reble County. Joseph Walker, Charles Bruce, and John Maxwell were appointed viewers; James McBride, surveyor ; John Walker and Darius C. Orcutt. chain-men ; and Harp Tietsort, ax-man and marker.
The north boundary of the county was struck about thirty-five. chains west of the north-cast corner of the township. The whole length of this road was twenty-one miles and a fraction.
In January, 1830, the Legislature of Ohio passed at law incorporating a company with a capital of $150,000 to make a turnpike from Hamilton, Ohio, to Richmond, Indiana. At the evening session of the Legislature of Ohio, the law was modified and amended so as to author- ize the company to make a turnpike road from Hamilton to the north-west corner of the College Township. The directors or managers appointed by the act were John Woods, William Taylor. Daniel Millikin, Robert Hewes, Abraham J. Chittenden, and Joel Collins, who organ- ized themselves, and on the 29th of August, 1831, opened books for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of the company.
In the Summer of 1832 about seven miles of the road was located and staked out by Samuel Forrer, civil engi- neer, who then resided in Cincinnati. On Saturday evening he came home to see his family, and the cholera having broken out in the city, he did not return. After- wards, in consequence of the difficulty in raising money and other embarrassing circumstances, no further progress was made, and the prosecution of the work was finally abandoned.
The history of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Society is obscure. In 1832 John Stewart, pastor in charge, organized the first Church at the house of Peter Butler, one mile and a half east of where the chapel now stands. The first leader was Isaae Crume, son of the Rev. Moses Crume, who was presiding elder of the district iu 1817 and 1818. At the time of the organization, or soon thereafter, the Church consisted of the following men- bers: Isaac and Jane Crume, Peter Butler and wife, Mary, Joshua Leech and wife, Miller and Ann Dorsey, Lucretia Procter, James Finkbine, John Dake and Eliza his wife, and Mr. Keely and wife. The chapel was built in 1834 or 1835. A local preacher by the name of Wetherby seems to have been more active in the enter- prise than any one else.
In 1829 Elijah II. Fields, pastor, organized the first
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
Church in the neighborhood of the Zion Methodist | Episcopal Church, at the house of Elisha Fay, and appointed Broomfield Boone the first class-leader. In 1834, during the pastorate of C. W. Swain and John Waterman, a log church, "old Zion," was built, three- fourths of a mile west of the present church. On the 2d of March, 1843, the log church was burned to the ground, the origin of the fire being unknown. In the same year the present house was commenced, and was completed in about one year from the time the first house was burned. On the 22d of March, 1844, the new house was dedicated by Zachariah Connell, pastor in charge. At this time the society was very prosperous, but for the last twenty years it has been on the decline. There is no Sabbath-school, no class-meetings nor prayer- meetings, and very small congregations.
The Christian Church in the Doty settlement, three miles and a half north of Oxford, was organized in 1844 by Herrick Burdsell, who was the most prominent of all the early members-Samuel Doty, Job Smith, Samuel Ware, Mrs. Joseph Morris, and others as members, and the Rev. Mr. Campbell and Joel Collins as principals. For the business men of the Church the society had Samuel Doty and Judge Collins. John Griggs, a re- formed man, came in some time after the first permanent organization, and in after life wou the esteem and confidence of his brethren. Solomon Keller was also among the first of the members. The frame church, twenty-four by thirty-six feet, which is now standing un- finished and rarely used, was erected a year or more after the Church was organized. Job Smith donated one acre of land for church and burial purposes, on which there are considerable numbers buried. The grave-yard is in a good condition, quite unlike the church. This congregation never had a regular pastor, but the Rev. Henry Prickett, a son-in-law of Herrick Burdsell, preached here for some time after the organization.
