USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 140
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laid in wait to shoot and scalp persons who straggled from the fort. Captain Delorac also once resided in Cincinnati, where he was engaged in trade. In his youth he was a clerk for John Sutherland, and then and afterward acquired a knowledge of boating on the Miami unsurpassed by any other man. At the time of his death, which was about 1872, he was one of Hamilton's oldest citi- zens.
WILLIAM C. FRECHTLING
was born in the province of Hanover, Ger- many, May 19, 1837. He came to Hamil- ton at the age of eighteen, a poor German lad fresh from the fatherland, and possessed nothing save a stout and resolute heart and a hand not afraid of work. In Cincinnati, where he located immediately after his ar- rival in America, he learned the trade of cigarmaker, but this he never followed. His first position in Hamilton was a clerkship in the store of his friend and countryman, Con- rad Getz. A faithful service of three years enabled him to start in business for himself. Together with his brother Henry he founded the Frechtling grocery, dry goods and queensware stores, which have since de- veloped into four great establishments. The original business was at the present site in the Beckett block and has only changed by its steady and substantial growth and the retirement in 1879 of Henry Frechtling, Sr. The Frechtling wholesale grocery, which was established in 1892, under the management of Edward H. Frechtling, is an offshoot of the original business. In 1887, Mr. Frechtling purchased the Globe Opera House building. He owned other valuable real estate. Mr. Frechtling always conducted his business on honest and con-
servative lines. He was twice married. His last wife was Miss Mary Fries, to whom he was married in 1865. To this union were born children, namely, Edward H., Helen, Philip, Ralph, Corrine and Camilla. Mr. Frechtling died in 1903, aged sixty-six years.
THOMAS V. HOWELL
was born in Rossville, September 28, 1826. He received an education in the common school, and when about twelve years of age entered the employment of G. P. Bell, a mer- chant, and continued. with him some ten years, when he went to Cincinnati with the firm of Reily & Woods. He returned to Hamilton and entered the employment of Brown & Leigh, remaining there until March, 1849, when, in company with D. G. Leigh, they purchased the business of Wil- liam B. Van Hook, and began the firm of Leigh & Howell, under which title they traded for two and a half years. Mr. Leigh then sold out to John Dye.
About 1854 Mr. Howell purchased the interest of his partner and carried on the business alone for twelve years. On begin- ning in 1849, his trade was not limited ex- clusively to dry goods, but embraced all that is commonly sold in country stores, including at one time a large stock of boots and shoes, and afterward of millinery. In 1870 he admitted his son, David Leigh Howell, as a partner, under the firm name of T. V. How- ell & Son. In 1875 they built a handsome three-story building on High street, and which was admirably adapted to its pur- pose. Their former store had been on the corner of Third and High streets. The firm also established an extensive concern in Middletown, and a few years ago built a
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BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO.
handsome business house in that city. In 1839. He organized nearly all the Primitive 1902, the store at Hamilton was totally de- or Old School Baptist churches in the Mi- ami valley.
stroyed by fire, but the firm immediately re- built upon a grander scale, and today the T. V. Howell & Son Company store is one of the most complete in southern Ohio.
Mr. Howell was married October 20, 1849, to Miss Sarah A. Connor, daughter of David Connor, a former well-known resi- dent of Hamilton. They were the parents of one daughter and one son, the former being Kate C. Howell and the latter David L. Howell. T. V. Howell was a self-made man, and had no early advantages. He was a member of the Masonic order and the Royal Arcanum, and contributed liberally of his means and influence in sustaining the government during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Howell are both dead. The former died in 1900 and the latter in April, 1896.
REV. STEPHEN GARD
was born in Essex county, New Jersey, No- vember 3, 1776. He received his education in a common school, except a few months in a private classical school in his native county. He was married to Rachel Pearce in 1801. He emigrated to Ohio about the end of the eighteenth century, making a temporary stay at Columbia, and moving to Butler county and settling on the present site of Trenton the same year. He came to Ohio in company with his father-in-law, Michael Pearce and family, and Dr. Squire Littell, who headed a colony of immigrants from New Jersey. Rev. Gard was the first resident minister in Butler county, and in 1800 founded the first church organization in the county-The Elk Creek Baptist church, of which he became the pastor, and continued as such until his death, August 14,
To Rev. and Mrs. Gard were born several children as follows : Eliza, who mar- ried William Wilson, of Middletown; Phebe, who married Wilkeson Taylor; Isaac N. became a physician and married Louisa Todd, of Newport, Kentucky ; Fairman, who also became a physician and married Lucy Todd, a sister of Louisa Todd; Sarah mar- ried John C. Potter; Mary L. married Ezra Potter and Rachel died unmarried. Rev. Mr. Gard was twice married. His second wife was Mary Van Horn. By her he had one child, William B. Gard, who became a physician.
