USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 67
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On his death-bed, his religion stood him well. He knew he was to die. He disposed of all his worldly business days before his death and would not refer to it afterward. When he felt the near approach of the last enemy, he sent for all his family and bade them a calm farewell. Among them was his mother in her nnety-eighth year. He was as calm and self-possessed as though death were nothing but the passing from one room to another. After giving a suitable message to each, he took his right hand and felt the pulse of his left wrist. After watching it for a moment, he said "Almost gone," replaced his right hand by his side and soon after died, most calmly. His faith in the religion he had lived was most complete. His dying hours were the most sublime of any Christian's death in Manchester before or since. At his funeral all the people turned out and all the poor were there and wept at his grave. Then and not until then were his benefactions to the poor known and they were told by recipients themselves. The writer was at his funeral and the grief of those whom he had befriended seemed as great as those of the members of his family. Till the people stood by his open grave, the extent of his good works in Manchester was not known. Thirty-four years have passed since that memorable funeral and the place of William Ellison in the church and community of Manchester have not been refilled. No one who has come after him has been able to do the good he did. To say that William Ellison was the best citizen in Adams County in his time would offend none who were cotemporary with him, for all would con-
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cede it. It is to be hoped that the memory of his pure and upright life and his kind and good deeds may long remain fresh and green with the people of Adams County.
Edward Evans.
His great-grandfather, Hugh Evans, was a Quaker, came over with William Penn in 1682, and located near Philadelphia. He had a son, Edward, who located in Chester County. His son, Hugh, became a school teacher in Chester County, and Mad Anthony Wayne, when a boy of twelve years, was one of his pupils, and a very mischievous and unruly one. Hugh Evans also had a trade, as that was thought necessary in those days. He was a weaver as well as a school teacher.
Hugh Evans, the father of our subject, removed to what was then Cumberland, but is now Bedford County, Pennsylvania, about ten miles above Bedford borough on the Juniata River.
Edward Evans was born April 27, 1760, an only son. He had two sisters older than himself who died in young womanhood, but not before they had made themselves some reputation for attainments in vocal music. The family attended the commencements of Princeton College, and they sang in the commencement exercises.
Edward Evans spent his boyhood as the boys of his time did. He was fond of fishing in the Juniata River, and from the time he was twelve years of age, often made trips alone to Hagerstown, Maryland, to obtain salt. In these trips, he usually took a train of twelve pack horses. He would carry the horese' feed in the packs in going over and leave it at stopping places where it would be used on his return. The salt, when brought to Bedford, was sold for as high as twelve dollars per bushel. In his sixteenth year, the Revolution began. Till that time, the family had been Quakers, but King George did away with that, and father and son abandoned that faith. Hugh Evans went into the war in 1776, and served two months, but he was lame and had to give it up. Then Edward determined to go and did go, and became a member of Captain Samuel Dawson's Company of Col. Richard Humpton's Regiment, 11th Pennsyl- vania. He spent that dreadful winter in the cantonments of Valley Forge. There he saw Mrs. Washington, where she visited the camp, knitting and sewing for the soldiers. He was at the Battle of the Brandywine, September II, 1777. At Brandywine, the British had retired over a bridge across the creek. They did not have time to destroy the bridge, but filled it full of wagons, carts and debris to prevents immediate pursuit. Edward Evans was one of twelve detailed to clear the bridge under muskety fire of the enemy. The bridge was cleared, and not one of the twelve were struck, though the splinters flew all about them. The Continentals immediately charged across the bridge. He was at the affair of Paoli, September 11th, and at Germantown, October 4, 1777. Here his colonel had his horse shot from under him, but he took off the saddle, put it on another horse, and went on with the fight. In this battle, he was in the left wing, and claimed that the troops he was with were compellel to fall back, when it was not neces- sary because the officer in command was intoxicated. He was near the battle of Monmouth on that hot Sunday, June 28, 1778, but having been on the sick list, his Captain ordered him to remain with the baggage, which he did, but he was in sight and hearing of the battle. He left the service for a time soon after the battle of Monmouth, and settled in
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Rostaver Township, Westmoreland County, Virginia, called the Neck, lying between the two rivers, the Youghiougheny and the Monongahela. He lived near Devore's Ferry on the latter river. There he married Jemima Applegate, daughter of William Applegate, recently located there from the State of New Jersey. The wedding was a grand affair for the time and one hundred persons sat down to the dinner.