Fifty-five or sixty years ago, a Baptist church was erected on Section No. 31, a few feet distant from the old Girton school-house. This house was a frame building, and is now stauding-removed from its original site-on Section 29. The house was, however, used for worship by all the denominations who chanced to be without a church in this neighborhood. The Rev. Firm Vanness, now a Methodist minister in Indiana, was one of the early preachers. Ebenezer Stibbins was also a local preacher and an early member. The Rev. Wilson Thompson, and, in fact, all those who preached from time to time at the Indian Creek Baptist Church, in Reily Township, administered to this people. Johu Burress was one of the first and most influential members, a man of many good motives and actions.
Christopher Girton's mill, on Indian Creek, in Section 31, was built sixty years ago by Mr. Barnum, a Yankee mill-wright. This flouring establishment passed from the father to son, Jacob Girton, and twenty-eight years ago
became the property of Thomas Mccullough, a leading citizen of Oxford village. The first mill, an undershot frame, is yet standing, but is now propelled by a turbine water-wheel, and has two sets of buhrs. Thomas Me- Cullough is the son-in-law of Jacob Girton.
Christopher Girton had a still-house about three hun- dred yards west of the mill, with a wooden still, fifty odd years ago. This pioneer establishment continued to run for a good while, but finally went down. About seventy-five feet north of west of the still-house there was a private burying-ground. A buckeye tree marks the site of this ancient burial place exactly. A Mr. Bake had a still-house on Section 18, on Indian Creek, thirty-five years ago.
While Jacob Girton was in charge of the mill, he also carried on a country store. IIe continued in this branch of trade for more than twenty years. The house in which the store was kept is now standing, and is owned by Mr. Mccullough.
Kennedy Brooks's brother, an Irishman, sixty years ago built a saw-mill on Four-mile. This mill was run for about ten years, and then sold to Mitchell & McClure, who erected a new undershot establishment. For six or eight years the firm did a considerable amount of saw- ing, but finally the mill weut down on their hands. Mr. Mitchell was a son-in-law of MeClure, whose given name was Jolm.
There was a fulling-mill above the Brooks saw-wiill, on the next farm, owned by James Lee. This manufactory was propelled by water-power, and the building was a frame. Lee sold the farm on which the fulling-mill stood to Mr. Orr. North of this mill a fourth of a mile Robert Marshall had a frame tread-wheel still-house, pro- pelled by ox-power. All these three last mentioned establishments were in operation at the same time, and all have passed away.
Fifty years ago, ou Section 81, a school was taught east of Girton's mill, on the top of the hill, by Maria Bur- ris, a single lady, who now resides in Oxford. Miss Burris afterwards taught in Cincinnati for twenty years. She was an excellent teacher. The second house, which was also a frame building, was erected thirty-five years ago. Colonel French and Jacob Girton, who were the largest tax-payers in this section of country, with others, combined and built the building. Elizabeth, Christo- pher, Adam, and Phebe Girton were among the scholars. Christopher Girton was afterwards a member of the Les- islature in Indiana for two or three terms, and also a connty commissioner. Among the other scholars who obtained an education here were Robert Riggs and sisters and Colonel Dickinson's children. Judge Fisk, now of Brookville, Indiana, was a scholar in the first frame. Four of the Wardwell brothers were also scholars. Mirs. Isaac Wardwell, whose husband is dead, celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday on the 15th of April, 1882, sur- rounded by over one hundred relatives and friends.
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Near the Doty Christian Church a log school-house. was built fifty years ago, on Levi Goodwin's farm. Goodwin was a chair-maker by trade, and many of the okl chairs and tables, bedsteads and stands in this town- ship are specimens of his workmanship. The house was removed in 1846 or 1847, after having been in use for ten or twelve years. Some of the early teachers were. Robert Orr, who was from Union County, Indiana, Au- drew C. and David. McDill, all men of much respecta- bility. A one-armed man by the name of Smith was also among the first teachers. The Martins, Adamses, and Dotys were the scholars.
The frame house was built in 1847, one-fourth of a mile south of the church, William Swan and Jay Proc- ter were early teachers in this house. The present brick house was built eight or ten years ago on the foundation of the old frame 'building.
