USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 30
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 30
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Fidelity Chapter, O. E. S., Lena. August 6, 1897
Christian Chapter, O. E. S., Bradford. July 14, 1906
Sharon Chapter, O. E. S., West Milton
Covington Chapter, Covington.
190S
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOW'S.
Name of Lodge. Organized.
Piqua Lodge, Piqua . April 29, 1839
Piqua Council March 27, 1851
Troy Lodge. . June 30, 1845
Tippecanoe Lodge. May 12, 1854
Industry Lodge, Lena . June 17, 1854
Covington Lodge. . September 7, 1866
Taylor Lodge, Fletcher. .June 16, 1857
Bradford Lodge. September 25, 1873
Stillwater Lodge, West Milton . October 19, 1850
Casstown Lodge .. . June 5, 1869
Pleasant Hill Lodge. June 24, 1874
Brandt Lodge, Brandt. July 3, 1882
Garfield Lodge (col), Troy.
REBEKAH LODGES.
Name of Lodge. Organized.
Begonia Lodge, Bradford. .June 16, 1875
Virique Lodge, West Milton . December 7, ISSS
Trojan Lodge, Troy. June 22, 1894
Oriental, Tippecanoe City .September 15, 189S
Violet Lodge, Fletcher . June 6, IS96
Silver Star, Lena .. June 28, 1896
Mildred Lodge, Covington. . July 6, 1881
Champion, Casstown. .August 23, 1903
Household of Ruth, Troy.
MISCELLANEOUS SOCIETIES.
Name of Lodge. Organized.
Piqua Tent, Maccabees .September 25, 1889
Crystal Hive, Maccabees. . May -, 1891
Alexander Mitchel Post, G. A. R., Piqua.
October 27, IS66
Langston Post, G. A. R., Covington. 1883
Grand Army Post, Pleasant Hill .... September 17, 1883 A. H. Coleman Post, Troy. IS76
A. H. Coleman Corps .. W. R. C., Troy. . January 7, 1886 Maj. W. H. Gross, Camp S. of V., Covington ... .
April 18, 1904
Veterans of the Spanish War, Piqua.
Chapter D. A. R., Piqua. .
Miami Chapter, D. A. R., Troy May -, 1897
Piqua Tribe, I. O. R. M ... May 7, 1908
Amokee Tribe, I. O. R. M., Covington.
. February 26, 1891
Demoiselle Council, D. of P., Covington
February 26, 1900
Loramie Tribe, I. O. R. M., Piqua. ... January 1, 1893
Piqua Council, Royal Arcanum.
Royal Arcanum Council, Tippecanoe City
Piqua Court Foresters. December 6, 1893
Piqua Court Marguerite. June 19, 1903
Patrons of Husbandry, Covington. 1899
Patrons of Husbandry, Pleasant Hill. . October 23, 1873 D. M. Rouser Post, G. A. R., Tippecanoe City.
D. M. Rouser., W. R. C., Tippecanoe City.
Chattanooga Castle, K. G. E., Leua.
February IS, 1891
. April 27, 1892
Willow Camp, W. O. W., Piqua. . April 11, 1906
Miami Grange, Piqua.
February 11, 1905
Jr. O. U. A. M., Conover. Potsdam Couneil, Jr. O. U. A. M ... September 17, 1902
Miami Lodge, M. B. of A. Piqua.
. May 25, IS97
Knights of Pythias, Fletcher 1SS7
Jr. O. U. A. M., Fleteher. 1903
Milton Lodge, K. of P., West Milton. February 25, ISS7 Pythian Sisters, West Milton.
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1879
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Stillwater Lodge, K. of P., Covington. Stillwater Grange, Covington.
Order of the Gobblers, Covington 1906
Knights of Columbus, Piqua .. February 25, 1906
Jr. O. U. A. M., Tippecanoe City.
Lodge of the Maccabees, Tippecanoe City .. Modern Woodmen, Tippecanoe City
Daughters of America, Tippecanoe City.
Order of Ben Hur. Tippecanoe City.
Royal Areanum, Tippecanoe City.
Knights of the Golden Eagle, Troy. . September 24, 1891 Aerie of Eagles, Piqua. .
Aerie of Eagles, Troy.
Knights of Pythias, Troy
B. P. O. E., Troy. March 1903
B. P. O. E., Piqua
Knights of the Golden Eagle, Troy.
Jr. O. U. A. M., Troy ... . November 10, 1902
Tonquas Tribe, I. O. R. M., Troy. January 11, 1906
Trojan Lodge, K. of P., Troy. October 19, 1877
BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS.