Directly after his marriage, he and his wife went to housekeeping in the house of John Right, a Scotchman and a bachelor. Wright liked the young couple and made them many household utensils on his anvil. Among them was a fire shovel, now in the possession of the writer hereof.
Edward Evans, in 1785, emigrated to Kentucky, descending the Ohio River on a flat-boat with his wife, two children and household goods. He landed at Limestone, now Maysville, but went back to Wash- ington, where he rented land of a Presbyterian minister. While re- siding there, he acted as an Indian scout and spy, from time to time, until the treaty of Greenville. In 1799, he removed to Adams County, near its western line. He lived near Red Oak and rented land until he could be suited in a purchase. In 1803, he bought 109 acres of land all in the unbroken wilderness, in what is now Jefferson Township in Brown County. He paid for this land in horses. When he went over the land, after purchasing, he was unable to find any springs on it. He then went to his wife and wanted her consent to rescind the trade. She said, "No, it would make them a home and they must hold on to it," which they did. Afterward, seven good springs were discovered on the tract. Edward Evans built him a pole cabin and went to housekeeping, and as soon as he could, he built him a two-story hewed double log house and moved into it. He made all the chimneys he thought necessary and hauled a hundred loads of stone to do it. He resided on this farm until his death, November 3, 1843. He at one time weighed three hundred pounds, but his ordinary weight was one hundred and eighty-five pounds. He was five feet, ten and a half inches tall, and in youth, had black curly hair. He had high cheek bones, broad forehead and regular features. He always carried himself very erect. In his youth, he had learned the art of dis- tilling liquors, and at times, operated a stillhouse. He was the father of twelve children, six sons and six daughters. His wife had four sisters, all of whom married. Two of their husbands were Revolutionary soldiers, John Dye and Robert Wright, and they two and Edward Evans used often to sit together and recount their expeiences in the Revo- lutionary War. Each had served in different places during the war, one at sea and two on land.
When Edward Evans was about to die, he requested to be buried in the old-fashioned shroud, to be laid on a flat-topped cherry coffin and buried on his farm. All his wishes were complied with. In his family from 1862 to the pesent time, there were in alternate generations, a Hugh and an Edward. Hugh came over with William Penn. He had a son Edward. His son Hugh was in the Revolution. His son Edward was the subject hereof. He had a son, Hugh, who was a Mississippi River pilot. There was an Edward among his grandsons and a Hugh among his great-grandsons. His wife, Jemima Applegate, died January 7, 1844. Her father, William Applegate, emigrated from New Jersey to Penn- sylvania, and from there to Corydon, Indiana, where he died at the ripe
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age of one hundred and five years. When one hundred years old, he walked into the woods with his rifle, and, without glasses, shot a squirrel in a tree. The descendants of Edward Evans were once numerous in Brown County, but are now scattered in many States of the Union. A great-grandson is one of the editors of this work.
Joseph Eyler,
the pioneer, was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, Sep- tember 22. 1759. He was a son of George and Catherine Eyler who lived and died in that country. In 1777 he ran away from home to escape service in the army, and after walking 800 miles to the coast, shipped for the United States, arriving at Baltimore in the autumn of that year. From that time until the period of his marriage little is known of him except that he was engaged as a wagoner, and accumulated enough to own a four-horse team and a "Cannestoga" of his own. In 1787 he married Mary Ann Rose- miller, a daughter of John George Rosemiller, living in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The Rosemillers were wealthy Tories, and objected to their daughter's marrying. the unknown and poor wagoner; an elopement followed, and Mary Ann Rosemiller became Mary Ann Eyler. How- ever, John George Rosemiller had other daughters "Ann" to cheer his declining years. They were Ann, Rose Ann, Catherine Ann, Barbara Ann, Elizabeth Ann, Julia Ann, Mary Ann, who eloped with Eyler, and a son named John George Lewis.
