History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2, Part 22

Author: Byron Williams
Publication date: 1913
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 925

USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 22
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 22

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).

William L. Miller was born May 2, 1827, and died May 15, 1896. He was a son of David M. Miller, who was a son of Ichabod Miller. Ichabod Miller, from Pennsylvania, was a notable surveyor, much employed on the eastern side of Ham- ilton county, where he located many roads still existing. He married a daughter of Capt. Aaron Mercer, a relative of Gen. Hugh Mercer, who was killed at the Battle of Princeton. Cap- tain Mercer came from Virginia, and reached Columbia just as the troops returned from the scenes of General Harmar's defeats. Captain Mercer and Capt. Ignatius Ross met James Newell going with corn to Covalt's Mill, at Round Bottom, just before the latter was killed by Indians, in September, 1791. Notwithstanding the great danger of the times, Captain Mer- cer and Miller in 1792 went three miles up on the eastern side of the Little Miami from Gerard's Station, and there, where fine springs gushed from the gravel bank, they built a palisade

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or block house, and laid out a town that was called Mercers- burg, until changed some eight years later to Newtown. An- other daughter of Captain Mercer married Thomas Brown, Jr., a store keeper, who was a son of Thomas Brown, Sr., who laid out Brownsville, on the site of the historic old Fort Red Stone, on the Monogahela.

William I .. was well educated and taught in the schools of Hamilton county, Ohio, for a number of years. He was also a surveyor' and in 1863 bought two hundred and eighty-five acres of land in Williamsburg township from Gen. David Bone. Mr. William L. Miller followed farming until within a few years of his death, when he purchased a handsome residence in Williamsburg, but returned to the farm before his death. He was a Democrat and was for years a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He had membership in the Williamsburg Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he gave largely of his means.

Elizabeth (De Bolt) Miller was born in May, 1831, at New- town, Ohio, and died December 15, 1902. She was a daughter of Michael and Martha De Bolt, of near Newtown, where they were successful farmers, In early life Mrs. Miller joined the Baptist church, of which her mother was a member, but later joined the Methodist church at Williamsburg.

William H. Miller is the eldest of six children :

Mrs. Eva Moore, of Williamsburg.

Leonard E., of Williamsburg.

Frank M., deceased.

Rev. Idelbert B., of New York State, is in the Methodist ministry.

Mattie M., deceased.

Since the age of eight years, Clermont county has been the home of William H. Miller, and here he received his educa- tion in the common schools. He chose the occupation of farm- ing, which he has followed continuously, with the exception of six years, when he was engaged in the insurance business.

. On December 25, 1878, at Afton, Ohio, he married Miss Deborah Lukemire, who was born in Clermont county, her parents, William and Hannah Lukemire, being early resident farmers of this section of the county. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Miller has been born one son :

William L., who was born November 23, 1879, and is now engaged in mining at Cripple Creek, Colo. He married Irene Burke, of near Bethel, Ohio, and they have two children :

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Marie Grace, born August 27, 1904, and George William, born September 20, 1905.

In politics, Mr. Miller is always a Democrat, and served as infirmary director for some six years. He was also a mem- ber of the county fair board. In fraternal circles, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. His farming interests in- dicate the diligence and judgment which he has employed in the management of his affairs. He is well known as a reliable business man, who is public-spirited in citizenship and loyal in friendship.

JOSEPH AND MELINDA MEDARIS SMITH.

After joining a company, of which he was elected captain, Dennis Smith served in the Revolutionary army, and was granted a land warrant for five hundred acres in the Virginia miiltary district. He lived in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, and raised a family, of which the sons were: Peter, Joseph, Dennis, Jr., David, Christopher and Abe; and the daughters were: Elizabeth married Jacob Johns, Polly mar- ried James Enis, Susan married James Clark, Hannah mar- ried James Huffman, Catherine married James Seals, Rachel married Francis Foster, and Sarah married Jacob Meek. Capt. Dennis Smith's bounty land was laid in Clermont county by his sons, Joseph, David and Christopher, and his son-in-law. James Seals. David Smith lived and died in Clermont county. and so did Christopher Smith, whose children, except Francis, Paulina and Amanda, moved to Shawneetown, Ill. The chil- dren of Catherine Seals went to Adams county, Illinois.

