USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 12
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 12
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
In political views, Mr. Shaw was an earnest Democrat, giv- ing his support to that party throughout his active life. He served the county in the office of deputy county auditor and was a member of the constitutional convention, in 1873.
Hon. John Shaw was a son of John Shaw and a grandson of James Shaw, the latter being born in Belfast, Ireland, com-
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IDA (WEBB) SHAW
HON. JOHN SHAW
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ing to America, alone, when he was fifteen years of age, about 1770 or 1771, he having been bound out. The family to whom the boy, James, was bound, settled in York county, Pennsylvania, and when the Revolutionary war broke out he enlisted in the army under Lafayette, serving throughout the war. James Shaw brought his wife and family, in 1795, to Limestone (now Maysville), Ky., but shortly after settled near Alexandria, Campbell county, Kentucky, where he secured and improved considerable wild land. After living to a good old age, James Shaw passed peacefully away, in 1825, leaving an untarnished record and an unspotted reputation.
John Shaw, son of James, was born in 1779. As a young man he served two terms, at different times, in the Ohio legis- lature. About 1808, John Shaw located in Monroe township, Clermont county, Ohio, where he secured a large tract of wild land, which he improved and resided on until his death, in 1847. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and was reared a strict Presbyterian, but became a believer in the Universalist doc- trine. John Shaw served in the War of 1812, receiving an hon- orable discharge. He married Nancy Morin from Culpeper coun- ty, Virginia, who came by horseback to Kentucky with her father, the family settling in Campbell county. She and her hus- band reared six sons and four daughters to maturity, all of whom are married. James, the eldest son, went to Texas when a young man, and was a pioneer and active in the early political history of that State, and served in the Mexican war. The second, John, is the subject of this review. Robert and Joseph went to Missouri, the former being killed in the Civil war, he being a carrier of the mail and a Union man in belief. Jonathan served two terms as county commissioner in Cler- mont county, residing in Monroe township.
The Hon. John Shaw married Miss Ida Webb, who was born near Cincinnati, September 17, 1812, and died September 8, 1900. She was a daughter of General Clayton and Jane (Riggs) Webb, the latter a daughter of a Revolutionary sol- dier and a resident of New Jersey. Gen. Clayton Webb served in the War of 1812, and was a personal friend of William Henry Harrison. General Webb was one of the early settlers of Hamilton county, Ohio, and was a member of the early Ohio legislature. He owned a great deal of land about New- town.
An unusually long life together was enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. Shaw. they having been married sixty years, lacking three months. To their union were born five children :
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Nancy, who married Francis E. Bettle, of Ohio township.
Clayton W., who died a soldier of the Civil war, a member of Company M, Fifth Ohio cavalry.
James Fremont, who resides in Campbell county, Kentucky, aged sixty-five years. He married Miss Lula Reed, who died in 1912. They have five sons and two daughters.
John C., farmer and stockman of Monroe township, mar- ried, 1875, Miss Sallie Goble, a daughter of Stephen and Alice (Brown) Goble. They have had four children, three of whom are living.
Viola, who is the wife of Elwood Reed, of Detroit, Mich. They have two children living.
When Mr. Shaw was called to his final rest, Clermont county lost one of its most valued men, whose business suc- cess came to him through the utilization of opportunities and the recognition of the fact that the present, not the future, is the time to put forth one's best efforts and energies for the attainment of success. He was never remiss in his duties whether in office or out of it, and was an advocate of all pro- gressive measures for the general good of the community, ever ready to give his aid to all worthy enterprises. His life was active and his actions manly and sincere.
REV. MATTHEW GARDNER.
The death of Rev. Matthew Gardner on October 10, 1873. removed from Southern Ohio a man whose life work was in the ministry of the Gospel and whose life was devoted to doing good-a sincere Christian gentleman whose memory is held dear not only in the hearts of his descendants, but by his legion of friends and their families.
The birth of Rev. Matthew Gardner occurred in Stephen- town, N. Y., December 5. 1790. His forefathers came from England to America and settled in Rhode Island about 1685 or 1690. Being devoted adherents of the principles of George Fox, and of the religious denomination of Friends, commonly called Quakers, a people not tolerated by the Puritans then settling in Massachusetts and Connecticut, they settled in Rhode Island, where all forms of religious worship and all varieties of doctrines were tolerated.