Following is a list of the Building and Loan Associations now operating success- fully in the county :
Piqua-Border City Building & Loan Association; incorporated, June 6, 1871; authorized capital, $1,500,000. Officers- President, Henry Flesh; secretary, Seth McCullough ; treasurer, Samuel Zollinger; attorney, M. H. Jones.
Third Piqua Building & Loan Company ; incorporated, September 24, 1884; author- ized capital, $2,000,000. Officers-Presi- dent, A. M. Leonard; secretary, F. E. Pur- sell ; treasurer, J. H. Clark; attorney, D. S. Lindsey.
Troy-Peoples' Builidng & Loan Asso- ciation Company; incorporated, April 28, 1890; authorized capital, $3,000,000. Offi- cers-President, A. E. Childs; secretary, L. O. Shilling; treasurer, Noah Yount; attorney, J. C. Fullerton, Jr.
Tippecanoe City-Monroe Building & Loan Association; incorporated, July 19,
1875; authorized capital, $400,000. Offi- cers-President, S. D. Hartman; secre- tary, A. W. Miles; treasurer, E. L. Crane ; attorney, E. H. Kerr.
Covington-Covington Building & Loan Association; incorporated, March 23, 1886; authorized capital stock, $800,000. Officers-President, S. W. Ullery; secre- tary, E. S. Mohler; treasurer, C. C. Shu- man ; attorney, J. Guy O'Donnell.
West Milton-West Milton Home Sav- ings Association; incorporated, December 1, 1887 ; authorized capital, $100,000. Offi- cers-President, J. W. Smithman; secre- tary, J. E. Hart; treasurer, P. O. Vore; attorney, W. S. Kessler.
POPULATION OF THE COUNTI.
Bethel Township, 1,596; Brown (includ- ing Fletcher), 1,631; Fletcher Village, 375; Concord Township (including Troy), 7,187 ; Troy, Ward 1, 1,442; Ward 2, 1,263; Ward 3, 1,376; Ward 4, 1,800; Elizabeth Township, 1,124; Lost Creek (including Casstown), 1,146; Casstown Village, 262; Monroe Township, 2,931; Tippecanoe City, 1,703; Newberry, 4,869; Covington, 1,791; Bradford, in part, 762; Newton Township, 2,537; Pleasant Hill, 557; Spring Creek Township, 1,422; Staunton Township, 1,184; Union Township, 4,309; West Mil- ton, 904; New Lebanon, 224; Laura, 378; Washington Township, 13,169; Piqua, Ward 1, 1,967; Ward 2, 2,461; Ward 3, 3,377; Ward 4, 2,126; Ward 5, 2,241. Popu- lation of the whole county, 43,105.
NATHAN HILL
Representative Citizens
NATHAN HILL, founder of Hopewell Christian Church. In Rerick's Atlas of Miami County, it is stated that Nathan Hill was the first settler of Newton Town- ship. This should read: "That he came to what is now Newton Township with the first settlers," for at that time-1800-he was only a boy twelve years of age.
He was born in Maryland, near Elli- cott's Mills, on the 15th day of March, 1788. His father's name was Thomas Hill, and he and Michael Williams moved west and located in Montgomery County, south of Dayton, Ohio. About 1800 these two pioneers came north, seeking for lands to better their conditions, and it was natural for them to keep on the old Indian trail, as they did until they reached that part of Montgomery County best suited to their tastes, and there selected their future homes, Michael Williams taking the part next to the river, and Nathan Hill taking what is now the old homestead. They each had a half section of land. On the north side of this land they erected comfortable hewed log houses, and the next spring moved their families. Thomas Hill's house stood a little to the north-east of the pres- ent residence. It has long since been torn down. They took part in the organization of Miami County, which was taken from
Montgomery, January 16, 1807. The next spring after they moved up, Nathan and his brother returned for another load of their belongings. At Dayton the river was very much swollen and the fording dan- gerous. After having gone that far they did not want to turn back, and drove the team into the river; the lead horses turned around in the middle of the stream, upset the wagon and threw his brother into the water. He was clinging to the hind wheel of the wagon when last seen. Nathan hur- riedly cut the hame-string of the saddle horse which he was riding to go to his brother's relief, but before he could reach him he had loosened his hold and was car- ried down the river. His body was after- ward recovered. The return home with the dead body of his brother was the sad- dest mission of his life. It was the first funeral in the little colony.
