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 58
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Pisgah. -- William W. Van Hise, Dceember 21, 1843 ;. David Conover, December 12, 1850; William W. Van Hise, August 8, 1853; David Conover, May 31, 1854; James Middleton, January 9, 1862; Samuel L. Sprinkle, July 10, 1876.
Port Union .- James Patchell, May 11, 1850; David Stiles, May 8, 1866; Cornelius W. Murphy, April 13, 1864; James V. Spellman, January 9, 1871. :
Maud's was first known as Shoemaker. Its postmaster was Richard Mand, who received his appointment August 22, 1872. On the 19th of May, 1874, it was called Maud's. Calvin T. Williams was made postmaster June 11, 1877; Fred. C. Wagner, March 25, 1880; Daston ST. Fluminer, May 4, 1881.
Gano .- George L. Pierec, December 19, 1872; Henry Fox, October 6, 1873; Charles L. Gano, December 9, 1874; John J. Williamson, February 7, 1881; Lewis W. Scott, May 23, 1881; Thomas H. Burgess, Apr'l 4, 1882. This office was discontinued one week in December, 1874.
PORT UNION.
Port Union was laid off by William Elliot, and was first named MeMaken's Bridge. MeMaken, an old pioneer of the place, started the first grocery and built the first frame house (still standing) in the town. Just opposite this building of MeMaken's was a log house, probably the first built. MeMaken put up his house during the con- struction of the canal, in 1827.
The town now contains a population of about eighty souls, has two grocery stores, two or three shops, and a church. James V. Spellman has had a dry goods and a grocery store here for several years. One is also owned by Frauk Ratz. Mr. Spellman is of the fim of Spellman & Vinnedge, grain dealers of this place.
The hail of the I. O. O. F. was built in 1878, and
is a brick building. The lodge has a membership of thirty. The building eost $2,000. Its lower part is a hall, sometimes used as a lecture room by the public. The Knights of Honor, a society of thirty members, lately chartered, meet in this building twice a month.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of Port Union has a membership now of about eighty-eight. The present bailding is a frame erected in 1856. The membership at that time consisted of but forty-one full members and eleven probationers. The Rev. W. H. Smith is the present pastor, and J. V. Spellman is the present Sab- bath-school superintendent. This Church was organized December 17, 1853. It was then in the Cumminsville District. At that meeting M. F. West was secretary, and there were present A. Eddy, presiding elder, and the Rev. Messrs. Glasscock and Daniel Griffis. J. M. Walden, of the Methodist Book Concern, of Cincinnati, was first licensed to preach at Port Union, June 3, 1854. The local elders were Samuel Goslin, Nathan Whittlesey, Brumfield Boon, William Marsh, Thomas Jeffras, Will- iam Moore, Samuel D. Spellman (founder of the society), Manning F. West, Samuel Spellman, Samuel Winnings, and Samuel Hard. Mr. Samuel D. Spellman came here in 1843, bat now lives in Indiana.
James Patchell, one of the oldest settlers of the town- ship, occupies a farm on Section 5, in the seconil town- ship, second range. He is a son of James Patchell and Elizabeth Cannon, who were natives of Ireland. He was born on Oil Creek, Venango County, Pennsylvania, July . 9, 1814. His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots, who emigrated to the northern part of Ire- land in 1568, four years before the massacre of St. Bar- tholomew. As early as 1515 the principles of Luther and Zwinglius had gained an entrance into France (espe- eially that part bordering on Switzerland), as well as the doctrines of Calvin, which were embraced by the Patel- ells, a very numerous and influential family living near Vassey. In the struggle between the Bourbons and the five princes of Guise, they espoused the cause of the former ; but it was not until 1560 that there was any- thing like an armed opposition to the tyranny of the lat- ter. A plan was agreed upon by the Huguenots to seize the Guises on a certain day. when a number of them were to present a petition to the king in person (who then lived at Blois), asking him to grant them the right of free exercise of their worship. The plan was betrayed and twelve hundred Huguenots were executed. Of that number seven were Patchells, where the name first or- eurred in Frenel history. Bloody scenes were the result, and the massacre of Vassey in 1562 was the immediate cause of a continued civil war between the Catholics and Protestants in that part of France for over a century.