The breach in the domestic life of the Rosemillers made by the clandestine marriage of Mary Ann remained until her death. Her sisters had married well, and they never lost the opportunity to remind her of the fact, so that she and her husband shortly after the birth of their first child, the late Judge Joseph Eyler, of Adams County, removed to Bed- ford, Pennsylvania, then a frontier town from which goods were dis- tributed to the settlements in western Virginia and Kentucky. It was a point where the young wagoner found ready employment.
In 1795, Joseph Eyler and his little family, in company with others, came down the Ohio River by keel-boat and landed at the "Three Islands" where Nathaniel Massie had founded the town of Manchester. Eyler tended a patch of corn on the lower island that summer, and the following winter built a cabin on a tract of three hundred acres purchased near Kill- instown. The next year, James B. Finley passed over Tod's old trace to the new settlement at Chillicothe and noted the fact that there was a "cabin near the present site of West Union, built by Mr. Oiler, but no one was living in it." Eyler's original tract is now owned by Sandy Craigmile, John Crawford, and Samuel McFeeters.
Joseph Eyler moved into his cabin in the year 1796. He then had four small children, Joseph, Mary, Sarah and Catherine, and there were born here John, Samuel, Martin, Henry, David, Lewis, George, and Elizabeth. Of these, Samuel, Martin, David, Lewis, and George died in childhood and are buried at Killinstown. He cleared away the forest and soon possessed one of the best farms in that portion of the country. He was industrious and economical and accumulated considerable wealth for those times. He was frequently called on to serve in local official positions such as "lister" of property, being a man of good judgment and 36a
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a great deal of common sense. From Killinstown he moved to a farm near Winchester, on what is now known as the "Massie Farm." He re- sided there a few years and then bought a farm near Berryville, in High- land County, where he conducted a distillery. He remained there until 1834, when he disposed of his property and removed to Brown County, on a farm now owned by his grandson, Carey C. Eyler, north of the village of Fincastle. Here he died July 29, 1839, and was buried in the Wilson cemetery about one mile east of the village of Fincastle. His wife survived until March 13, 1841.
In personal appearance Joseph Eyler was strikingly peculiar. He was five feet, five inches in height and weighed over three hundred pounds. His complexion was very fair, hair dark, and eyes steel blue. He spoke English tolerably well, but preferred to use his native language when pos- sible to do so. His household language, until his family was grown, was the German, and he always read and prayed in that tongue. It was the rule in his household to read a portion of God's Holy Word every evening, followed with a simple family worship in the way of prayer.
A strong trait of Joseph Eyler was his love of good horses, of which he always kept a number of the "largest and fattest." In pleasant weather he would turn them out to pasture, and as they galloped over the fields they fairly shook the earth. It was a common remark among his neighbors when it thundered, that "Joe Eyler's horses were having a romp."
William Evans
was born in Mason County, Kentucky, January 23, 1787, the second son of Edward Evans and Jemima Applegate, his wife. His father had emigrated from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, 1781, and had located near Washington, Mason County, Kentucky. There until the close of the Indian War, he had been a farmer and acted as an Indian scout. In 1800, he moved into what was then the western part of Adams County, and resided until his death in 1843. William Evans was reared on his father's farm. When the War of 1812 began he went into the service, and while there, formed a great friendship for Charles Kirkpatrick, who had been born in Virginia in 1777, and moved to Ohio in 1806. On the way returning in the summer of 1812, the company was waylaid by the Indians and Kirkpatrick was wounded. He died of his wound at Chilli- cothe, September 26, 1812, and his young friend, William Evans, re- mained with him and buried him. It was his sad duty to carry the news to Kirkpatrick's widow, which he did with so much address, that the next year, August 13, 1813, he married her. He reared her three children by Kirkpatrick, and they had ten more of their own, of whom the elder was Edward Patton Evans, herein noticed. He lived on the farm near Pilson's Mill, along Eagle Creek, which Kirkpatrick had owned at his death, and purchased it of his heirs. His wife died March 22, 1830, and he contracted a second marriage with Miss Harriet Taylor, of near Aber- deen. Of this second marriage, there were four.children. He survived the second wife and died February 13, 1873, at the age of eighty-six years.