Nathan Hill was married to Frances Williams, a daughter of Michael Williams, on the 29th day of June, 1809. He, with the assistance of his father and father-in- law, built a hewed log house a little south- east of the family residence, and in the same yard, moved to it themselves, and there laid the foundation of their future prosperity. They also built a hewed log house for his brother John. This was the
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
most spacious house in the west part of the county, and many people came to see it. It came into possession of my father, who sold it to Joseph Cox, and he removed it to his farm east of town, where it is still doing good service. Thomas Hill, the father, died in 1821, aged sixty-two years, leaving these two sons-Nathan and John -in comfortable homes, wherein to rear their fast-increasing families. The old homestead is still in the name of his heirs, having passed down by devise until the present time.
Nathan Hill was a Whig in politics, but he was not aggressive; always willing to accord to others the same right of think- ing that he claimed for himself. Before Newton or Pleasant Hill was organized the voting was done at his house, and the state militia met and drilled in the little field cast of the house until the law was re- pealed.
He was of a religious turn of mind, and on the 4th day of November, 1816, in an upstairs room in his dwelling house, he organized Hopewell Church. I have no data as to the number of families at the time, but presume it was quite small, but very determined. In 1820 they erected a church of hewed logs just across the road south of the cemetery on his farm. This building was used for several years. The congregation grew beyond the capacity of the church. I have seen it packed so full of people that their legs were sticking out- side at the windows. This may need a little explanation. On such occasions, the windows, being long and narrow, were taken out and those coming late were glad to get their heads inside. I remember dis- tinctly when the first meeting was held to consider the building of the new frame
church, about 1848. It was well attended and they easily agreed to go ahead and put up the new structure. It was built the next summer, and the work never lagged for want of funds. It was a very large building, but I am not able to give the di- mensions. It served the purpose of the congregation until about 1868, when it was blown down by a storm. The new brick church was then erected on the present site at Pleasant Hill. Mr. Hill was always present at the services, chopped the wood, made the fires and swept the house, and kept the grounds in order. He always took part in the praying, singing and exhorting, and in a great many other ways encour- aged the attendance of the members and others. He was a charitable man and gave largely to the poor and needy, visited the sick and ministered to their wants. His influence went out and did good in many ways. I remember an incident that hap- pened when I was in college at Cincinnati.
My roommate was Thomas Coppock, a most excellent boy from near Ludlow Falls, long since deceased. One Sunday morning Mr. Coppock was counting his money; I had none to count. I saw a tear in his eye, and asked him what the trouble was, as he was usually of a jolly nature and cheerful disposition. He said: "My mind is up at old Hopewell Church, and I would give that five dollar bill to hear Grandfather Nathan Hill sing his old hymn, 'Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound.' " At that time there were two boys there with tears in their eyes.
One winter the roads had been almost impassable and grocery supplies could not be had even in Dayton. He hitched a horse to a sled and went to Cincinnati for a bar- rel of salt. A very heavy snow fell and
.
283
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
lie was absent nearly two weeks. The weather was very severe, and an old In- dian, by name Amokee, came to the house with his gun reversed on his shoulder to show that he meant no harm. He wanted something to eat. Grandmother told him the situation-that her husband was gone, and that they had nothing to eat in the way of meats, as there was no salt, and they had not butchered. She baked him a corn pone, and he ate heartily and left. In the evening he returned, dragging the hind part of a deer that his trusty rifle had slain, and said, it was bad that her little pappooses did not have any meat. He remained with them until in the spring and then departed as he came. The Amo -. kee Lodge of Red Men, of Covington, was named after this Indian.
Mr. Hill reared a family of ten children, and some orphan children made their home with him. All this large family are de- ceased, except Mary, the wife of Thomas Hill, who resides with one of her sons in Kansas City, Mo. He loved company, and on Sunday, especially, the first Sunday of each month, when the monthly services were held, large crowds would go over to his house for dinner. I know it from ex- perience, as I have had to wait and sit at the fifth table. I thought at that time that the procedure ought to be reversed, and the "kids" allowed to eat first. His wife was an excellent companion for him. She did not attend church as much as he did, but remained at home attending to her family cares, and made it possible for him to go. She never opened the oven to take out her bread without thanking the Lord for his bounties. She survived him about eight years, living with her youngest son Nathaniel, recently deceased. She died on
the 10th day of November, 1870, aged eighty years, ten months, and twenty-one days.
