Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 130

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 130

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Doty lived to witness the Miami county transformed from a wilderness covered with dense forests, inhabited by wild beasts of prey, and Indians, to a high state of cultivation and improvement. From a poor adventurer in a strange land, he be- came a man of wealth and influence in soci- ety.

On Monday, May 8, 1848, Daniel Doty passed away. in the eighty-eighth year of his age. His wife survived him many years. To them were born twelve children, ten of whom survived and were brought up in the habits of industry. All grew to maturity, married and lived respectably in the world.

GRIFFIN HALSTEAD.

Griffin Halstead was born near Guilford Court-House. North Carolina, June II, 1802. His parents, John and Ruth ( Rich- ardson) Halstead, natives of Currituck, North Carolina, early in their married life removed from the shore of Albemarle Sound to the northern central part of the state, where their son was born. When' Griffin was two years old his parents removed to the blue grass regions of Kentucky, but owing to the uncertainty of land titles in that state they continued their journey to the valley of the Great Miami, near the town of New Haven. In the spring of 1805, a great flood dislodged them. The Miami was higher than it has ever since been known, and the Halsteads escaped from their cabin on horseback. This incident caused them another movement, and a settlement upon a tract of land near Paddy's run, where our subject continued to reside until his death in 1884-a period of nearly eighty years. The

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recommendation of the location was that the tract contained both hill and bottom land, was well timbered and watered, and was out of the way of the floods. In the opening of this farm Griffin Halstead devoted the best energies of his early years. In 1822 he was captain of the militia, and in the winter of 1824-25 he visited New Orleans. In 1826 he was elected colonel of the militia of the county, mustering at Millville. At various times he held the offices of clerk and trustee of his township and he was repeatedly elected to the office of justice of the peace.

On November 1. 1827, he was united in marriage with Miss Clarissa Willits, eldest daughter of James Willits, who resided in Hamilton county near New Haven. To them were born four children, two sons and two daughters. The eldest child, Murat, showed an early disposition to literary cul- ture and after being educated at the Far- mers' College, at College Hill, he entered the journalistic profession, in which field he has achieved world-wide distinction, and is one of the ablest journalists in America.

With the breaking out of the Mexican war, Griffin Halstead enlisted in the Butler Guards, but owing to inflammatory rheu- matism which he contracted in Camp Wash- ington, he was prevented any participation in active service. For nearly sixty years he was a regular attendant at the polls in Ross township, and usually voted the Demo- cratic ticket.

PAUL J. SORG.

No historical sketch of Middletown or of Butler county would be complete without some word about Paul J. Sorg, who was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, Septem- ber 23. 1840, and died in Middletown, Ohio,

May 28, 1902. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Sorg, who came to America from Houp Hesse, Germany, and soon settled in Wheeling, from which city the family moved to Cincinnati in 1851. They were poor and young Paul began at an early age to assist in the support of the family. As a boy of twelve he sold flowers in the market places of Cincinnati. He attended night schools. where he gained considerable education and received the rudimentary training in book- keeping that enabled him, as a controlling partner, to develop a business which linked his name with the commercial history of the time in which he lived.

Mr. Sorg served an apprenticeship as a moulder and came to be foreman of the shop. In the sixties he became interested at Cincinnati in the manufacture of plug to- bacco and in 1870 he and his associates moved this business to Middletown, where the plant of which he became the controlling spirit, the P. J. Sorg Tobacco Company, became one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world, paying to the government millions of dollars as a revenue tax and dis- tributing pay rolls of such size that they entered directly or indirectly into almost every home in Middletown.

Mr. Sorg was at the head of and financed various other large and prosperous indus- tries in Middletown, which are still in active operation under the control of his estate; he added materially to the city by the erec- tion of one of the handsomest homes in Ohio. and a tasteful and attractive opera house and many other buildings. Shortly before his death, Mr. Sorg donated the large bronze figure which surmounts the soldiers' monument.

