Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 137

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 137

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).

Soon after locating at Hamilton Dr. Mil- likin married Miss Sarah Gray, and to them were born several children. As a physi- cian Dr. Millikin was successful, safe, skill- ful and popular, and by industry, economy and perseverance became a man of wealth, · distinguished for his plain but cordial man- ners, his promptitude to professional calls and business engagements.

In the war of 1812 Dr. Millikin received an appointment as assistant surgeon and ministered to the sick and wounded of the army at Fort St. Mary's and other points. In 1827 he was made brigade inspector of the militia in this section of the country, in which position he served for several years. Subsequently he was brigadier general of the militia. In 1836 to 1838 he was a mem- ber of the Ohio legislature. In 1849-50 he was the treasurer of Butler county. Dr. Millikin was a kind father and husband, a warm-hearted, benevolent and unchanging friend. His habits of industry, sobriety and punctuality in life were remarkable and worthy of imitation by young and old. The idol of his life seemed to be the advance- ment, prosperity and improvement of the first ward of Hamilton, where he resided. You could not touch the interest of this part of the city without encountering his sturdy opposition. He died in 1860. in the sixty- seventh year of his age.

REV. ARTHUR W. ELLIOTT,

a native of Maryland, came to Butler county and settled in Liberty township in the year 1807 or 1808 .. He immigrated here from his native state nearly at the same time with the Curtises. Slades, Hughes, Murphys, Clarks, Williamsons, Flennards and others of the first residents of the township, with most of whom he was connected. Here he resided for nearly forty years on the farm which he purchased when he first arrived in this county. About 1850 he purchased a farm and built a house, about one mile west of Hamilton, where he resided for a few years, and in 1856 he removed with his family to Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, where he breathed his last, on January 18, 1858. aged seventy-five years. From the time the deceased became a resident of But- ler county until his death he was connected with the Methodist Episcopal church as a preacher. He was a man of genius, and great power as a speaker. His early edu- cational training had been neglected, but his intuitive perceptions and native powers of eloquence surmounted every obstacle thrown in his way by this neglect, and he could cap- tivate his hearers at will. The spirit of his genius awakened all his features. His countenance shown with a nobleness and grandeur which it had not before exhibited, and he was able to exert a power over his auditors that all who heard him acknowl- edged. He was a great man naturally. He had been a soldier under Harrison, in the war of 1812. and he felt in duty bound to support him for the presidency. and in the heated political contest of 1840 he ac- companied General Harrison to a number

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of meetings in the Miami valley, where he made speeches, and it was said at the time that his addresses were the most able, ef- fective and satisfactory of any of the speak- ers. General Harrison said himself, "He is the strongest and most useful on the stump of any of us." General Harrison was the presidential candidate and the chief, but Rev. Elliott was the second man in notoriety and consequence. His march through the Miami valley was a triumphal one, and was marked by every consideration of love and admiration. In the spring of 1840 he, with two or three hundred citizens of this part of the country. paid a visit of congratulation to General Harrison at his residence at North Bend. They were mar- shalled in front of the General's house, when Rev. Elliott advanced in front and addressed the General in the most affecting, eloquent and interesting manner, to which the General replied in his wonted felicitous and forcible style. Rev. Elliott was blessed with a strong mind, robust body, and habits of industry and frugality. He was for many years a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and was much attached to the principles of the order. was grand chaplain of the grand lodge of Ohio for the years 1839 and 1840 and was the speaker at nu- merous celebrations of St. John the Evangelist and other occasions.

WILLIAM R. KINDER

was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, December 17, 1827. While yet a youth he entered the office of the Germantown Gazette, where he served his apprenticeship at the printing business, after which he en- tered Farmer's College. near Cincinnati, where he graduated with the highest honors