Rev. Gardner's father was born in Rhode Island September
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13, 1760; his second wife, nee Lucy Hawks, was born in Con- necticut September 29, 1762. The father, when ten years of age, removed with the family to New York, locating near the Massachusetts State line in what is now Rensselaer county, and when about seventeen years of age went into the Revolu- tionary army. After independence was gained he returned home and settled on a farm of thirty acres of poor land, leasing the same, as was then the custom. He was a carpenter and supported his family mainly by work at his trade. There were ten children, of whom Rev. Matthew Gardner was the fourth.
When he was eight years of age the boy Matthew was hired out, but two years later, in 1800, the father sold his lease- hold and the family started, September 1, 1800, for the north- western territory of Ohio, having but one small wagon, with three horses, and other means correspondingly limited. They reached Pittsburgh, then a small village, by October I, and then were joined by four other families, all flatboating down the Ohio river. Four weeks later they arrived at Limestone, now Maysville, Ky. The father traded two horses for one hundred acres of land on the Ohio side, now Brown county, landing two miles below the site of Ripley. The father and sons erected a cabin into which the family moved about Jan- uary 1, 1801.
In 1809 Matthew Gardner left home and went to Cincinnati, where he hired on a flatboat going to New Orleans, reaching there in May. About the time of arrival in New Orleans he suffered a severe spell of fever and there during the illness became converted and was ever after a devout Christian. After a long, hard trip he reached home October 20, 1809, and began studying preparatory to entering the ministry. He was baptized in the West fork of Eagle creek by Elder Archi- bald Alexander in October, 1810. Religious meetings were fre- quently conducted by this Christian preacher at the Gardner home. The church where Rev. Gardner began preaching was organized by Elder Alexander in the fall of 1810 and was one of the first Christian churches in Southern Ohio. Rev. Gard- ner followed the carpenter's trade for some years. He received his first letter from the Kentucky Conference, of which he was a member, September 8, 1812.
On May 20, 1813, he was wedded to Miss Sally, daughter of Jeptha and Sally Beasley, and in July of the same year he enlisted as a soldier and went to Upper Sandusky for a short
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time, the victory of Commodore Perry rendering the services of his command unnecessary.
In 1813 Rev. Gardner purchased one hundred acres of land from his father-in-law and moved to the place January I, 1814, where he resided for some sixty years. There were ten acres cleared and the remainder Rev. Gardner cleared. Thus he operated and improved his farm and also filled appoint- ments and made trips as a Christian minister. He had a pow- erful, though pleasant, voice and was a pleasing speaker and singer ; was robust, standing six feet and one inch and weigh- ing about two hundred pounds.
On March 2, 1818, Rev. Gardner was ordained according to order of the Kentucky Christian conference, and the following years organized several churches, the first being Union Church in the western part of Brown county, two miles from Higgins- port, on the Ohio river, in 1818. This church soon numbered some two hundred members. Later he organized a church on the Big Indian creek in Clermont county, Ohio. In 1820 he organized a Christian church at Bethel and formed a regular circuit in parts of Brown and Clermont counties, which took him about two weeks to get around. He was present and assisted in the organization of the Southern Ohio Christian Conference in October, 1820, the meeting of elders and mes- sengers being held at the Christian church at the forks of Brush creek in Adams county. Rev. Gardner started, at his own expense, a church paper-the first in the then so-called West-and was editor of the paper, which was called "The Christian Union." The first number was issued in May, 1841 -a monthly in magazine form.
Rev. Matthew Gardner's wife died September 20, 1869. Her birth occurred in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, September 12, 1794. They lived in wedlock fifty-six years and four months. Rev. Gardner preached the Gospel for sixty-three years. The marriage of Rev. and Mrs. Gardner was blessed with eleven children, more extended mention of whom is made in a sketch of Mr. John W. Gardner on another page of these volumes.
Personally, Rev. Matthew Gardner was a man of winning presence, impressing others with confidence, and pleasing those with whom he came in contact by his genial manner and genuine courtesy. His name is inscribed among those who have stood high in the affections of the people of Ohio.
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LIEUTENANT JOHN QUINCY A. PARK.