Mr. Sorg served in several municipal

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offices in his home town and was elected to congress at a special election held in May, 1892, and again at the regular election held in the fall of the same year. In 1897 he was pressed by the Democratic party to run for governor of Ohio, and without any avowed candidacy received over two hun- dred votes at the state convention. He was married July 20, 1876, to I. Jennie Gruver, who, with the children, Paul Arthur Sorg and Ada Gruver Sorg, survive him.

Everywhere in Middletown are found evidences of the energy, forsight and scope of Mr. Sorg's mind and spirit. When he died the people realized that the munici- pality had lost its first and ablest citizen. On the day of his burial all business was sus- pended; the public funeral services were held in the opera house, which was filled to its utmost capacity. Fitting resolutions and expressions were adopted by the city boards, lodges, business concerns and corporations and by the citizens in public meeting assem- bled for that purpose.

JAMES C. BECKETT.

Butler county is remarkable for its many distinguished pioneers. Prominent among the names of such is that of James C. Beck- ett, of Union township, a brief sketch of whose life we present here. Mr. Beckett was born December 24, 1799, on Mill creek, Hamilton county, Ohio. The father of James C. was John Beckett, who was an American officer in the Revolutionary war, and after the close of the war was engaged in the transporting of goods, etc., between Cincinnati and old Fort Hamilton. In 1810 John Beckett settled in what is now known as Union township, and from which time dates the residence of James C. Beckett in this county.

May 18, 1842, Mr. Beckett married Eliza Jane Baxter, who died December 16, 1871. Mr. Beckett was the parent of four sons, viz. : James M., William F., Charles K. and John B. He was one of the wealthy landowners of the county, and at the time of his death owned about thirteen hundred acres of land, of which eight hundred acres were in Macon county, Illinois. His home- stead, near West Chester, Butler county, containing about five hundred acres, now owned by his son, James M. Beckett, is well situated and the buildings and surroundings are an ornament to the locality. Mr. Beck- ett lived to an honored old age, and died uni- versally respected.

NEHEMIAH WADE,

of Ross township, was born on the 19th day of August, 1795, at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati). He was the fifth of fourteen children, whose parents were David E. Wade and Mary Jones. His parents were natives of New Jersey, and passed through life devout members of the Presbyterian church. His father came to Ohio and landed in Cincinnati in 1790, where he lived until his death in July, 1842. His mother died in April, 1811, and her remains lie under the First Presbyterian church of Cincin- nati.

The early education of Mr. Wade was obtained by his own exertions, and at the age of fourteen he began industrious pur- suits. In 1815 he left Cincinnati and set- tled in Ross township on a farm of four hun- dred acres. He did a great deal to advance the interests of his township. He was elected associate judge of the court of com- mon pleas in 1840, and held the office for twelve years. He was married on the 9th of October, 1813, to Margaret Wallace, a na-

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tive of Delaware, by whom he had eight chil- dren. She died in April, 1833. He was married in April, 1834, to Jane Anderson, by whom he had one child. His second wife died in November, 1866. Judge Wade was a Republican; voted first for Monroe. Re- ligiously he was a member of the Presbyte- rian church, and had been elder in that church since 1828. The Judge always led a life of peace and influence for the good. He died July 24, 1879, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, leaving behind him a large and admirable posterity, many of whom still reside in Butler county.

HENRY H. WALLACE

was born on the 30th day of September, 1824, in Milford township, in this county. He was the son of John and Priscilla Wal- lace. His parents were natives of Pennsyl- vania, and his father followed through life agricultural and mechanical pursuits. His father was one of the first settlers of Mil- ford township. At the age of eighteen the subject of this memoir began life as a school- teacher, an occupation that confined his at- tention more or less for eight years. In 1853 he was elected county recorder, hold- ing this office for six years. In 1859 he was elected county auditor, which office he held for two years. In 1862 he accompanied the Ninety-third Regiment as captain of Com- pany C. On account of impaired health. he left the service at the expiration of a year. In 1865 he went into the carpet and wall- paper business in Hamilton, which business engrossed his attention until his election as county auditor in 1874. in which office he served one term. He was married. in 1857. to Sarah J. Bacon, a native of this county. and a daughter of Edmund Bacon. an early

settler of Butler county. Mr. Wallace was eminently adapted for the arduous duties of county auditor, by reason particularly of the extensive business and official experience he had had. Politically he was a conservative Republican. Religiously his views were not circumscribed by the doctrines of any par- ticular church. Since 1876 until his death he was engaged in sundry occupations. In 1883 he was appointed to a clerkship in the pension office at Washington, serving until July, 1884. when he was detailed therefrom and appointed a special examiner of pension claims, serving three years in southern Mis- souri and northern Arkansas. From 1887 until 1896 he was engaged in the real-estate business exclusively. In 1901 he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where, after a few months' residence, he died.