Joseph, born August 16, 1779, the second son of Capt. Den- nis Smith, came to near Cincinnati in about 1800, and then, on account of sickly conditions, to Clermont county, in 1805, and settled for life in Stonelick township, about midway between what is now Boston and Monterey. In 1818 he built the first brick house in the township and died there September 13, 1824. He married Hannah. a daughter of John Hair, whose wife was Nancy Torbett, of Kennedy Jigg. They came from Greene county, Pennsylvania. Hannah was born September 26, 1783. and died January 10, 1839. The other children of John and Nancy Hair were, as some married, Betsy Burns, Elizabeth, Annie Gibson, James, John, Sarah Ross of Knox county, Amelia Clark, William, Cynthia Clark and Samuel. John Hair's family was prominent and highly esteemed. The ten

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children of Joseph and Hannah Hair Smith were: John, born February 20, 1806; Dennis, January 10, 1808; Elizabeth, Au- gust 21, 1809; Annie, August 21, 1811; Sarah, September 6, 1813; Joseph, June 22, 1815; Hannah, August 24, 1817; Amanda. September 29, 1819; Martha, October 20, 1820; James Harvey, January 24, 1824. John married Adaline Moore and moved to ten miles south of Lafayette, Ind., where he and his wife died in January, 1856. Dennis married Elizabeth Bigam, lived on the home farm and was prosecuting attorney of Cler- mont county during 1841-44. One of his sons, Frederick, was the historian of the family. Elizabeth married James Moore and Annie married John Moore, a brother, and both families lived on lower Stonelick with much fraternal pleasure. Sarah married Liel Boyd and both died early. Hannah married Daniel Cover. Amanda married Richard Roudebush, of Goshen. Martha Ann married A. Quinlivin, in California. James Harvey and his wife, Maria, lived in Blanchester, Ohio. The descendants of these people are numerous and widely scattered.

Joseph Smith, Jr., the sixth child and third son, married Mary Fletcher, who died leaving Phoebe and Hannah Louisa. Phoebe married Tolcot and moved to Iowa, where she died, leaving two children. Hannah Louisa, living in Quincy, Ill., married William Wires, who was unfortunately killed in 1897. On September 18, 1844, Joseph Smith, Jr., was married to Me- linda G. Medaris, born July 5, 1822, a daughter of Charles and Lydia Gest Medaris. Charles was a son of Malachi Medaris. who was born in Maryland in 1777, of Irish parentage. He married in 1797 and moved to North Carolina the next year, where Charles and Shadrach were born. In 1803 he joined a colony for Ohio, crossing the mountains to Pittsburgh and thence with the cattle by Zane's and Donnell's Traces, and the women and children, on ark's down the river. Their settle- ment, made near Olive Branch, was the home till 1818, when another was taken below Batavia. Lydia Gest, born Feb- ruary 27, 1801, near Batavia, was a daughter of Enoch and Ida Gest. among the earliest of the early pioneers from Ken- tucky to that vicinity. The children of Charles and Lydia Gest Medaris were: Melinda; Elliot; Paulina, married to James Roudebush ; Enoch, married to Sarah, a sister of Gov- ernor John M. Pattison; Emma; and Dr. Leonidas H., mar- ried to Ella Roudebush. After the death of Lydia, May 28, 1860, Charles married Phoebe Hill, whose two children were