of the institution, September 21, 1848. He then entered the law office of Weller & Ryan in this city as a student, where he re- mained until February, 1849. Colonel Wel- ler having been appointed commissioner on the part of the United States to survey the boundary between California and Mexico, Mr. Kinder accompanied him as chief clerk of the commission. After Colonel Weller was succeeded as commissioner Mr. Kinder accompanied him to San Francisco, where they opened a law office in partnership, and soon obtained a lucrative practice. At this time an election was held for members of the territorial legislature. Mr. Kinder was a candidate for member of the senate, but was defeated by about thirty votes, although he ran four hundred votes ahead of his ticket. In 1850 he was a bearer of dis- patches from the territorial government of California to Washington. In the spring of 1851, his health having broken down. he embarked on board a sailing vessel at San Francisco, bound for China, via the Sandwich Islands. He spent about a month in China, and then started on his return home. Upon his arrival at Hamilton he took charge of the Telegraph office, which he conducted with signal ability until June, 1854, when he disposed of the office to Messrs. Barker and McCormick. In the month of October. 1855. he was appointed by Governor Medill probate judge of this county. At the expiration of the term for which he was appointed, in 1857. he was elected to the same office, which he con- tinued to hold until his death, February 9. 1860. He was a very popular judge, filling the office with dignity and to the entire satisfaction of all parties. He had for some time served as one of the trustees of Miami

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University. From his early boyhood Judge Kinder was a politician. While a school boy the larger portion of the papers and books that he read were political. While at col- lege political works occupied his attention when not engaged in his studies. He made himself familiar with the political parties of our country. Indeed, it was often re- marked how familiar he was with political history-he seemed to know it all by heart. As a political writer he had but few equals. He was a bold and fearless defender of his principles, wielding the pen with the power of a giant. He was also a popular orator, although his great strength was with the pen. As a leader of the Democratic party of Butler county he exercised an influence which no other man could. He had multitudes of friends, who were ardently of the opinion that he had talents to adorn and character to dignify the highest and most honorable station in public life. He was but thirty- three years of age. He left a wife and three infant sons.

AARON POTTER

was born near Middletown, Butler county, Ohio, March 31, 1809. His father was Enos Potter, who was an early settler at Columbia, and who immigrated from New Jersey in 1788. In 1798 he removed to his farm near Middletown, which he had pur- chased of John C. Symmes. Here, in this rural home, Aaron Potter grew up under the fostering care of a more than ordinary mother, for his father died when he was only five years old. In 1827, when eighteen years old, he removed to Cincinnati, where, under the tuition of E. B. Potter, he learned his trade. that of marble and stone cutter.

On September 20, 1830, he married Miss Emeline Ransdale and settled down to the work of life. In 1836 he removed his busi- ness to Hamilton where he remained to the day of his death with the exception of a few months which were spent in Indiana. He was the first to embark in the monument business in the city of Hamilton. For a number of years he was also engaged in partnership with Richard Cole, in the manu- facture of sash, doors and blinds on the lower hydraulic near Dayton street. Later he built the Hamilton Flour Mills at the corner of North and B streets. Mr. Potter was a Christian gentleman and, with Dr. Laomi Rigdon, organized the First Baptist church of Hamilton in 1841. He died July I. 1871, aged sixty-two years.

DAVID BROOKS SANDERS

was born in Guilford county, North Caro- lina, November 15. 1819. He was the son of David and Elizabeth (Stafford) Sanders; the family was in very poor circumstances and the son's early life was a series of struggles with poverty. At the age of ten years he walked the entire distance from his birthplace to Richmond, Indiana, where his mother then resided, and he was there bound out to a Mr. Holman. Owing to the harsh- ness of his employer young Sanders un- ceremoniously departed. Barefooted and ill- clad, and facing the blustering March wind, he walked to Oxford, Ohio, where a cousin, Joseph Stafford, resided. Soon afterward young Sanders learned the blacksmith trade with Frank Davis. In 1844 he removed to Hamilton and engaged with Philip Berry, who kept a blacksmith shop at the northeast corner of Court and Reily streets. Four years later. in 1848. he opened a restaurant

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on a small scale at what was then the head of the old Hamilton basin, where he also began the manufacture of cigars. Subse- quently Mr. Sanders removed to No. 17 South Third street, where C. A. Stroble is now located, and at this location he con- ducted a large business for about thirty years. Being a man of unusually genial and affable disposition, with always a kind word and a pleasant smile for everyone, there was a time when he was known by every man, woman and child in Hamilton.