REV. MOSES CRUME,
a pioneer minister of the Methodist Epis- copal church, was born in 1766. He came to Butler county early in the eighteenth century, and was an itinerant preacher. He was converted in 1787 and began to preach in 1791. His earliest appearance was near Oxford in 1805. He is described as a portly, dignified man of intellectual appearance and was said to closely resemble President George Washington. He was sent out as a missionary among the Indians and for a time labored in the vicinity of Connersville. He was among the earliest settlers of Oxford township and made appointments to preach soon after the first settlements were made. Mr. Crume resided in Oxford for several years. Sarah, Mr. Crume's first wife, died May 10, 1829, aged fifty-seven years, four months and twenty-four days. Anna, the second wife, died June 5, 1853, aged sixty- seven years. Rev. Crume was the founder of the Methodist church at Oxford and was
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its pastor during the year 1813, and again Nellie. He was born in Pennsylvania and in 1822. He also preached at various points in Butler county and his appointments at Oxford were for every sixth Sabbath. He was the presiding elder of the district in 1817. At that time the Ohio conference con- tained all of Ohio, portions of Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan and Indiana, and the district embraced all the country lying north of the Ohio river, and between the Great Miami and Whitewater rivers.
' Rev. Crume died April 1, 1839, aged seventy-three years. His remains were in- terred in the old burial ground at Oxford and his grave was marked by a plain monu- ment. He left numerous descendants.
PETER MURPHY
was born in Liberty township, Butler county, Ohio, October 1, 1820, being a son of Cor- nelius and Elnora (Windsor) Murphy, na- tives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Grandfather Peter Murphy was born in the north of Ireland of Scotch de- scent. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, when still a young man, he emi- grated to the United States and sojourned for a time in Pennsylvania, where he mar- ried a lady born in the United States but of Irish parentage. From Pennsylvania he re- moved to Kentucky, thence to Ohio, and settling in Butler county entered a tract of government land on which he passed his re- maining years. He was identified with the history of this county during an early period of its settlement, having come here prior to 1800. His life occupation was that of a tiller of the soil.
The father of the subject was one of seven children, whose names were James, John, Peter, Cornelius, Isabelle. Sarah and
came with the family to Ohio, where he mar- ried a Miss Elliott. At her death this lady left one son, Lewis, who became a money broker in Cincinnati and engaged in that business until his demise. The second mar- riage of Cornelius Murphy united him with Elnora Windsor and by their union were born the following children : John, deceased, formerly a broker in Cincinnati; Peter, the subject of this sketch; Cornelius, who en- gaged in farming near Bentonville, Indiana, until his death; Eliza Ann and James, who died in infancy ; Mary Ann, deceased, for- merly the wife of Dr. J. T. Ellsworth, of Lafayette, Indiana; Margaret Jane, who married John L. Withrow and died in But- ler county, Ohio; Angeline, wife of Robert B. Withrow, a resident of Butler county, and Ellen Eliza, who first married Barkley Boyd and afterward became the wife of the late William M. Boyd, of Hamilton.
Cornelius Murphy led a life of industry and accumulated a large and valuable prop- erty, which at his death was divided among his heirs. He was in his sixty-third year when he died; his wife died at the age of about seventy-nine years. Both were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Peter Murphy passed his boyhood days on the farm. He was educated in the typical pioneer log school house. When about twenty-four he was married to Cyrena Van Gordon, daughter of Benjamin Van Gordon, a pioneer of Liberty township, where she was born. They began housekeeping in a log cabin on his father's farm, and for four years he engaged in farming. For two years en- suing he kept a store at Princeton, Ohio. In 1851 he was elected sheriff of Butler county, and served two terms. He then pur-
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chased land near Princeton, Ohio, and en- gaged in farming and stock raising, which he followed with great success until 1886, when he removed to Hamilton and assisted in the organization of the Miami Valley National Bank, of which he became president and which position he retained until his death in 1897. For fourteen years before remov- ing to Hamilton he was a stockholder and director in the Hamilton First National Bank. An ardent Democrat, he was elected upon that ticket to various responsible posi- tions. Besides having been sheriff he was elected to represent his district in the state senate for two years. He was a director in the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati for several years. For eighteen
years he was a member of the Butler county board of agriculture, which he served as director, vice-president and president. For a number of years he was identified actively with the Masonic fraternity and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Murphy was the father of six chil- dren, as follows : Sallie Maria, who married J. E. Anderson, of Preble county ; Lewis D., now residing in Liberty township; Cora E., wife of O. D. Pocock, of Camden, Ohio; William E., who resides in Preble county; Harry, who resides on the old homestead in Liberty township, and Clarence, late pro- bate judge of Butler county, and now a well- known and successful practicing attorney of Hamilton.
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