WILLIAM R. COCHRAN

was born on the 17th day of March, 1811, in Adams county, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of three children. whose par- ents were William Cochran and Rebecca Morrow. His parents, natives of Adams county, Pennsylvania, were farmers by occu- pation, and passed through life as members of the Associate Reformed church. His father came to Ohio in 1814, and settled near Glendale, in Hamilton county, where he lived till 1825. and then moved to Butler county, settling near Millville, where he died in 1828. The mother of the subject of this memoir died in 1839, near Millville. The early education of Mr. Cochran was very liberal, and in 1831 he graduated from Miami University. He now began the study of law in Hamilton, under the Hon. John Woods, and finally attended a course of lec- tures at Transylvania University. In 1834

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he began to practice law in Hamilton, which he abandoned in 1840 and resumed farming near Millville. In 1872 he was elected pro- bate judge of Butler county, serving until 1876. Mr. Cochran was secretary of the Butler County Agricultural Society for six- teen years, his administration being one of marked ability. For a few years before his death he lived in retirement in Hamilton. His death occurred April 20, 1897.

WILLIAM W. CALDWELL,

a prominent physician of Hamilton, was born on the first day of November, 1812, in Carlisle. Cumberland county. Pennsylvania. He was the fifth of six children. His par- ents were of Scotch-Irish extraction, and passed through life devout members of the Presbyterian church. The early literary ed- ucation of the Doctor was liberal, and par- tially obtained at Dickinson College, Penn- sylvania, which institution he left in 1833. He then came to Ohio, and attended Lane Seminary (at that time a manual labor lit- erary institution), whose course of study in- terested him for about two years. In 1837 he attended a course of medical lectures at the Ohio Medical College. having previously pursued a course of reading under Dr. An- drew Campbell, of Middletown, from which institution he graduated with honor in 1840. He immediately began the practice of medi- cine at Monroe. in this county, where he re- mained for about eighteen years. In 1858 he left a lucrative practice in that village and came to Hamilton, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred Sunday. April 17, 1892. In 1838 he was united in marriage to Isabella H. Parks, a native of Warren county, to whom were born nine children. The Doctor was a Dem-

ocrat; voted first for Harrison in 1836. He always took a great interest in education and in our common schools as one of the great institutions of the land. He was elected county commissioner in 1865, and in 1872 he was re-elected to that office. He was prominent in the Masonic circles and a life- long member of the Presbyterian church. He was admitted, January 4, 1858, to mem- bership in Washington Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hamilton; was junior warden of the lodge; for many years was thrice illustrious master of Hamilton Council. No. 19. Royal and Select Masters; was one of the first members of Cincinnati Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar. He was social. affable and pleasant in all his relations, and stood high as an official and as a practitioner of his profession.

JOHN B. WELLER,

who filled more important public stations than any one else who ever lived in Butler county, was born in the village of Mont- gomery. Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1812. He was of German de- scent. his ancestors originally settling in New York. From that state his parents re- moved to Ohio some few years before his birth. He was educated at Miami Univer- sity, but did not graduate. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law in the office of Jesse Corwin, in Hamilton. Lewis D. Campbell, his principal competitor in the policies of this county, came to Hamil- ton at the same time, and the two young men slept together in the same bed. They were then of the same politics. Before at- taining his majority young Weller was ad- mitted to the bar, and soon after was nom- inated by the Democrats for the office of

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prosecuting attorney, his opponent being by the Democrats of Ohio to lead them in Jesse Corwin, his old tutor, whom he de- feated by a handsome majority.