In leaving France and settling in Ireland, the Patch- elis did not better their condition, for the same bloody scenes were there enacted, though of a local and not a national character. His great-great-great-great grand-
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father was one of the gallant few who served under that famous Protestant clergyman, George Walker, in the heroie defense of Derry against King James. For brav- ery in the battle of Boyne, he was presented with a gold medal, now in the possession of Samuel Patchell. His grandfather, Edward Patchell, was keeper of the forest under Lord Fitzgerald. This nobleman was killed by the Catholic tenantry, in the insurrection of 1788, in Derry County. He also owned a large farm five miles from Londonderry, and would have shared the fate of his lordship had he not been secretly released by a man named Dunbar, whom he had befriended in several ways.
In 1792 he emigrated to America, settling in Penn- sylvania. In 1800 he bought one thousand acres of land of the Holland Land Company, through which Oil Creek runs, on which are some of the largest, oil-wells in the State. His father, James Patchell, was next to the youngest of a family of two sons and three daughters, and was born in the county of Derry, Ireland, in 1772, and married Elizabeth Cannon in 1800. She was also a native of Ireland, and was born in the county of Tyrone, in 1783. By this union there were eight children : Ed- ward, William, Mary ., Jane, Eliza, Jemima, James, and Joseph, all of whom are now dead but James, who resides at Port Union.
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In the War of 1812 he was a major in the Pennsyl. vania militia, and during the Winter of 1814 was sta- tioned at Erie, Pennsylvania. His brother Edward was a brigadier-general in the Pennsylvania line during the War of 1812. He was also appointed by President Jack- son, during his second terin, the issuing commissary-gen- eral of the Army of the Southwest, with head-quarters at New Orleans, which position he held for three years, when he resigned on account of ill health. At the time of his death he was one of the wealthiest and most prom- inent citizens of Pittsburg.
In the Spring of 1816 James Patchell, in company with several other families, descended the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers to Neville, Clermont County, Ohio, in 2 keel-boat. He was driven to this course on account of going on the official bond of his friend Samuel Plumer, as sheriff of Venango County. He defaulted in office, for a large sum, and his security could not pay this without selling his farm, which he had inherited from his father. He left it in the hands of his brother Ed- ward, to sell and pay the debt. A short time after coming to Clermont County be purchased a farm in Tate Township, where he resided until 1830, when he removed to Butler County, where he died in 1844, and his wife in 1846. He was a man of great energy and strong will-power. Although a Democrat in a Demo- cratic county and township, and possessed of a good eduration, he would never consent to be a candidate for any office. These, combined with honesty and good julg- ment, made him a man of more than ordinary ability.
James Patchell, the son, was born on the 9th of July, 1814, at Oil Creek, Venango County, Pennsylvania, and removed with his parents to Clermont County, in Ohio, in 1816. He came to Union Township in 1830. On the 28th of August, 1842, he was married, at Port Union, to Mrs. Belinda Mcclellan Sinith, widow of Dr. G. M. Smith. Her maiden name was MeClellan, being the daughter of James MeClelian and Anna Giffin, and she was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, October &, 1815. Her father was a great-unele of General George B. MeClellan. They have 'six children. Joseph C. was born December 14, 1843; E. Jennie, August 4, 1847; James E., August 29, 1850; Stephen C., January 29, 1853; Edward W., August 14, 1855; and Rosalinda, December 6, 1858. Joseph C., who is married to Lizzie Gerwig, now lives in Cincinnati, and is a dentist in good practice ; E. Jennie is married to Samuel B. Dean, and lives at Collinsville; James is married to Ollie Cutler, and lives at Port Union; Stephen is married to Jennie Easton ; Edward W. is married te Mollie Howard ; Rosalinda was married September 28, 1881, to George Milton Roudebush, of Newtonville, Clermont County.
Mr. Patchell began with about eighty acres of land, but has sinee added steadily to it, until he now has tio hundred and forty-six aeres in a state of high cultiva- tion. He was trustee of Union Township from 1843 to 1849; justice of the peace from November 3, 1349, to December 13, 1846, in all fifteen years; postmaster of Port Union from May 11, 1850, to October, 1865, and notary publie sinee January 25, 1866. He was assessor of real estate in the township in 1859, and also in 1880, and revalued them in both years. From 1855 to 1877 he settled nearly all the estates of deceased persons as administrator, and aeted as guardian of minors within the township, their estates amounting in gross to nearly two hundred thousand dollars. His family has had a long and honorable connection with the history of this valley.
Hugh Cannon, the eldest brother of his mother, was killed in St. Clair's exp dition, November 4, 1791. Another brother of his mother, Thomas Cannon, mar- ried Elizabeth Scott, a sister of General Winfield Scott. They had one son and two daughters. The son, Will- iam Scott Cannon, died in New Orleans in 1834. The oldest daughter, Jane Gray Cannon, married James Swisshelm, a farmer's son living near MeKcesport, and afterward became famous as an editor and political and social writer. The other daughter married Zachary Mitchell of the same place. The Cannons and Swiss- helms were early settlers of Pittsburg and that part of the State. Mrs. Swisshehn was born and reared in the eity of Pittsburg.
