USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 23
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 2 > Part 23
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Jonathan, married in 1807, was one of Andrew's seven sons, but William, the eldest, waited longer and then married Rachel, a daughter of Ebenezer Newton, who had come from Cape May to Milford about the same time. Newton had taught along the Ohio river and then in the South, where he gained strong views of slavery. He was the author of a work on sim- plified spelling, that met the usual fate of such effort.
The third brother among the six sons and one daughter of William and Rachel McGrew, was born on a farm near Mt. Repose, March 3, 1817, and named Andrew after his pioneer grandfather. Soon after, his father kept a store at Newberry, but later moved to Mill creek valley and farmed on what is now a part of Spring Grove cemetery. He learned his trade as an apprentice with Cassett, the edge tool maker on Main street. With fine intelligence and characteristic determina- tion he mastered the machinery and learned the engineering of the establishment. At one time and another he installed ma- chinery on Sugar plantations, and was an engineer on the river. In this way he had a large chance to ponder the force of a never forgotten remark heard in boyhood and made to his father, William, by his grandfather, teacher Ebenezer Newton: "Slavery is a National evil and will bring a National curse. It may not come in my day or your day, but I should not be surprised if these children lived to see it." Andrew McGrew lived to see it, and was only surprised that it did not come sooner-so heinous was slavery in his sight.
He left the river to take the management of John Kugler's
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extensive enterprise at "Tippecanoe," which was the facetious name given during and after the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign" for General Harrison in 1840. The name was sug- gested by the local preponderance of such sentiment. Before experiment had proved the stability of an earthbed, the Lit- tle Miami railway track was a structure of long sleepers and cross ties, and more sills and ties, until a sill held a flat strap of iron that was nailed down, and sometimes curled up at the ends into and through the floor of the cars above with injury to freight and terror to passengers. And, all the while, the wood work below rotted In wet, or caught fire in dry weather. In the lack of better ways, millions of feet of the fin- est oak were required in the square, which John Kugler con- tracted largely to furnish. Before the invention of little saw mills that can be taken to the logs, Kugler built a huge steam saw mill, where Glancy's Run is crossed by the Deerfield or Lebanon road, a half-mile north of Williams' Corners. Even the ashes are effaced. But among the multitude of choppers, loggers and mill men, with scores of yokes and teams to haul the logs and deliver the timber, when roads had to be made, the young, large, strong, capable and great-hearted Andrew McGrew went as Kugler's factotum of mechanical and execu- tive detail. Kugler was the successor of Samuel Perin as the commercial master, each in his turn, of his region and time. Their endorsement stands as a prime certificate of the ability and worth of their assistants. The business at Tippecanoe de- veloped the quality of leadership that marked Andrew Mc- Grew for attention and respect wherever he mingled.
A youthful mind cannot at once grasp the progress spanned by his activities. While an apprentice he helped to make the iron work that joined the wooden tubes for the early water works of Cincinnati. and the iron mountings for the cannon sent by that city to aid the independence of Texas. But he lived to the end in full sympathy with true improvement. He lived for awhile at Westboro, and at Columbus, always busy, energetic and useful.
In 1869 he returned to Milford, and in 1873 bought the fine residence of the late Gen. Thomas Gatch, that is still the fam- ily home. While withdrawn from the excessive activity of youth, he continued a care for the common good. He helped organize the first building association in Milford. He was many terms a member of the council. He was thoroughly in- terested in education and served twelve years in the board of
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education, and generally as the president. In that time he was earnest in starting and promoting the Milford High School. He was a member of the Odd Fellows. He served almost continuously during his last residence as president of the official board of the Milford Methodist church, and shared in all the activities of that, the oldest of all the Methodist churches north and west of the Ohio river. He was twice married. He died January 24, 1899. The children of Andrew and Sarah Bailey McGrew are Clyde Bailey McGrew, living at Milford, and his three sisters, Mary, Anna N. and Lilla, liv- ing with their mother in the family home at Milford. The writer of this sketch knowing him well admired the excellence and dignity of his worth and esteemed him one of the truest of friends.
JUDGE JAMES BLACK SWING and THE SWING FAMILY.