In 1838, when barely of legal age, he was elected to represent the second con- . gressional district in the lower house of congress, consisting of the counties of But- ler, Preble and Darke. He held his seat for three terms. twice defeating the Hon. Lewis D. Campbell. Mr. Weller, though very young, early took a leading part in all debates before the House, and proved him- self a ready and powerful speaker. At the end of six years' service he declined a nomi- nation for a fourth term, and returned to the practice of his profession.

Mr. Weller, at an early age, had mar- ried Miss Ryan, daughter of one of the lead- ing merchants of Hamilton; but this lady lived only a short time. Early in his con- gressional career he married Miss Bryan, whose father, the Hon. John A. Bryan, was auditor of the state at that time. His sec- ond wife lived but two years. In 1845 he married Miss Taylor, a niece of Thomas H. Benton, senator from Missouri. She lived three years.

Mr. Weller was not permitted to prac- tice his profession for any length of time, for on the breaking out of the war with Mexico he volunteered as a private, but was elected captain of his company, which be- came part of the Second Ohio Regiment, of which he was elected lieutenant-colonel. He fought all through the war, and led his regi- ment in the charge through the streets of Monterey, when the gallant Colonel Mitchell was wounded.

After peace was declared, Colonel Wel- ler returned to his home in Hamilton, and took up his profession, but was called on

the great gubernatorial fight of 1848. His opponent, the Whig candidate, was Seabury Ford, and the campaign was the fiercest and most bitter ever known in this state. This was virtually a fight to decide the presi- dential question as far as Ohio was con- cerned; for it was conceded that if Weller carried the state, Cass would get Ohio's vote. After a canvass carried on in all parts of the state, in which Colonel Weller spoke in seventy-eight counties, and after weeks of doubt as to the final result-for it took the official vote to decide -- it was found that Weller had been defeated by a majority of three hundred and forty-five votes out of an aggregate of almost three hundred thousand. In one county over four hundred votes were cast for John Weller, which were thrown out. But the great point was won, after all; for Ohio went for Cass.

In January, 1849, President Polk ten- dered to Colonel Weller the appointment of commissioner under the treaty of Guada- loupe Hidalgo, to settle the boundary line between California and Mexico. On Presi- dent Taylor's accession to the office. Col- onel Weller was relieved, and proceeded to San Francisco, where he pursued his pro- fession. In 1852 he was elected United States senator in the place of John C. Fre- mont, for the long term ending in 1857. Upon his return to California in that year he was elected governor of the state by a large majority. At the termination of his career as governor he settled in Alameda county, near Oakland, but was sent by Pres- ident Buchanan as minister to Mexico in the fall of 1860. When President Lincoln came into office, Colonel Weller was suc- ceeded by his old Ohio Friend, Tom Cor-

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win. In 1867 Governor Weller removed to New Orleans, where he was appointed mas- ter in chancery for all of the Gaines cases. Here he lived until his death. on the 17th day of August, 1875.

Governor Weller left two children,- John B. Weller, Jr., whose mother was Miss Taylor, and Charles L. Weller, Jr .. who was the only child by his marriage with Mrs. G. W. Staunton in 1854.

SAMUEL DICK.

Our country owed much of its rapid de- velopment to those who came here from for- eign lands to seek their fortunes. Among these, in proportion to its size, Ireland has been the most prolific. Fully one quarter of our population have some Irish blood in their veins. Among these hardy immigrants was Samuel Dick, a native of the county of An- trim, where he was born on the 21st of April, 1764. His parents, who were in a respectable position of life, died when he was quite young, and left him to the care of some relatives. In the spring of the year 1783. being then nineteen years of age, he sailed from Belfast for America. Two of his brothers were settled in Baltimore, where they had been selling goods, but on his ar- rival they proposed to take him into partner- ship, and establish themselves in business in Gettysburg. He refused this offer. although they were well-to-do and he was poor, for he had resolved to carve out his own for- tune. He went, however, with his broth- ers to Gettysburg, with the intention of going to school that winter: but only a few days after his arrival he met some one who wished to have brandy distilled from ap- ples. Mr. Dick was somewhat acquainted with the process, and offered his aid. It

was accepted, and in this same employment he remained all winter, being well com- pensated.