A fine stream of water, clear as crystal, crept out through a rift in the rock, and emptied into a large basin, almost at the back door of the house, and from there it wandered into the springhouse among myriads of milk crocks, which made a place not equalled by the best modern refriger- ators, from there on through the wash house into the meadow, where it irrigated the soil and slaked the thirst of his stock. Myriads of song birds were flitting about the farm and among the branches of the large elm trees, which he allowed to grow and cast their shadows over his barn yard; and I am informed that the old elm tree is still the roosting-place of the beautiful and noisy blackbirds, which have made that tree their home for the last hundred years or more.
It was an ideal home for him in his old days, where his grand-children gathered around him and ministered to his wants. He was proud of it and spent most of his time there. He was good to his wife and children, raised a great deal of garden truck ; was an apiarist and had large quan- tities of bees that gathered in the honey from the wild flowers. His cattle waded in pastures knee-high, and his table liter- ally flowed with milk and honey.
I have seen him many times laboring in the fields. Even when he was an old man he would ride his family mare in the field with a sack of wheat on her shoulders, a handkerchief tied over her ears to keep the grain out of them, and go back and forth across the field sowing wheat, and his grandchildren harrowing it in.
It was the custom in those days for the
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
ladies to ride horseback. They would gather in and take the family mare in the pasture baek of the barn and practice while he was at church. This went on for a long time before he found it out. It was about all the old mare could do during the week to recruit up for her Sunday task. When he learned of it his sympathy for the old mare was stronger than his desire to see the girls learn to ride, so he eut it out.
He was a great horticulturist, and plant- ed a large orchard of apple, peach, pear, and cherry trees. He also erected a large beam cider-press, that could be manipu- lated by a small boy so as to exert a press- ure of several hundred tons, and eider was to be had from August to freezing-up time, free to all comers. His orchard produced an abundance of fruit and it was always free to the public. When apples could not be had in the orchard there were al- ways plenty in the cellar. At one time two of his neighbors' boys went there for pears and, a little out of the ordinary, one of them went to the house and requested the privilege of picking a certain tree. Grandfather told the one that called at the house that he was saving that particular tree for his own use, that he might fill his sack from some other tree. The boy went off but soon returned and told him that his brother had the pears in the sack and was on the way home with them. Instead of being offended, he took it as a good joke and often related it.
He had the finest sugar grove in the county-some of the trees are yet stand- ing-and in the spring of the year he would have tapped several hundred trees and make sugar by the barrel and large quanti- ties of molasses. The young folks would gather at night, boil water, stir off the
syrup, and make wax, and sometimes boil eggs and even roast ehiekens, after he had gone to bed. He was always so good na- tured that the egg shells, nor even the chicken bones, would attraet his attention the next morning.
The Old Indian Trail, or Roadway, went through the east part of this section, a little west of the C., H. & D. Railroad, and just where it crossed the half-section line they erected a log school-house. Owing to their being good mechanies, this house was better than the average schoolhouse of those days. It was built of hewed logs, had slab benches, sawed writing-desks around the wall, and glass windows, and was heat- ed with a stove. I started to school there in 1846, together with my friend, Jacob Reiber, and some others. Unele Nathaniel Hill was teacher, and on bad days I would ride home on his back. One night the schoolhouse was robbed of all the books. On my way to school I found them all in a neat pile on about the fifth rail from the ground, with the balance of the fence rest- ing upon them. They were too heavy for me to carry, so I reported the faet, and teacher and all the school repaired to the spot, and the books were restored and school went on.
Whipping was required of every teacher in those days. Some teachers would call out a whole school and stand them in a row and with a long whip strike the whole bunch. If one should dodge forward to escape the lick, he was put in another line and whipped with a shorter stick, and so on until the teacher felt that he had done his duty ; and that was when he was about exhausted.
These improvements were not all made by the Hill Brothers. They were ably as-
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
sisted by the Williams family, especially John and Henry.
At my birth my mother named me John Calvin, perhaps thinking that if I could cultivate a taste for chickens, I might be- come a preacher. When I was about two years of age he said to her, "I want you to call that boy Nathan; I want a grand- son to bear my name, and you may not have another chance." After some delib- eration as to whether or not it was bad Inek to change a name after it was given, my mother consented, and my name was changed to Nathan. The name of John Calvin has been praised from one end of the country to the other, but with all that, there never was a more noble, upright, honest, charitable example to be followed than that of Nathan Hill. He was a large portly man, weighed abont two hundred pounds, had a keen eye, dark brown hair, and in his declining years stooped a little forward, and walked with his hands clasped together on his back. His firm step, his elastic limbs, and his undimmed senses, were so many certificates of good conduct, or rather jewels or orders of nobility, with whielt nature had adorned him for fidelity to her laws. His fair complexion showed that his blood had never been corrupted; his pure breath that he had never yielded his digestive apparatus to the vintage cess pool; his exact language and keen appre- liension, that his brain had never been poi- soned by the distiller or tobacconist. En- joying his appetite to the highest, he had preserved the power of enjoying it. De- spite the moral of the schoolboy's story, he had eaten his cake and still kept it. As he drained the cup of life there were no lees at the bottom. His organs all reached their goal of existence together. Pain-
less as the sun sinks below the western horizon, so did he expire on the 15th day of January, 1862, aged seventy-three years and ten months.