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Elmer, and Louisa married to Edwin T. Ely. On the partition of his father's estate, the farm was bought by David Meek and Joseph, Jr., the latter taking the northern part, which he sold in 1844, and then bought the fine tract on the east bank of the East Fork and south of the Jackson pike. On that farm all the children of his wife, Melinda, were born and lived until the home for well earned retirement was fixed in 1871 on Front street in Williamsburg, from which the large farm was directed, while another was bought on lower Crane Run. Joseph Smith, Jr., died September 30, 1891, and Me- linda G. Smith, September 28, 1894. They were excellent ex- amples of an energetic, industrious and successful farm life that gained fine respect. They had thirteen children. Charles Elliott, born June 9. 1845, married Ruth Moorehead, a sister of E. S. Moorehead, elsewhere sketched. Francina Isabel, born August 2, 1847, married Thomas W. Moorehead, a sol- dier for the Union in Company K, Twenty-seventh Ohio. He was a brother of E. S. Moorehead above mentioned. Mrs. Moorehead died April 9, 1902. Lydia M .. born December 18, 1848, died in infancy. Mary Emma, born March 15, 1850, mar- ried John Leir. They live in Williamsburg. Amanda, born January 28, 1852, died in infancy. Joseph Harvey. Oizella, born November 20, 1855, married Francis T. Weaver, and died May 8, 1910, leaving four children. Ida Gest. born August 25, 1857, married Al K. Peterson, and died January 31, 1881. Their children died young. Cora, born April 9, 1859, married Robert L. Kain. Lillette May, born April 3. 1861, married Mil- lard F. Peterson, and, after his death, married Francis T. Weaver. They live in Williamsburg. Leonidas Byron. Den- nis Howard, born February 14, 1865, married Margaret M. Smith, a niece of Mrs. Joseph Harvey Smith. They live in his parents' old home in Williamsburg. Theodosia, born May 20, 1869, married George Kain. Robert L. and George Kain are sons of Henry C. Kain, elsewhere mentioned, and they live in Long Beach, Cal.

PHILIP G. ARMSTRONG.

Mr. Philip G. Armstrong was a notable representative of an old Clermont county family, and in his business life as general contractor and builder made an excellent reputation for activ- ity, enterprise and reliability. He was a son of Jacob and

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Anna (Collins) Armstrong, and was born in Miami town- ship, Clermont county, Ohio, January 27, 1843, and died March 17, 1913, at his home near Milford.

Jacob Armstrong was born in Miami township, 1806, and was a son of John Armstrong and wife, nee Schley, who came to Clermont county early in the Nineteenth century, from Vir- ginia, locating some three and one-half miles east of Milford. In politics, Mr. Armstrong was a Whig and later a Demo- crat, although not active. His death occurred December 5, 1875, at his fine home farm.

Anna (Collins) Armstrong was a native of New Hampshire, and at the age of seven years, came with her parents, John and Elizabeth Collins, to Clermont county, where they located on a farm in Miami township. John Collins was a prominent Methodist and was a friend of the Rev. Philip Gatch. His death took place at his home and his wife spent her declining years in Clinton county, Ohio. Anna (Collins) Armstrong passed from this life in Clermont county, January 5, 1876, aged about sixty years.

Philip G. Armstrong was one of nine children, of whom three are living :

Mrs. Hill, who is the wife of the Rev. Hezekiah Hill, of Stonelick township.

Miss Anna, residing on the old home farm.

Benjamin, a plasterer by occupation, resides on Woodburn avenue, Cincinnati.

Reared and educated under the parental roof, Philip G. Armstrong took up the carpenter's trade at Cincinnati, at the age of twenty years, and in his business erected many fine residences in Milford, Madisonville and elsewhere.

Mr. P. G. Armstrong chose for his life's companion, Miss Elvira Stuart, who was born at Perintown, Clermont county, a daughter of William and Mary (James) Stuart, early fami- lies of the county, the James family coming to this section from Pennsylvania.

In religious views, Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong believe in the faith of the Baptist church, of which she is an active mem- ber. He was active in church work for many years. Mr. Armstrong was an independent Republican.