The next spring the young man crossed the Alleghanies, and among other things he engaged to teach the son of Mr. George Gil- lespie the art of distilling. This necessarily brought him much about the house, and in frequent intercourse with the family, which resulted in an intimate and lasting friend- ship. Mr. Gillespie had a daughter, Martha, of comely figure and good disposition, whom Mr. Dick admired very much. One day her father treated her rather harshly, and in a fit of exasperation she said she would ac- cept the first respectable man that offered. Mr. Dick was close by. and said to her. laughingly. "Here is your man." In the end what was said in a joke was taken in earnest, and he married her in 1785. They lived in great harmony together until her death, at the homestead on Indian creek, in 1833.

The place where he was residing at the time of his marriage was Washington county, Pennsylvania : but in 1790 he con- cluded to go farther west. taking his wife and two children with him. He purchased a lot in the new settlement of Cincinnati, on which he erected a house. He opened a grocery, and occasionally was engaged in forwarding provisions and supplies for the troops at Fort Hamilton and other forts in the interior. He afterward kept a tavern in the house where he resided. He was one of those who went forth to the relief of Dunlap's Station, when it was attacked, and also saw Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne each march out on their respective expedi- tions.

At an early period he became the pur-

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chaser of a section of land containing six David, who married Judith Bigham; hundred and forty acres, lying on the head- Samuel; James; Elizabeth, who married Joseph Wilson; Jane, who married John Wilson; Mary, who married Fergus Ander- son; Martha, who married James Bigham, and Susan, who married Thomas J. Shields. waters of what is now known as Dick's creek, adjoining the Butler county line, in Warren county. The United States lands west of the Great Miami river were first brought into market in the year 1801. At the first sale Mr. Dick bought six hundred ISRAEL LUDLOW. and forty acres in the rich bottom of In- dian creek, in the present township of Ross, where he removed the next year. On this land he spent the remainder of his days, bringing up his family in great respect- ability.

Mr. Dick was one of the grand jurors in July, 1803. at the first session of the court of common pleas of Butler county. At the general election in October. 1803, he was elected a member of the house of rep- resentatives of the state of Ohio that met at Chillicothe, on the first Monday of De- cember in that year. He served in the legis- lature during that session, but ever after- ward refused to permit his name to be used for office.

He died at the house of his son-in-law, Judge Fergus Anderson, in Ross town- ship, on the 4th of August, 1846, aged eighty-two years; and was buried beside his wife, in the burying-ground at Bethel chapel. He was a man of high moral principle, thor- ough and painstaking, prompt in his engage- ments, and full of sagacity. His business undertakings were successful. and he amassed a considerable fortune. , During a great portion of his life he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and in his will bequeathed a legacy to the church in Venice, which he usually attended.

He left five sons and four daughters. George, who married Jane Anderson;

Israel Ludlow, an early surveyor of the Northwest territory and the founder of the town of Hamilton, was born at Long Hill Farm, near Morristown, New Jersey, in 1765. His ancestors were English, and emigrated to New Jersey from Shropshire, England, to escape persecution on the restor- ation of Charles II, the Ludlows having been actively identified with the cause of the parliament and prominent in the affairs of the commonwealth. The head of the family at that period, Sir Edmund Ludlow, was one of the judges who passed sentence of death on Charles I, became lieutenant-gen- eral of Ireland under Cromwell, and, ban- ished after the restoration, died an exile in Vevay, Switzerland. Israel Ludlow was appointed, in 1787, by Thomas Hutchins, surveyor-general of the United States, who was "assured" of his "ability, diligence and integrity," to survey for the government the boundary of the large tract of land pur- chased in this neighborhood by the New Jer- sey association, of which Judge John Cleves Symmes was principal director. He ac- cepted the appointment, and received his instructions, with an order for a military escort to protect himself and assistants dur- ing their performance of the work. But the military posts on the western frontier had no soldiers to spare. and General Josiah Harmar, then in command of the forces in the Northwest territory, advised Mr. Lud-

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 130

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149