James V. Spellman was born in Hamilton County. Ohio, November 16, 1823, and is the younger son ai Henry Spellman and Charlotte Galler, natives of Now York, of German descent. Spellman was one of the pin- neers of Hamilton County, settling in 1807, near Rel
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bank. He died in 1850. Mr. James V. Spellman was brought up as a farmer, being ocenpied at home until his twenty-first year. He was married December 1, 1842, to Angelina Warren, a native of Hamilton County. They are the parents of six children, three of whom are living. Althea J. was born in 1843, and is now the wife of Dr. L. M. Griffis, of Hamilton; J. Warren, January 18, 1847, now assisting his father in Port Union, and Clara V., July 25, 1855.
Mr. Spellman was in trade in Cincinnati for eight years, and being employed in farming in 1854. He came to Port Union in 1860, and engaged in farming and trading, entering the mercantile business in connection with James Beatty. Since 1870, when Mr. Beatty re- tired, the firm has been Spellman, Vinnedge & Co. They have a general store, and are extensive buyers of grain. Mr. Spellmau is a member of the Board of Trade of Cincinnati. He was township trustee for several years, justice of the peace for one term, and is now a member of the board of education. He was postmaster of Port Union for ten years. He had no early pecun- iary advantages, but now owns in addition to his store seventy-five acres of land adjoining the village.
TYLERSVILLE.
Tylersville was laid off in 1842 by Mr. Daniel Pocock, and named by John Sullivan after President John Tyler. It is locally known as Pug Muncy. The first building was erected by Michael Dalton many years previous to the above-mentioned time. The country surrounding this place was a dense forest, and cooperage the princi- pal trade. Mr. Dalton also erected the first cooper-shop. His dwelling-house was known for a long time as the swayback house. It was a story and a half, and as the roof had no support it sank. The house has now been torn down for forty years. In an early day, when timber was plenty, there were a number of cooper-shops, at times as many as three, and each did a good business.
The third house built in this place was a little pole cabin, erected not later than 1835. It was put up on the ground now owned by 'Squire Wright, and in his ganlev, and stood until about the year 1852. Andrew' Hough occupied this house afterward, and built a little pole eabin on the north-west of the two reads where be had a store, the first one in Tylersville. It was kept by him for a few years, when John Sullivan took possession, tore the score away, and built a little frame. Part of this structure is still standing.
Mr. Abram Sharpe, a German, was the next merchant of the town, and was very successful in the business, which he followed for twenty years. His store was be- gun on a small scale at first, but increased to that of a good country store afterwards. During his reign as chief merchant, an opposition store was started up by Mr. George Sheppard. The sons of Mr. Sharpe are at this time leading merchants in New York and Louisville. 1
Mr. John Whittikind, a German, has a country store in the village; the business of the place, however, has de- creased.
Besides the Sharpe boys, who did so well, Nathavie! Jeffras, now of Jeffras & Secly, Cincinnati, was here formerly as a poor boy, working for 'Squire Wright at eight dollars per month. His father, Thomas Jeffras, was an active man in the building of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of the place, and was one of its class-lead- ers for thirty-five years. The building was erected in 1850. Mr. Jeffras, the Rev. Nathan Whittlesey, and Mr. Jeffras's mother, a true Christian in every sense of the word, were the organizers of the Sabbath-school also. The membership of both the Church and Sabbath-school was greater formerly than now, owing to removals anel deaths.
The log school-house was the second building in the town proper. It contained an old-fashionedl fire-place that would take in a stick of wood eight feet long. The seats were made of slabs, pins supporting them on the floor. The windows were on either side of the house, and from ten to twelve feet long, occupying the length and width of one log. These windows were protected by shutters, and were fastened by strong hook-and-eye hinges, in such a way that when opened the shutters were raised from below and stood propped up. This house was built about 1830, and probably Elisha Dalton was the "first master" who held sway with the rod. Caldwell, Ames Sedam, and James S. Wiles were also early teachers. The house was used for singing-schools, church purposes, etc. ; but in 1840 the little brick school- house was erected, and stood until 1866, when the pres- ent brick structure was built. The present attendance at school is not so great as formerly. It does not now exceed forty pupils in average attendance, while in pioneer times it was not uncommon to have seventy-five pupils.