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William Evans never owed anyone anything. He kept out of debt, out of jail, and out of the penitentiary. He never sought or held any public office. He took the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette from its
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first issue until his death. He never had a lawsuit, either as plaintiff or defendant. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Russellville, fifty years or more, and a ruling elder for forty years. He scarcely ever went away from home, and when he did, would always walk in preference to riding. He was a law-abiding citizen, who discharged his duties to his God and to his fellow men, and was content to live the life of a farmer all his days.
His children are as follows: Edward Patton, May 31, 1814, died April 17, 1883; Samuel Jackson, born March 15, 1816, died February 27, 1842; Martha Ann, born March 15, 1818, died; William Harvey, born January 6, 1820, now living at Thorntown, Indiana; Mary Juline, born December 12, 1821, married Scott Miller, of near Ripley, and was the mother of a large family. She died in 1876; her husband survives. James Kirkpatrick, born February 10, 1824, died unmarried March 21, 1875; Nathan Evans, born January 27, 1826; Elijah Applegate, born May 7, 1828, died unmarried in 1851 near Spring Hill, Indiana; Lucinda and Louisa, twins, born December 29, 1829; Lucinda married James Martin. He and she are both deceased. They left a large family residing near Lawrence, Kansas. Louisa married twice and is living near Stanwood, Iowa.
Of his second marriage, there were three daughters and one son : John Taylor, deceased, who was a soldier in the Civil War of 1861 ; Martha, who married John Pittenger, both of whom are deceased; Mrs. Jemima McGregor, who resides near Russellville, Ohio, and Mrs. Thomas Logan, who lives in Russellville, Ohio.
Joseph Evans
was born in Mason County, Ky., April 2, 1796, the son of Edward Evans and Jemima Applegate, his wife, both of whom are fully noticed in the sketch of Edward Evans herein. At the age of four years his parents removed to Adams County, Ohio, and located in what is now the central part of Jefferson Township, Brown County. They located in the primeval forest, and Joseph, one of a large family of brothers and sisters, was brought up as boys of his time.
When Joseph Evans became a youth, there were three courses open to a young man in his situation. He could become a hunter, he could be- come a keel-boatman, or he could learn to still whisky. Joseph Evans chose the first of the three, and became a skilled hunter. This was in ac- cordance with his natural tastes. He loved the solitude of the forest and the companionship of the inaminate objects of nature. Farming there was none. There was a contest with the wilderness, and all had to engage in it whether he would or not. He early developed his taste for hunting and kept up the habit all his life. He was very successful in the pursuit of game and an excellent marksman with the rifle. Like most of the early hunters he had a favorite rifle which he kept his entire life. He named it "Old Betsey," and it did him good service so long as he was able to use it. Once returning alone through the forest, at night, from a hunt, he was followed by a panther. He had just crossed a large log, and when he heard the panther mount the log, he turned and gave the wild beast the contents of "Old Betsey," and its final quietus. His wife, Matilda Driskell, was born November 16, 1802, in Mason County, and
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died August, 1863. Her people removed to Ohio, near his, when she was a child. They were married January 21, 1823, in Brown County, Ohio, and continued to reside there until 1829. In Brown County, four of their seven children were born, and the other three in Indiana. Three of these are still living, Mrs. India Ann Jolliffe, of Nineveah, Ind .; Dr. John T. Evans and James Edward Evans, at Clay City, Clay, County, Ill.
At fifty years of age Joseph Evans was six feet tall, weighed two hundred pounds, was of full habit, with dark hair, ruddy complexion and gray eyes. He always had perfect health. He never followed any occupation but that of farming. He was of a retiring and quiet disposi- tion ; never sought publicity of any kind. In 1828, he visited Indiana and took up land from the Government in Johnson County. In 1829, he and his family moved on to this land, where he resided until his death fifty- eight years later. He obtained a patent for his land November 6, 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson and no transfer of it of any kind was made until after his death, among his heirs. He lived a quiet and most unostentatious life, owing no one anything. He was never a member of any church, and politically he was a Whig and a Republican, though he took but slight interest in politics. He died October 9, 1887, aged ninety-one years. It cannot be said that he died of any particular com- plaint. The machinery of his body was simply worn out and stopped.