As long as youthful hearts throb with love for their coun- . try, that long will American boys wonder much about the brave days of '61 to '65. The exact story of one boy from Old Clermont who followed Grant to Appomattox should be worth a place in its history.
John Quincy A. Park, the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Park, born in Williamsburg, December 21, 1843, was the boy who was to have that unique distinction. He had played his urchin days so that he loved a horse almost as much as is told of the great general, but he was still in the village school, with no larger thought than beating the drum for the village band. So, when the echoes from Fort Sumter rolled to the North, it was up to him to beat the larum drum in Williams- burg and down to Batavia and back home, while older people looked after the smaller details of fixing enlistment papers and getting orders about things. When the roll was ready, he held his drum with one hand and signed his name with the other. As he came out of the crowd, girls badged the left lapel of his coat with red, white and blue ribbons to show that he was "One of the volunteers." And he felt very brave. But the next morning as he bade parents and sisters and other ex- cited and exciting friends good-bye, and mounted the band wagon rolling away to camp, and looked down the hill toward home that might never be seen again, his eyes grew so full with tears that he could not see the drum he was wildly beat- ing. Before starting, figured papers were pasted under his heels so that he could say he was over eighteen.
And so he went with the "Clermont Guards" as Company E in the Twenty-second Ohio, from April 23 to August 19, 1861. During that time, he drummed while General Mcclellan won his first laurels in West Virginia. While he was learn- ing to grumble like a soldier that had had enough, a letter came stating that he was wanted as a drummer in the Twenty- seventh Regimental Band. Straightway war was not so ter- rible, and he just stopped to say so to the folks at home, as he hurried on to overtake his band at St. Louis, and to notice that the East Fork seemed to flow toward the Mississippi. He again mustered in as a musician, on September 4, 1861, and helped swell the din of Fremont's campaign in Missouri, and then Hunter's, and then Pope's New Madrid Expedition. Then he was transferred to beat the long roll-too long-for Hal-
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leck's "Siege of Corinth." But the band was discharged on August 17, 1862. Having grown taller and tired of drum- ming, he re-enlisted as a private in Captain William H. Ul- rey's Company, M of the Second Ohio cavalry. Sometime having passed in recruiting, he was mustered in for another three years on November 6, 1862, and soon made a sergeant. The regiment took the field in an incessant chase after the wily John Morgan, that passed into the movement known as "Mor- gan's Raid Through Indiana and Ohio." That raid was halted by the all night ride of a body that included Sergeant Park's squad. That body appeared in a charge down the river hills on Morgan's flank and clinched his disastrous defeat at Buf- fington Island.
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Then, for four months more, the Second Ohio cavalry was in constant conflict with terrible guerrilla bands that brought half rations and dismay to Rosecrans at Chattanooga, and Burnsides at Knoxville, until Grant planned the victories of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Next followed the transfer of Grant to the East, when he took Sheridan, and Custer, who chose the Second Ohio cavalry for part of his command. And then followed a year of the most brilliant cavalry strategy in the story of wars. It was the strategy in which Custer, "The Glorious Boy," under the eye of Sheridan, led his troopers around Richmond and about the flanks of Lee's resolute battalions, and up and along the Shenandoah. Ah, the bravery of those days when they seldom finished breakfast before the fight began. "What makes your face so white, Captain?" said young Park to Ulrey, as their line stood waiting for the expected order to charge. "The same thing that is making your boots rattle in the stirrups," said Ulrey with a glance at the feet of the nervous youth. Before the campaign was begun, the first lieutenant quit, and before the campaign was half done, Captain Ulrey and Second Lieutenant Lough died from wounds taken in awful battles; and soon, two-thirds of the company could march and fight no more. Thirty years after he was asked : "Where were you when Lee surrendered?" "I .was there," he answered. "Yes, but where do you mean by there?" "Why, right there, at McLean's House. My company formed the line on one side where Gen- eral Lee and his officers rode by ; and where General Grant on his black horse came wearing a private's overcoat."