The township, in 1845, was divided into ten school districts, and about one thousand dollars was annually collected from the citizens and appropriated for educa- cational purposes.
The first frame house and barn erected in the town- ship are now to be seen. These two buildings were put up in 1817 by West Bonney, the father of Wales B. Bonney, of Oxford, who was born in 1799, and who is, perhaps, the oldest man in the township. They stand on the College Corner pike, one mile and a quarter from Oxford. The house is eighteen by forty-two, and one and a half stories high ; the barn is thirty by forty feet. Both are in a good state of preservation.
Aaron Austin's grist-mill, on Four-mile, was erected about 1815. This building was a frame, three stories high, and was supplied with power by a sixteen foot over- shot water-wheel. This mill was used for about thirty . years, when it burned down. Some time after the election of the grist-mill, and its successful operation, a saw-mill was built near by. Both of these establishments stopped at the same time. Franklin Austin, a son of the old gen- tleman, built the second mill, which was also a frame, three stories high, a year or two after the first mill was consumed by fire. Young Austin was a mill-wright by trade, and, like his father, was possessed of many ster- ling qualities. The same power was used in the second mill as in the first, though the machinery was greatly improved. Frauklin Austin, it appears, had nothing but a son's interest in the grinding department, for we find his father selling out his property, and soon after James Broadberry became the owner. This gentleman carried on the Houring department for about three years, and a little time after, Samuel Mollyneaux conducted the mill. He, in turn, disposed of his interest. J. B. Pugh, the present proprietor, has been in possession for about fourteen years. This mill has four sets of buhrs, aud does a large business in country work and merchant flour.
Aaron Austin was an early settler on Section 23, where he owned over two hundred acres of fine bottom .
land. This portion of the township is very fertile, and in the course of seventy-five years has apparently lost none of its native strength.
COLLEGE CORNER.
The village of College Corner was laid out by Gideon T. Howe, May 5, 1837. It is located mostly in Ohio, in Butler and Preble Counties, but is also partly in Indiana, in Union County. The village, as it was platted, belongs to Butler County, but the various additions have changed the original intentions of the founder somewhat. The land round about is fertile and level. The great thoroughfare, already mentioned in speaking of the roads, was the pike, which afforded an excellent outlet for all the outlying country in the West.
The - first house built in College Corner was a log hemp-mill, erected by the neighbors in 1811, or there- abouts, for the purpose of pounding hemp. The site of this mill is now occupied by Ridenour & Bake as a store- lot. This mili was used for eight or ten years. But the mill was built before the land was entered, the farm on which it stood being taken up by Chrisley Kingrey, of Virginia.
There was a blacksmith, a Mr. Bright, here many years ago, who remained for three or four years, a few rods east of the old hemp-mill. Some of those by whout he was succeeded were John Murphy, whose shop stood on the ground now occupied by Ramsey's store, and who stayed with the people for twenty-five years. His resi- dence is now supplanted by the home of Dr. McChristy, who has been here for fifteen years. David Montgomery was here as a blacksmith fifty years ago, in a shop the site of which is now opposite Bake & Ridenour's store.
The first store, however, which was kept in College Corner, was in a hewed-log two-story house, which stood where Samnel Ramsey now lives. Thomas Forbes was the store-keeper. Samuel Ridenour was the second man who engaged in the same branch of trade. He sur- ceeded Forbes by buying him o it, remaining three years. The elder Ridenour was followed by his son, J. M., in the same house, for fifteen years. J. M. Ridenour then removed across the street, in the brick honse which he built in 1847, and which is now occupied by the Shera Brothers. College Corner was never of any importance until Samuel Ridenour became engaged in mercantile pur- suits in this neighborhood. He was a man who dealt largely in hogs and cattle, and in all the industries of the community took a leading and active hand. His sons followed their father in many respects, and are now honored citizens of the place.
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