William Wright and his son John came to this place from Pennsylvania in 1816, and settled on Section 11. William Wright was an officer in the Revolutionary War, and drew twenty dollars annually as a pension, but was entitled to more. He was an Indian fighter in Pennsylvania in 1763. He was married twice, his second wife being Miss Rhoda Wharton, by whom he had six children. This marriage was in 1820. 'Squire Perry Wright, of this place, was named after Commodore Perry. Thomas Jeffras came to this portion of the town- ship from Maryland in 1805, and settled first near Mid- dletown, but soon afterwards removed to Tylersville. Michael Dalton came as early as 1805. He was for many years a teacher of the publie day-school, was a justice of the peace, and withal a sturdy pioneer of the wilderness. Isaiah Wharton settled first where Gano Station is now. His daughter Rhoda married William Wright, of Tylers- ville. 'Squire Wright, her son, now living in Tylersville, was born in 1827; has been justice of the peace nine
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years, and is also a good farmer. His farm adjoins the town.
The country about the village is high, the soil good, and a high state of cultivation prevails. The land is rolling and a little uneven between this point and West- chester. Almost every family in early times had a loom, and did their own weaving. They always hired the tailor and shoemaker. The teacher of the school was generally an Irishman. There was a grave-yard on Section 35, near Tylersville, at a very early date, but many were buried at Springdale.
WESTCHESTER.
Westehester is the oldest village in the township, and was originally called Mechanicsburg, but changed to West- chester by statute, and was laid out by Hezekiah Smith in March, 1817. Twenty-seven lots were laid out at first. Afterwards, in April, 1817, James Cummins made an addition of lots, numbering from one to twenty inclusive. Other additions have since been made.
Joseph Cox came from Maryland. He was employed by Judge Symines on the early surveys, settling a little south-east of Westchester on a quarter-seetion of land, and afterwards accumulated considerable property, and was considered as wealthy for a man of that day. He raised a family of three sons and three daughters. Julia Cox married Robert MeMaken, a brother of Joseph. Elizabeth married Dr. Williamson. The names of his sons were Benjamin, John, and Joseph. John beeame a wealthy farmer of the township. Joseph went South. Benjamin moved to Monroe County, Ohio. John Cox was born about 1800. Elizabeth Cox was born April 10, 1798, and died April 27, 1880. David Williamson died December 2, 1873, aged 78 years and 2 months.
Charles Legg, a very early pioneer, was born January 1, 1763, and died September 4, 1864. His wife Rachel was born May 25, 1762, and died November 21, 1847. Nancy MeMaken died in the twenty-seventh year of her age, in 1820. Charles Legg lived about a mile north of Westchester, and raised a family of ten children, all- dead but two sons and one daughter. The latter is now ninety-three years old. He came in 1805. Whittlesey, Connover, and Jeffras all came during that year. -
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William Van Hice was an early member of the Methodist Church, and has left a number of descendants, who are prominent citizens of the township. He raised a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls. He was born September 29, 1780, and died July 19, 1850. Rachael, his wife, was born March 4, 1779, and died April 11, 1850. He came from New Jersey in 1815, and some six or seven fiumilies bore him company, and among this number were Connover, Slayback, and others. After reaching Pittsburg they took a flat-boat for Cin- ciunati. Putting the horses and the wagons on the boat save one, Slayback rode from Pittsburg to Cincinnati. Van Hise settled on sixty aeres, Naples settling also on
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part of this place, but left after a year or so for Rising Sun, Indiana. Connover was the son-in-law of Slayback.
Westchester was settled apparently by mechanics. At the lower end of town was a flax-seed oil-mill, a full- ing-mill, a carding-mill, a saw-mill, and grist-mill. These miils, the saw-mill, grist-mill, and oil-mill were all under one roof. They were built by Samuel Burnes, and were primitive in construction, being a tread-mill run by oxen. A Mr. Samuel Foster carried on the mill some few years, but they all went down before the year 1820. The ruins of these foundations are still to be seen. Mr. James Cummins started the first tan-yard of the place, which was as carly as 1810. It was on the west side of the road, on a lot owned by Jared Parrish. This one was run until within the past eight years. Mr. MeLean had it last. Mr. Parrish owned it some forty years. Ile was an early and prominent settler of the town, who died September 7, 1870, at sixty-five years of age. The Rev. William Parrish was born in 1800, and died Octo- ber 17, 1847.
The first tavern of Westehester was kept by Ezekiel Gard. He was one of the eldest settlers of the place, and kept the hotel for forty years, and died May 3, 1868, aged sixty years. His wife, Elizabeth Gard, lived until 1868. She was seventy-six years old at the time. She died of the cholera in Indiana. This tavera was kept prior to the time of the stage routes. James Elliott was the first man who kept hotel where Mrs. Simpson now is. Daniel Avey sold out his hotel to Simpson a year or so before the war.