A search of the reports and map showed that he was there, and more besides. He had been in seventy odd named engage-
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ments with fatal casualties, and had had seven horses shot un- der him. And he got there after dark the night before, in the headlong chase for the crossing of the Appomattox. His com- pany on the extreme southwest of all rode against and filed to the right, while he passed to the left and fell under his thrice mortally wounded horse in front of the log blacksmith shop that marked the end of Lee's magnificent marchings. Drenched with the blood of the dying horse whose struggles seemed to be crushing the leg beneath, Park lay in the ex- treme southern point not of the last ditch, but of the last road over which Lee could not prolong his southward retreat. Presently, Park freed his leg and found his company going into camp nearby, with the supposition that he had been killed. As the night wore on, the rest of Custer's cavalry and Sheridan's corps came up and were massed across the road. Lee's weary men, straining for the same point, came up in the night and the lines became so entangled that many found themselves prisoners in the morning before the actual surrender. But for the long discipline of the men, the tumult would have ex- ceeded the imagination of a Milton. A dramatic interest is found in the going of the great generals into their conference amid the presented arms of a guard line formed by a com- pany partly from Grant's native Clermont and paraded by the lithe young sergeant, whose commission, due the August before, was still in waiting, because of the vast haste and waste of the war. Sergeant Park never asked for promotion, and because of his long absence and the death of his officers with- out recommending his service, the matter was not pressed at home. At last, because of his record and through the generals in the field, he was promoted, June 28, 1865, to be second lieu- tenant of Company A of his regiment, and then commissioned to be first lieutenant. The Second Ohio cavalry was selected for duty pending the result of the French invasion of Mexico, and he was not discharged until September 11, 1865.
After the war, Lieutenant Park went to Kansas, whence he came back, and on May 17, 1875, married Clara, only daugh- ter of David and Margaret (Smith) McClung, of Williams- burg. Then for several years, he lived in Phillip county, Kan- sas. They had three children. Flora, the oldest, died in her ninth year, at Missouri Valley, Iowa. After that they lived in Lincoln, Neb., and then in Des Moines, where Clara died March 3. 1903, leaving a son, William A., and a daughter, Mar- garet. William A. and Nora Park have recently removed
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from Des Moines, to De Kalb, Ill., where he is employed by the American Steel & Wire Company. Margaret married Hale C. Davis, of Jamestown, N. D., where they are living and have one daughter, named Cleda. John Quincy A. Park's address for several years has been with the American Steel & Wire Company of Chicago.
JOHN W. GARDNER.
Mr. John W. Gardner, who is successfully engaged in the pursuits of agriculture in Brown county, Ohio, owns and op- erates (in common with his children now living at home) his well cultivated farm of one hundred and thirty. acres in the northeast part of Union township. Mr. Gardner was born on this farm, April 17, 1836, and is a son of Rev. Matthew, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these volumes.
Rev. Matthew and Sally (Beasley) Gardner were the par- ents of eleven children, namely :
Barton Beasley, who was born March 27, 1814, was a farmer and extensive tobacco dealer. He married Susannah Elliott October 20, 1836.
Sallie Ann, who was born December 5, 1815, married Michael Shinkle, December 1, 1836. Mr. Shinkle was a farmer by occupation and both he and his wife are deceased.
George Washington, born January 30, 1818, was by occu- pation a farmer and tobacco dealer. He married Eliza Slack December 30, 1841. He also is now deceased.
Jeptha Monroe, who was born April 10, 1820, followed the occupation of general farming and tobacco.growing. He mar- ried Margaret Dalton December 9, 1842, and is deceased.
Lucy Eliza, born March 28, 1823, married William J. Lind- sey on May 2, 1841. They were farmers and are deceased.
Louisa Maria, born September 15, 1825, became the wife of Abner De Vore, a farmer, on March 5, 1846. She died December 6, 1860.
Julia Elmira, born April 7, 1828, was the wife of Samuel Hopkins, a farmer and trader. Her marriage took place May 17, 1848.
James Alexander, born November 13, 1830, died July 24, 1851.
Mary Jane, who was born July 25, 1833, married George
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W. Kindell January 1, 1861. She resides at Manchester, Ohio, and is past eighty years of age.
John Wickliffe, our subject.
Elnathan Matthew, who was born September 12, 1839, was a farmer and also engaged in the livery business in Ripley, Ohio.
Mr. John W. Gardner was reared and has resided on his present home farm all his life thus far. He received a good. common school education and under his father's instruction became a practical and successful farmer. During the past years Mr. Gardner gave a considerable attention to the Equity tobacco business, having now a small interest in a tobacco manufacturing plant at Covington, Ky.