He began business on a capital of but twenty-five dollars but by close application to business and gentlemanly treatment of his customers he amassed a fortune. His place of business was a veritable curiosity shop. He dealt in an infinite variety of articles and his oysters and lemonades- elephant's milk he called the latter-were famous. In 1887 he retired from business. Politically he was a Democrat, cast his first vote for James K. Polk for President and as an independent candidate he was elected mayor of Hamilton, commanding the Re- publican support. In 1885 he was re- elected on the Democratic ticket and his administration was creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents. Socially he was a member of Hamilton Lodge, No. 17, of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and Canton Sanders, Patriarchs Mili- tant, of Hamilton, was named after him.

On December 23, 1847, Mr. Sanders was married to Nancy Ward, a daughter of John and Maria Reed Ward, and who was born in this county July 22, 1819. Her father died when she was quite young. and her mother was afterward married to Samuel Hammond, by which union she had twelve children. Mrs. Sanders died several

years prior to the death of her husband. Mr. Sanders was in every respect a self- made man, of fine integrity of character and throughout his life an upright, honorable citizen. He died March 1, 1902, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

DR. JACOB HITTELL.

Dr. Jacob Hittell, born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, in 1797, moved to Butler county in 1839, and after spending three years in Trenton and Rossville, bought a home in Hamilton directly in front of the court house on High street, devoting himself to the practice of his profession. He was of German descent, his grandfather having come from Europe in the early part of the eighteenth century. When he was a boy the common speech in Lehigh was German, and he knew no English when he started - out, at fourteen, to earn his living. At six- teen he was a clerk in a grocery store, sav- ing every cent not necessary for food, cloth- ing, lodging, and education. He had every thing to learn and he had already deter- mined that he would be a physician. After eight years of unaided effort he obtained his diploma with the signatures of Rush, Physick, Wistar and the other great pro- fessors of the leading medical college of the United States at that time. He then had eight more years of struggle before he had a comfortable position pecuniarily. His settlement in Hamilton proved fortunate for him. He was industrious, economical and sharp-witted. He bought lots, which rap- idly rose in value. There were many Ger- mans and Pennsylvania Germans in the county, who gave him most of their medi- cal practice, and his income from that source arose in some years, it was said, to

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five thousand dollars-a large amount sixty years ago. Nearly every fall he took a journey through northern Ohio and Indi- ana to buy wild land, which was then rising rapidly in value. These purchases turned out well in nearly every instance, and as early as 1840 Dr. Hittell was considered one of the richest men of Butler county. He was a very close man in money matters, but in at least one respect no man in Hamil- ton was more generous-that was in educat- ing his children, of whom he had five. One of these graduated at a young ladies' semi- nary in Philadelphia, one in Holyoke, one in Oxford and one in Yale, and the other would not graduate anywhere because he disliked books. About 1865, when nearly seventy years of age, Dr. Hittell abandoned his practice and moved back to his old home in Pennsylvania, where he died in 1878. He laid off an addition to Hamilton in the southern part of the town, near the eastern bank of the river. He was a good surgeon and a jovial associate among those whose company he enjoyed.

John S. Hittell, his eldest son, was seven years old when his father arrived in Hamil- ton. After graduating at Oxford he read law for a time with the late John Woods, William Beckett being in the office with him. Dyspepsia interrupted his studies, and he never completed them. He went to Cali- fornia in 1849, and, after trying his hand at various occupations, including mining, became one of the editorial writers of the Alta California newspaper, a position which he held, though not continuously, for more than twenty-four years. He was known as a hard worker and careful student, and was soon recognized as an authority in matters relating to the industries and resources of

the state. In 1862 he published a book called "The Resources of California," and the seventh edition of it appeared in 1879. "A History of San Francisco," from his pen, was issued in 1878. He has written several other books, numbering at least half a dozen, and has contributed much to cyclo- pedias and magazines. His range of knowl- edge is wide, including familiarity with the literature and tongues of Germany, France, Spain and Italy. He is a bachelor.