John Caldwell had a farm at Westchester and a tan- yard. Gard had a part of the ground. Hezekiah Smith had an ox saw-mill. When Colonel Dick Johnson's reg- iment eame through in 1812, they were handsomely en- tertained by the inhabitants. Smith acted as quarter- master till the end of the war. Johnson's regiment was of fine, handsome meu. They were taken to the woods near by where they camped, and the inhabitants vied with each other in taking the m good things to eat.
The first store in Westchester was kept by Anderson a few years. This was a small affair, and was afterwardis purchased and run by James Freeman, prior to 1820. It was near Mr. Jackson's shoe shop, but Freeman kept where the hotel is now. Jeremiah Day was probably the first blacksmith in the place. His shop was just below the town.
Formerly the village was in a most thriving condition. There were manufactures of every ordinary kind alnost, and the travel through was large-shoemakers, bat- makers, potteries, coopering, ete., in addition to what has been already named-induced considerable patron- age to the place that would otherwise have gone de- where. It now has a hotel, kept by Mrs. Margaret Simpson, a haracss shop, blacksmith's shop, carpomer'- shop, wagon-maker's shop, post-office, and one or two good stores, and one or two saloons. It is not the town
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it was before the railroad was built, and is not likely to increase in population in the near future.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church here is a branch of that in Sharon, Hamilton County. A meeting was held, closing February 6, 1869, at which the following persons united with the Church in Sharon : Ann Cox, Anna D. Forrest, Mary E. Wakefield, Nancy J. Long, Anna Hunt, Ben Bates, Harriet Bates, Lawrence Peel, Louisa Peel, Thomas Long, Catherine Long, Eva J. Hamilton, Beatty Pattison, Luther Hughes, Elizabeth Hughes, Joel Hall, Martha Haven, Marian Long, Mar- garet Long, James Jackson, William A. Jackson, Sarah A. Dalrymple, Delilah Fuller. They were organized into a branch of the Sharon Presbyterian Church, with the privilege of electing elders. The present member- ship is one Inindred and four. They used the building which belonged to the New School Presbyterian Church. Colonel C. L. Gano is superintendent of the Sunday- school. Their house cost thirty-three hundred dollars. The pastor is the Rev. C. K. Holtsinger. The old church was thirty-eight by forty fcet, and the new is thirty-cighit by fifty-nine feet. The church is very hand- some inside. They worshiped in the old church until very lately.
Mr. Daniel Avey, an old gentleman who died re- cently, gave the following account of what he remem- bered: He came to this section of the country with his father in 1806. They settled north-east of Westchester, on what is now the Wickey farm. Near the house Mr. Avey built a grist-mill, the stones being cighteen inches in diameter. In the Spring of the year corn would be ground at a rate not to exceed half a bushel an hour. The first school-house stood south of the present house of Daniel Michael, on the present farm of J. C. Wakefield, and was built between 1806 and 1812. It was of logs, with greased-paper windows. The second school-house was built near by, near the residence of James Miller, and was a frame building. The third was also frame, and is yet standing, belonging to Mrs. Fowler. It is now used as a residence. The next school-house is the present Granger Hall. The present school-house is a new building on the Cox farm, and is now about four years old.
The present Presbyterian Church was built in 1842, the builders and prime movers being Jerry Day and Enoch Conover. The Methodist Sunday-school was be- gun in a house now occupied by Van Hise as a store, in 1827 or 1828. This was a union Sunday-school, and was organized by the Rev. Hezekiah Smith. There is a branch of the Catholic Church in Glendale in this town. It was organized about the beginning of the civil war, and worships in Grangers' Hall. There are about one hundred and sixty members. Their priests have been the Rev. Messrs. Corcoran, Carey, and O'Donnell, the last being the present clergyman.
previous to this time worshiped in private houses, fre- quently meeting at Mr. Legg's. The money for this edi- fice was raised by subscription, and the two pioneers of the Church, Charles Legg and Darau Whittlesey, were active in securing the amount necessary, and frequently made long and laborious trips over the country in their calls for donations. The first structure was of brick, and as the builders did not know how to construct a self- supporting roof, they put columns under it for the sup- port of that part. The lot was donated by Hezekiah Smith, who was a Baptist preacher and the founder of the town. The school-house stood on the same lot also. The church building stood until 1848, when it was torn down and the old brick used in part to build the new one.
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