During the active years of Mr. Armstrong's life he accumu- lated several nice properties in Milford and Cincinnati, and was counted among the substantial men of Clermont county, where he was held in high esteem.

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ERASTU'S S. MOORHEAD.

Erastus S. Moorhead, who resides on Front street, near Main, has been a prominent citizen of Williamsburg since 1901, at which time he retired from his finely developed farm not far from Williamsburg.

Mr. Moorhead was the sixth child of Fergus and Lorinda Jane (Walker) Moorhead, being born October 10, 1841, in Jackson township. Clermont county. His father, Fergus Moor- head, was born December 7, 1809, in Pennsylvania, but near the town of Hagerstown, Md., and when but seven or eight years of age accompanied his father, Samuel, to Clermont county, Ohio. His father died soon after, but not until he had accumulated some land and other property. Fergus continued in the business and stock raising, being very successful. In politics he voted the Democratic ticket. After spending some time in the West he returned to his old home in Clermont county. He died January 9, 1867, in Brown county, Ohio, a man sincerely mourned by a wide range of friends and asso- ciates.

Lorinda Jane Walker, who became the wife of Fergus Moor- head, April 11, 1832, in Clermont county, was born August 12, 1816, in Old Clermont, now Brown county. She was a daughter of Hilary Walker and wife, who also moved from Pennsylvania in the second decade of the Nineenth century. Nine children were born to Fergus and Lorinda J. Moorhead :

Darwin D., was born April 10, 1833. married Grace Sweet, and died in the West in 1873. leaving a widow and six children, all of whom are living-J. L., Gertrude ( Matter), and Char- lina (Schultz), all of Kansas; Elizabeth (Murphy), of High- land county, Ohio; Maskal C., of old Mexico, and Miss Zoo- line, now in the Panama canal zone, but a resident of Old Mexico.

Elizabeth, the second child of Fergus M., was born October 15. 1835, and died in Missouri, September 3. 1849.

Margaret, born May 5, 1837, married Cornelius Holmes, of Williamsburg. They have had two children-Jessie, who died in infancy, and Flavius W., who is married and is a prosperous farmer in Williamsburg township.

Emma Jane, died in infancy.

Mary Jane, who was born March 5. 1840, married D. W. Atchley, in 1863, and died leaving four children-Minnie P.

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ERASTUS S. MOORHEAD

NANCY N. (DAVIDSON) MOORHEAD

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of Brown county, Ohio, and Corintha (Newton) Davidson, (Terhuna), Maggie P. (White), Charles, and Daisy (Mc- Adams), all of Williamsburg.

Erastus S., our subject.

Ruth W., who was born July 20, 1843, married C. E. Smith, brother of J. H. Smith, mentioned elsewhere in this work. From this union two children were born-Rosa, deceased, and Luna (Marsh), of Williamsburg.

Thomas W., born February 18, 1845, of Williamsburg, who has retired from active business life. As a soldier he was a member of the same regiment and company of his brother, Erastus. He was married to Isabella F. Smith, sister of J. H. Smith. They were the parents of five children-J. E., de- ceased, Mrs. Alma (Patterson), Jessie (Ashton), deceased, leaving three sons, Chloe (Sentman), now of Williamsburg, and Simeon E., student in the Cincinnati Dental College, class of 1913.

Sarah, the ninth child, was born January 16, 1847, but died in infancy.

After the death of his first wife, Fergus Moorhead was again married, to Mary Jane Arthur. Four children were born to them: Malinda, who died in infancy ; Joseph G., who operates the farm of E. S. Moorhead, in Brown county, is married and has a family ; Miss V. Belle, who resided with Mr. E. S. Moor- head and wife until her decease, December 23, 1912'; and Hes- ter M. (Shough), who, with her husband and family, resides in Missouri.