Theodore H. Hittell, his brother, born in 1830, studied law in Cincinnati and moved to San Francisco in 1855, where he was for a time a journalist, and is now an attorney. He has been engaged in some very heavy law-suits, including the Lick will case and the San Pablo partition suits, in which, rumor says, his fees have amounted to little fortunes. He has been a member of the state senate, and has com- piled several law-books, which are standard authorities, and perhaps no name appears more frequently than his in the reports of the state supreme court. He is married and has three children.

DR. PETER VAN DERVEER.

One of the earlier physicians of Butler county was Dr. Peter Van Derveer. of Middletown. He was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, on the 12th of March, 1798. His father was Colonel Henry Van Derveer, a substantial farmer, who at one time held a colonel's commission among the volunteers called upon by the government to put down the whisky rebellion in Penn- sylvania. The family came to New York from Holland about the year 1645. and dur- ing the Revolutionary war were active par- tisans on the side of liberty.

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The subject of this sketch received a grave, when compelled to swim his horse collegiate education and commenced the study of medicine and surgery in 1817. We find among his papers a certificate showing his attendance at the New York Hospital, and signed by David Hosack, Wright Post, Valentine Mott, and other physicians fa- mous in the history of medicine in this country. His diploma was issued to him by the Medical Society of the State of New Jersey, and is dated July 9, 1818, and signed by John Vancleve, president.

Shortly after graduating he determined to make the West his home, and, with his horse, saddle and pillbags, started for Ohio. Early in the year 1819 he came to Middle- town, and, after a short delay, passed on to the village of Salisbury. Indiana. Here, however, he remained but a few months, when he returned to Middletown, where he permanently located. The practice of his profession required that he should spend a great part of his time in the saddle. Pa- tients were scattered, the roads and bridle- paths sometimes scarcely marked by a blaz- ing. There were none of the luxurious modes, now so common, for traveling. The physician of that day, in this Western world, had to depend upon his horse to take him to the cabins where duty called; and it was only a strong, healthy body and a heroic spirit that could endure the hardships in- cident to exposure to storms at all hours of the day and night. His practice was along both banks of the Great Miami, and re- quired that he should frequently cross its waters. When the stream was swollen, it was a somewhat dangerous task, as there were no bridges, and but a single ferry. The writer of this has heard Dr. Van Derveer de- scribe his many escapes from a watery

through its rushing waters to reach patients whose condition required immediate relief. In the year 1822 he was married to Miss Mary Ann Dickey, who lived only about two years after her marriage, leaving a son, Ferdinand, who, in after years, won distinc- tion as a soldier in the Mexican and Civil wars, and was judge of the court of common pleas of Butler county in the 'eighties. His second wife was Miss Mary Ann Hubble, whom he married in 1826, and with whom he lived until 1849, when she died, leaving several sons and daughters. He had been early in life an attendant upon the Dutch Reformed church of New Jersey, but never united with any denomination until about the year 1837, when he joined the Presby- terian church and remained a consistent member until his death. For a long time he was an elder in the church at Middle- town.

Although belonging to the allopathic school of medicine, he always met the prac- titioners of other schools with courtesy, and treated all with consideration, especially in the later years of his life, when he never refused to consult with physicians of other creeds.

At the time he settled in Ohio there were but few graduates of the medical colleges to be found in the woods, and the fact that he carried a diploma and had been an at- tendant upon the hospital lectures in New York gave him a high place in the estima- tion of the public.

In a newspaper notice of his death we find the following: "If he differed in senti- ment concerning a point of pathology, diagnosis, or practice, he expressed himself with the modesty of a gentleman and the

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kindly feelings of a professional brother. In Thomas, who had acquired some capital, his intercourse with his patients his conduct was regulated by the nicest sense of honor; his moral character was cast in the finest and purest mold; his conduct in all phases of life was squared by the strictest rules of honesty and by the nicest regard for the feelings of others."

The exposures and hardships attendant upon the earlier years of his practice told on his once vigorous constitution, and he became feeble, and suffered from ill health in the latter part of his life. He died on the 17th of January, 1861, at his home in Middletown.

JOSEPH HOUGH.