Mr. Gardner was united in marriage on April 27, 1857, to Miss Nancy Jane Boggs, who was born in Lewis county, Kentucky, December 23, 1840. She is a daughter of William and Lorinda (Bilew) Boggs, the former of whom was killed in a mill explosion-the Buckeye Mill-about 1845. He left three children : Mrs. Gardner; Ruth Ann (Coburn), deceased; and Riley, who resides in Union township, Brown county, and is a farmer.
The mother, Mrs. Boggs, married a second time, Mr. Rich- ard Weeks, and they were the parents of six children, of which all but one are living and are scattered throughout the country.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardner are the parents of the following named children :
Florence Bell, born February 18, 1858, married Edgar L. Martin, who went west some years ago. She died Novem- ber 29, 1885, leaving one daughter, Pearl D., who died at the age of five years.
Charles Walter, born August 27, 1859, resides at Aberdeen, Ohio, having a farm near there. He married Alice Gray and they have two sons, Walter Gray and Eugene Myron.
Louis Oscar, born October 18, 1860, is a farmer and trader residing in Huntington. township. He married Janett Bu- chanan and they have three sons: Stacy Earl, undertaker and furniture dealer, of Ripley, Ohio; Thomas and Charles Hugo. The third child, Frank Sherman, died in childhood.
Miss Melinda Alice, born September 5, 1862, is at home.
Frank Sherman, born September 30, 1864, died August 31, 1891.
George Washington, born September 2, 1866, resides at
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Bloomingburg, Ohio, where he is engaged in the hay and straw business. He married first, Elizabeth Smith, who was born in England, in 1863, by whom he had two children: Wil- bert Samuel and Viola Florence. His first wife, Elizabeth (Smith) Gardner, died March 21, 1900, after which he married Emma J. Eyler.
William Mattthew, born September 18, 1868, is a farmer in Byrd township, near Decatur, Ohio. He married Agnes Ste- phenson.
Stacy Emmerson, born September 11, 1870, is at home.
Miss Hattie May, born April 24. 1872, at home.
Frederick Eugene, born March 21, 1874, died January 20, 1907.
In politics, Mr. Gardner was for many years a Republican, but in recent years has voted the Independent ticket. He has served twice as real estate assessor of U'nion township, and was once nominated by the People's party as representative from Brown county to the State legislature.
HUGH ELLIS TWEED.
Mr. Hugh Ellis Tweed was born on the farm where he now resides, in Union township. November 11, 1868, and is a son of Marion and Miriam (Day) Tweed. The mother was reared near Georgetown, Ohio, and is still residing on the farm with her son, at the ripe age of seventy-two years. She is a daugh- ter of Ellis and Miriam (Mann) Day, of an early Brown coun- ty family. The father, Marion Tweed, was born in Union township, in 1836, and was a resident of that community un- til his death, which occurred in March, 1901. A farmer by oc- cupation he was successful along this line of endeavor. He served his country during the Civil war as a corporal in the One Hundred and Seventy-second regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry. Marion Tweed was a son of John Tweed, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1791, and who died in 1859.
John Tweed, like the other members of the family, was a farmer and owned large tracts of western land, beside his home farm. He, too, gave faithful service to the defense of his country, in her time of need, having served thirteen months as ensign in Captain Seaton's company during the War of
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1812. He was a son of Archibald Tweed, who in 1798 set- tled on a part of the farm which is now occupied by his great grandson, the subject of this sketch. Archibald was a son of Robert Tweed, and came to Brown county from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, which was his birthplace. His death occurred on his farm in Union township. That these men and their families were pioneer residents goes without mention, the many incidents of savage encounter and early privation remaining unto the present day as interesting family history.
The subject of this sketch owns and controls three hundred and thirty acres of improved and highly cultivated land, which is well devoted to stock raising and general farming, including corn, wheat, tobacco and the other crops of the section. Lo- cated near the birthplace of the famous burley variety of to- bacco much of his land is successfully devoted to the produc- tion of same, the yearly returns from the tobacco crop often amounting to more per acre than the value of land on which it was grown. Mr. Tweed's farms are managed by careful business methods, the appearance of same revealing. at once the personality of the manager. Buildings and fences are .well kept, employes are comfortably provided for, the whole sug- gesting a situation of systematic comfort.
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