Mr. E. S. Moorhead, our subject, was reared and has resided practically all his life in Clermont and Brown counties, though he farmed in Hamilton county eight years. He still owns a fine farm of two hundred acres in Brown county. For a time he was interested in the canning business, but has since sold out. He is now a member of the board of directors of the Farmer's and Merchant's Bank of Williamsburg. In 1861 he left his home to fight for his country. He enlisted in Com- pany K, Twenty-seventh Ohio volunteers, and during the three years, eleven months and fifteen days which he served in the Western army, though his clothing was often cut by bullets, he was never injured. He participated in a great many impor- tant engagements, was with "Sherman to the Sea," and was also in the Grand Review at Washington. Sometime after being mustered out he was married, on October 11, 1866, to Miss Nancy N. Davidson.

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Miss Davidson, who was born January 14, 1845, in Highland county, Ohio, was the second child of Greenwood K., a native of Kentucky. The family moved to Brown county in 1864, and one year later to Hamilton county, where Mr. Davidson died, in 1869, at the age of fifty years. The mother spent some of her declining days at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Moorhead, where, in 1894, at the age of seventy-one years, she passed to her reward. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson were members of the Christian church. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom are still living: Talitha Cunie (Goetz), of In- diana, who was born August 14, 1842; Mrs. Moorhead, wife of our subject; Isaac, born October 5, 1847, died April 14, 1883; Alvin, born September 15, 1850, who with his family resides on Price Hill, Cincinnati, is a contractor and builder ; Mary (Fox), born September 17, 1853, lives in Iowa, near Danville. She has one son, a young man. Lovina (Walker) was born April 12, 1856, and died December 23, 1891. Her husband and their only son are also dead. Miss Cynthia, for ten years, a teacher in Cincinnati, was born January 24, 1859, and died in November, 1893; Kiles, who was born in February, 1862, died in infancy ; Lincoln Ellsworth was born November 4, 1863, and died at the age of eighteen months.

After his marriage, Mr. Moorhead located near Williams- burg, but in Brown county. In 1877 he moved to the farm he still owns and lived there until he came to town. He has greatly improved the place until now it is one of the finest farms of this section.

His success at farming and stock raising and later in active business life is the result of a life where common sense and good judgment were combined with honesty of purpose. Mr. Moorhead is one of that class of people known as self-made men. Though known as a business man his influence is wider than his business acquaintanceship. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and take an active part, he filling the position of deacon. He is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, and the order of the Eastern Star, of which his wife is also a member. He belongs to the chapter at Ba- tavia, and has filled all the offices of the Masonic order, except that of worshipful master. For over thirty years he has been a faithful member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics, the Republicans claim his vote. His honesty, fair- ness and sociability have won for him a wide circle of friends.

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LEONIDAS BYRON SMITH.

The third son of Joseph and Melinda Medaris Smith, sketched on other pages of this work, is Leonidas Byron, born March 10, 1863, on his father's fine farm in Clermont county, Ohio, just east and south of where the Jackson town- ship pike bridges the East Fork of the Little Miami. Eight years later, he went with the family, when his father retired with ample means to enjoy village life in a most comfortable and hospitable home, while the house full of children obtained the benefits of the excellent schools of Williamsburg. Yet it was not all school and play for "Lon," as everybody called the cheerful lad, who was trained in physical culture by the ju- dicious father and kept too busy for much mischief, by many errands to the farms, where he thoroughly practiced the use of horses, the care of crops and the management of stock. In the meantime, he was kept steadily in school, until the "Call of the West" was followed in 1883 to Adel, Dallas county, Iowa. He there began active employment as a clerk in the grocery business of J. W. Bly, with whom he continued eight years. He then formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Robert L. Kain, also from Williamsburg, Ohio. That partnership, with the name of Smith and Kain, continued four years, when Kain's interest was purchased. Since then the business has been the property of Mr. Smith, who owns the large and con- spicuous block that he built in 1900 to accord with his gratify- ing prosperity.