Among the earlier merchants of Hamil- ton Joseph Hough is, perhaps, best known. He carried on the largest establishment, and his operations were conducted with a vigor unusual at that day. He did not inherit this trait from his parents, who were Quakers, but it seemed entirely the offspring of his own genius. He was born on a farm near Brownsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of February, 1783. In 1788 the family removed to Washington county, at the extreme southwest part of the state, where Mr. Hough died, in 1798, and his wife eighteen months later. Joseph Hough then resolved to learn the watchmakers' trade from his brother-in-law, Israel Gregg, who afterwards also became a resident of Hamilton and stayed with him till he was twenty-one. Immediately upon completing his majority he engaged with another watchmaker and silversmith in Brownstown, and wrought as a journeyman for two years, saving in the course of that period over one thousand dollars. At this time his brother

proposed to Joseph that they should, unite their capital, buy a stock of goods, and go west. The suggestion seemed good to him, and the two young men joined their forces and came out to the Miami country, in- tending to settle at Lebanon, Warren county. They bought their goods in Philadelphia, wagoned them over the mountains, and on the Ist of June, 1806, committed them to the Monongahela river. The water in that stream was very low, as was also the Ohio, and the journey was slow and tedious. Cin- cinnati was reached in twenty-five days, and from that place they hired wagons to take on their goods to Lebanon. Saddle-horses were scarce, and from the river they fol- lowed their wagons on foot. These had started first, and the Hough brothers ex- pected to overtake them near Reading, but missed their way, being obliged to stop over night at the house of a friendly miller, Jacob White, about nine miles from their starting- place. Mr. White questioned them as to their intentions, and on learning that they meant to go to Lebanon advised against it. There was, he said, no good building to be obtained there: but in Hamilton there was. John Wingate had just given up business in the latter place, and the Houghs could, no doubt, obtain his house. They thanked him for his friendly advice and determined to follow it. Early in the morning they started out and overtook the wagons, which they turned in the new direction.

They had been just one month on their journey when they reached this town, on the Ist of July. No difficulty was ex- perienced in obtaining the house which Mr. Wingate had used, and they immediately commenced selling goods. Their stand

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was on Front street, near the corner of Court, on the ground now occupied by the St. Mary's Catholic church. It was of logs. There was then no other store here, except John Sutherland's, on the east side of Front, between Stable and Dayton streets. Busi- ness went well with them; but in September Thomas was attacked with bilious fever, which was then epidemic, and died on the 17th of that month. Four days after his death the surviving brother was taken with the same disease, and for some days his life was despaired of. On his final recovery he settled up the estate, giving to his younger sisters his share of his brother's estate, and still continuing the trade.

The next spring he entered into part- nership with Thomas Blair, Robert Clark, and Neil Gillespie, of Brownsville, Pennsyl- vania, under the firm name of Hough, Blair & Company. After a time he erected a frame building on the other side of the street, to which he removed. His partner- ship with Blair, Clark and Gillespie lasted until 1811. He then, in partnership with James McBride, who was a little younger, but had come to Hamilton the same year, began to buy wheat, which was ground into flour, and then taken to New Orleans to be sold. He understood thoroughly the method of doing this, and he and Mr. McBride each reaped handsome returns. These journeys were long, and attended with considerable danger. They had to travel on horseback from Hamilton to Philadelphia, a distance of six hundred miles, to purchase goods, which, when purchased, had to be trans- ported in wagons over the worst possible sort of mountain roads for a distance of three hundred miles to Pittsburg. This usually occupied from twenty to twenty-five

days and cost from six to ten dollars per hundred. At Pittsburg the goods were loaded on flat boats and shipped to Cincin- nati and then hauled overland to Hamilton.

In March, 1815, Mr. Hough made a partnership with Samuel Millikin, and after- wards with Lewis West, and continued in the Orleans trade until 1825, when he re- moved to Vicksburg, where he conducted a store until 1828. His landed property in Hamilton was not disposed of, and he used to come up to this place in the spring of the year, returning in the fall. He owned a valuable farm in the southern part of the county, where, for many years, he raised choice fruit. In 1853 he was attacked with typhoid fever in Vicksburg, which ended his life on the 23d of April, being then seventy years old. His remains were brought to Hamilton by his son-in-law, Major John M. Millikin, and were interred in Greenwood cemetery on the 3d of May, 1853.

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 137

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