L'naware of the future interest and earnest in their struggles for a place in the social scheme, the pioneer Swings did not record what would now be highly prized. Hence, a few words about them must suffice. Two brothers, Abraham and Mi- chael Swing, were born in Alsace and when grown went to the south of France. Thence, after some stay, and about the time of our Revolution, they came to America and settled in New Jersey. A son, most probably of the latter, came soon after 1800 to Clermont county and settled in Tate township, on a considerable tract of land west of Bethel. His children, born in New Jersey, were Samuel, Lawrence, Michael. Wesley and Mary. The father and numerous descendants were buried on his land in the Swing cemetery. After Samuel's death, his family went farther west. Wesley married Nancy Crane and left a posterity still represented in the vicinity. Mary mar- ried Zachariah Riley, whence another family of wide extent. Lawrence Swing married a daughter of David Light, who was a son of the pioneer Peter Light, of Williamsburg township, mentioned in the general history of this work. The sons of Lawrence Swing were George Light, William L., Johnston and Charles W., father of F. E. Swing, elsewhere sketched. Many descendants of Lawrence live about Bethel.
George Light Swing went to Hanover College for two years,
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and then, while studying law, taught school in Williamsburg, where one of his pupils was a relative, David Swing. After teaching, he went to Batavia, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He was appointed with N. M. Preble, and H. V. Kerr, then teaching in Williamsburg, and afterwards State librarian, on the first board of school examiners, charged with the in- troduction of the great school reform of 1853. In discharging that duty, he obtained a scholarship for David Swing in the Miami University, which resulted in the young man's eleva- tion to a Greek professorship, whence he went to his greater work at Chicago, and became famous, thus justifying the judgment that gave the opportunity. In 1854 the position of school examiner was resigned to take the bench as pro- bate judge for three years. After that he held no other office. He practiced law for fifty years in an honest, able, efficient manner, that was feared by those who had a truth to conceal, and honored by all who had rights to defend. In full sense. he was a strong lawyer, and a good man. He married Elizabeth Naylor, at Montgomery, Hamilton county, where ยท her Scotch-Irish parents had immigrated many years ago. Judge Swing's daughter, Mrs. Mary J. McDonald, lives in Norwood. Ilis son, Albert, for many years, has been em- ployed in a responsible position in the office of the clerk of the courts in Hamilton county, and has performed the duties of the position with unusual ability and entire fidelity, and he has the respect and esteem of all the members of the legal pro- fession.
James Black Swing, the other son of Judge George L., was born May 15. 1854, in Batavia, whence he passed from the public schools to Hanover College, where he graduated in June. 1876, and where he has received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws. He was ad- mitted to the bar in Batavia in September, 1877, and in 1881 was elected judge of the probate court of Clermont county, and, in 1884, re-elected for the same duty, which began Feb- ruary 9, 1882. and closed February 9. 1888. He then went to Cincinnati to practice law and, for that purpose, formed a partnership with Judge Howard Ferris, under the name of Ferris & Swing. In 1903 he was elected a judge of the court of common pleas in Hamilton county, and took the office Feb- ruary 9. 1904. for a term of five years. As that term closed. he was re-elected for a term of six years, the term having been lengthened by law. After serving nine of the eleven years for
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which he had been elected, he resigned the judgeship, to take effect January 1, 1913, in order to enter a partnership in the practice of law with L. C. Black and his son, Robert L. Black, under the firm name of Black, Swing & Black.
When that intention was made public, the Hamilton county bar with one voice, and the citizens, without party division, protested and petitioned against the resignation. On Satur- day, December 7, 1912, the bar association and many leading people gathered in Judge J. B. Swing's court, in a meeting without precedent in the annals of Cincinnati, and presented their petition for his continuance. Judges had resigned before and the occasion had passed as a matter of course. Now the eloquence of political critics combined with the pleas of per- sonal friends for a recall of the resignation. But prudent re- gard for days to come required that the chance of a life time for fine financial advantages should not be sacrificed for an extension of an already accomplished service of fifteen years on the bench. The Cincinnati papers of that date contain full details of the affair. While averse to the practice of politics, he was a delegate from the Sixth Ohio Congressional District in 1888 to the National convention at Chicago, that nominated President Benjamin Harrison.