His son, John T. Evans, studied medicine but has not practiced it for many years. He is a successful merchant and business man at Clay City, Ill. He stands high in the church of the Christian Disciples and takes a great interest in church work. He is also very prominent in the Masonic Order. In his political views he is a Republican. Surrounded by an interesting family of children and grandchildren, he is aiming to fulfill the duties and obligations of a good citizen and a good Christian, and those who know him say he has succeeded well.
Simon Fields.
Among the first settlers on Ohio Brush Creek was Simon Fields. a soldier of the Revolution, whose grandson, Simon M. Fields, resides at the "Old Stone House" on Zane's Trace, near Dunkinsville. He was one of the founders of Methodism in Ohio, being a co-worker with Joseph Moore, the founder of Moore's Chapel, the first Methodist Meeting House in the Northwest Territory. Fields' Meeting House, now Stone Chapel, was founded by him in 1798. He was appointed class leader of the pioneer society of Methodists on Ohio Brush Creek in 1799, and re- tained the office until the day of his death, at his old family place on Brush Creek, eight miles east of West Union. He was a very large and fleshy man, and, like the Revolutionary fathers, had positive opinions which he dared to express on any subject in which he was concerned. He was an enthusiastic admirer of President Jefferson. He was shot through the side by a musket ball while fighting British red-coats in defense of the Republic.
It was his custom on entering a church house to bring both hands to- gether, slightly inverted, and say, "Bless the Lord" in a round full tone of voice. He always sat close up to the pulpit, just in front of the preacher, and would exclaim, "That is the Gospel," if passages in the discourse suited him; or "That is not the Gospel, brother ; preach the Gospel!" if
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the discourse did not meet his approval. He is buried in the family burial place on his old homestead on Ohio Brush Creek. His grandson, Simon M. Fields, erected a monument to mark his resting place on which is the following inscription: "Simon Fields, born November 9, 1757; died November 9, 1832, 'O, that men would pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.' A faithful soldier of the Revo- lutionary War."
Simon Fields had a son, Wesley, who died under peculiar circum- stances. He had enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, and was ready to go to the front. His horse was saddled and hitched in front of his home while he was bidding farewell to the family. He took suddenly ill and expired in a short time.
Capt. William Hannah.
John Hannah, the father of William Hannah, lived in Virginia. He was the maternal grandfather of John H. Kincaid, who was a prominent citizen of Adams County. Little is known concerning the early history of John Hannah except that he was a soldier of the Revolution, and the story is told of his having swam the Brandywine. As the incident has been mentioned in history, it must have occurred at a critical time and was to his credit.
William Hannah, one of three sons of John Hannah, was born Sep- tember 13, 1770. He came from Virginia into Kentucky where he remained a short time, finally coming to Ohio and settling in Liberty Township at Hannah's Run. During a recent visit to the place, all that was found to re- main of the old home was a small heap of stones which marks the place where the chimney stood. He then went to Cabin Creek where he con- ducted a ferry. After twelve years, he returned to Liberty Township and at Hill's Fork purchased 400 acres of land, all in woods. Here he remained and made his home. Part of the old homestead is still owned by the family, having been in the Hannah name eighty-seven years. Mr. David A. Hannah, of Hill's Fork, is the present owner of 134 acres, all in a good state of cultivation.
Captain Hannah was a soldier of the War of 1812; was made a Captain and served with distinction. The following anecdote concerning him has often been related by the members of the Hannah family. The incident occurred while the troops were in camp and mustering at Man- chester, Ohio. One day while at dinner, on the banks of the Ohio, a deer was seen to come out of the woods on the Kentucky shore to get a drink. Seeing such a sight, the idea uppermost in the minds of the men was to gain the prize. It was next to an impossibility as it was not thought any one would be able to shoot the deer for the distance intervening was too great. However, Captain Hannah being a marksman of note was challenged to do so and he accepted the challenge with alacrity. He aimed at a mark across the river at about ten feet above where the deer was standing, the ball falling, broke the deer's back. The deer was then brought across the river in a canoe and it is needless to state that Captain Hannah remembered his friends. It is not known what became of the gun with which he shot the deer. The sword carried by Captain Hannah is in the possession of David A. Hannah, his great-grandson.
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