In 1888 he was married to Emma, a daughter of Isaac J. and Ellen Bringham Farlow. I. J. Farlow was born April II, - 1827, in Rush county, Indiana, and was a son of Reuben Far- low, who was born in February, 1785, in North Carolina, whence he came, in 1811, to be one of the pioneers of Indiana, where he married Elizabeth Odell, who was born in 1795 in North Carolina. Ellen Bringham was born July 18, 1837, in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, then the pioneer home of her par- ents, Jesse and Rachel Bringham, whence they came to be pioneers of Cedar county, Iowa. Isaac Farlow attained ex- cellent success in Adel, where he came when there were but two houses on the road to the present city of Des Moines, some thirty miles away. With such long pioneer record on all lines of his family, Lon B. Smith has been pleased with a chance to present his record in Clermont county to his sons, Byron and Lowell, who will thus be taught a fine pride in their honorable ancestry.

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ANDREW MCGREW.

A name that was to be familiar in northern Clermont and about Cincinnati was brought from the city of Baltimore in September, 1806, to the vicinity of Milford by Andrew Mc- Grew. He had served in the Revolution according to one ac- count, he had married Hannah Rust, and they had a family of seven sons and two daughters. He also had some means for that time, for he bought a large tract of land, stretching toward Newberry, from the house by Matson's Hill, looking upon what is East Milford, but then was McCormick's, the birthplace of Methodistic faith north of the Ohio. He had means to keep one of the early stores. The name soon ap- peared in the early records. On May 14, 1807. Philip Gatch, M. G., meaning minister of the gospel, married Jonathan Mc- Grew to Ruth Crawford. At the term of the common pleas court, beginning February 21, 1809, the first held in the new stone court house in Williamsburg, Andrew McGrew ap- peared as one of the grand jurors. Other members of that grand jury were, Capt. Daniel Feagans, the pioneer of the vicinity now called Georgetown ; Lieut. Cornelius McCollum, from the John Collins "Jersey Settlement" by the mouth of Clover; Jasper Shotwell, promoted to be an ensign when his . captain, Jacob Boerstler, was killed at the battle of Browns- town, in the War of 1812; Henry Zumatt, soon to be a col- onel in the War of 1812; Houton Clarke, the tavern keeper from Bethel, and the father of Congressman R. W. Clarke: Jacob Ulrey, the mighty hunter from Ulrey's Run : Isaac Hig- bee, who came with Rev. John Collins, when he preached the first Methodist sermon in Cincinnati: and Capt. Andrew Harry, from Maryland, who was making hats in Williamsburg. Several wolf scalps were presented at that term for the bounty money paid. Authority to solemnize marriage was conferred for the first time on the wonderfully eloquent Rev. George C. Light, for whom his nephew. Judge George L. Swing, was named. As a thousand times longer has been re- quired to find than to read the items, we hope that some will appreciate the associations of the pioneer McGrew, who was also a Methodist, and no doubt rode to court over the Round Bottom and Deerfield road with his neighbors and brothers in the church, Judge Philip Gatch and Judge Ambrose Ran- som, who sat on the judicial bench at that court. Two years later, Andrew "Megrue," who had made a good impression,

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was certified for a commission as a justice of the peace for old Clermont from Miami township, which, though on the side of the big county, was getting her share. At the June term of the court in 1812, Andrew "Megrue" made application to alter the road from Milford passing through Ransom's, and the road leading from Harner's Run to Stonelick, near Captain Slone's. He was perparing the ways and straightening the paths through the large tract that was to be partitioned among his children. The children had most of their schooling in Mary- land, but a school house on Harner's Run is mentioned in a road description in 1809, on the same line that "Megrue" wanted to change in 1812. The spelling of the name also changed then, and some have never got right since. Yet, the name does not easily take a French style, and no art can change the fine Scotch-Irish cast of the people who should be proud to keep the Gaelic form.

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History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2, Part 22

Author: Byron Williams Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Number of Pages: 925

Author: Byron Williams
Publication date: 1913
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 925