NATHAN IDDINGS.
FRANCIS GRAY, deceased, who was the founder of and principal owner in the F. Gray Company, for years one of the largest and most important industrial en- terprises of Piqua, was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1821. His parents were William and Ellen Gray, and on the paternal side he is of Scotch- Irish ancestry. William Gray was a na- tive of the Keystone state and a soldier of the War of 1812.
The subject of this sketch, after he had attained his majority, engaged in the busi- ness of rafting lumber down the river to Pittsburg and Cincinnati. He also carried on a store in Pittsfield. He was doing very well in a business way when Fortune suddenly frowned upon him-a sudden and violent flood, in the spring of 1850, carrying off his logs and lumber and caus- ing him a severe loss. Finding it neces- sary to make an assignment, he made one of his creditors the assignee. This man, however, proved dishonest; turning every- thing he could into money, he departed leaving the other creditors unpaid.
Finding it necessary to seek employment elsewhere, Mr. Gray put his family on a raft and started down the river to Cov- ington, Ky., where he arrived in Septem- ber, 1851, with about $150 as his sole cash capital. Being acquainted in the lumber trade, he succeeded in finding work in measuring lumber on the wharves. He also received a commission of fifty cents per thousand for selling shingles and gradu-
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
ally built up for himself a small trade in this line. He was, however, for some time in very reduced circumstances. One day, having earned a larger commission than usual, he found himself in possession of two hundred dollars, a larger sum than he had been able to accumulate since his mis- fortune. He carefully invested this money so that it brought a profitable return, and with this for a new beginning he subse- quently carried on various trading trans- actions until he found his capital increased to one thousand dollars. He now embarked once more in business for himself, having in the meanwhile added to his business knowledge by taking a course in a com- mercial institution. Finding a partner with equal capital, he again entered into the lumber business, having a yard in Cov- ington. The value of a good reputation here came to his aid, for an extensive luni- ber dealer who knew his history offered him as much lumber on credit as he might require, and with brightening prospects he now looked forward to the time when he should be able to pay off all his old debts. He returned East and arranged with his former creditors to make payment, giving them notes with approved security.
In 1859 Mr. Gray enlarged his business interests by becoming half owner in a flouring mill with J. D. Patch of Cynthi- ana, Ky. This line of business giving promise of greater returns than that in which he was engaged, he sold out his lum- ber interests and went to Cynthiana. He had now paid off some of his indebtedness and had but two thousand dollars with which to embark in the new venture, and this small capital was counter-balanced by two thousand dollars of old debts that he still owed.
Mr. Gray enjoyed six prosperous years in Cynthiana, his returns from the flour- ing mill enabling him to pay off all his old debts, to purchase a half interest in the mill, and to establish a woolen mill. In the spring of 1865 he wound up his busi- ness affairs in Cynthiana and returned to Covington, having a bank account of $28,- 000. Here he engaged in the woolen busi- ness, leasing a large building, which he fitted up with improved machinery. This mill he operated until 1869, when, the wa- ter supply proving inadequate, he looked about for another location and found it in the beautiful Miami valley at Piqua. His first business operations here were con- ducted in partnership with Dr. O'Farrell and Thomas L. Daniels, the firm conduct- ing a prosperous business until the finan- cial panic of 1873, which put a stop to the profitable manufacture of woolen goods for the time being.
Not proposing to remain idle, however, longer than was absolutely necessary, Mr. Gray planned another enterprise, which subsequently developed into one of the most flourishing industrial enterprises of Piqua. He had some time previously be- come interested in the subject of felt pa- per manufacture, having succeeded in ob- taining the rudiments for manufactures of various kinds from an old Englishman, who had worked at the business in Eng- land, and as the result of his investiga- tions he believed there was room for a good mill of that kind in this section of the country. His partner, Dr. O'Farrell, however, was distrustful of the new proj- ect, and not wishing to embark in it, Mr. Gray, with the aid of some friends in the East bought out his interest in the former mill and proceeded to establish the new in-
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