After coming to Ohio with his father, Michael was attracted to the Gatch Settlement, where, on December 6, 1806, he mar- ried Ruth, the youngest daughter of the Apostolic Philip Gatch. One son of Michael and Ruth Swing was George S., who married Clarissa, a daughter of William and Elizabeth Metcalf Glancy, and passed his life on a farm about a mile and a half below Perintown. The other son, Philip Bergen Swing, was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court at Dayton, Ohio. In 1847 he is credited with one year's service as prose- cuting attorney, with a residence at Batavia, where he lived to the end. He married Mary Hafer, a daughter of Judge Owen T. and Caroline Huber Fishback, a couple that traces back to Colonial days. Judge Owen T. was the son of Judge John Fishback, who enlisted under Colonel William Wash- ington in General Daniel Morgan's command, fought in the battle of the Cowpens, married Martha Pickett, November 24. 1785, and died in Bracken county, Kentucky, January 22, 1810. Martha Pickett, born in 1760, was the daughter of Capt. Wil- liam Pickett, who married Elizabeth Metcalf, of Long Branch, Fauquier county. Virginia, served that county as a member of the House of Burgesses, and was under Col. Thomas Mar-
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shall in the Revolution. Capt. William Pickett's father was George Pickett, of the same county. Caroline Huber, born July 24, 1800, was a daughter of Jacob and Phoebe Ann Maria Boerstler Huber, who came to Williamsburg in 1806. Jacob Huber, born February 15, 1777, was the son of Col. John Huber, born January 10, 1751, and his wife, Christenia Brinkle, born in 1759. John Huber was captain of a company in the Eighteenth battalion of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, that was ordered under Colonel Grubb to the defense of Philadel- phia. June 24. 1776; and he commanded the Ninth battalion of the same county in 1777-78. Phoebe Ann Maria was the daughter of Dr. Christian and Dorothea Miller Boerstler, whose son. Capt. Jacob Boerstler, of the first company from old Clermont in the War of 1812, was killed at the battle of Brownstown. The children of this line in the home of Philip B. and Mary H. Swing were Peter F., Caroline Matson, and Mrs. Elizabeth F. Johnson, living in Cincinnati.
If any reader is weary with waiting for reward, he should remember that Philip B. Swing lived modestly among his neighbors without official prestige for a generation, learning men, forming character, and gaining wisdom, until, when the Nation needed a strong man in a high place, he was supremely ready. In 1871 he was selected by President Grant to be the United States judge for the important district centering at Cincinnati. He had gained the confidence of all before, but as the people at home learned the honor accorded abroad, they came to look upon him as a never failing oracle of benevolent justice.
His daughter, Caroline M., called to rest on June 3, 1911. was for twenty-one years the wife of Judge James B. Swing. Endowed with talent and rarely cultured, her character was noble and full of gentle goodness. They lived in an ideal com- panionship, that is the choicest memory amid much that is pleasant.
Peter Fletcher Swing, born March 25. 1845, on a farm near Milford, but grown at Batavia, raised a cavalry company in 1863. when eighteen years old, which was a part of the Twelfth Ohio cavalry: but later was transferred to the Ninth Ohio cavalry. He was elected captain of the company, but declined on account of youth, and became first lieutenant. Afterward he was captain and was made an aide on the staff of General Atkins, and served with him until the close of the war. From April, 1865. until August. 1865, he was provost marshal in
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South Carolina. He was discharged in August, 1865, and entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where he graduated in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1870. In 1884 Capt. Peter F. Swing was elected judge of the circuit court in the first year it was created. Since then, now twenty-seven years, he has been elected and is still a judge of that court. The circuit is composed of the counties of Hamil- ton, Butler, Clermont, Clinton and Warren. No finer state- ment of his merit need be made than the simple record of such long service in a high duty with the approval of many State elections.
In 1901 Judge Peter F. Swing's sons, Philip C. and Richard C., both in the practice of law, began to organize the Cincin- nati & Columbus Traction Company, which was capitalized in Cincinnati and completed to Hillsboro within three years. Their association with that enterprise was so general that the road is popularly known as the "Swing Line." As the work progressed, Philip C. withdrew; then, after several years, Richard quit his very active share in the management of the road, though still in the board of directors, and both are prac- ticing law in Cincinnati. Through five generations in Cler- mont from and including Philip Gatch, Peter Light, George Swing, Jacob Huber and other collateral names, this family includes a fine association of energy, enterprise, learning tal- ent, judgement, patriotism and honorable achievement.
JOHN G. BECHTOLD.
Mr. John G. Bechtold is one of the leading farmers of Wil- liamsburg township, Clermont county, Ohio, and owns and operates a finely improved farm of eighty acres one mile east of Williamsburg. He was born in Covington, Ky., January 10, 1855, a son of George and Rose (Moser) Bechtold, both of whom are deceased.
George Bechtold was born in Germany and came to America when very young, in 1821, and died in 1877. He was in the retail liquor business at Covington, Ky., before and after the Civil war, in which he served as a soldier in Company A. Twenty-third Kentucky Federal army. for ahree years and three months. About 1869, he became associated with the Mitchell & Rannelsburg Furniture Company-now the Robert
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Mitchell Company-and remained with them until his retire- ment.
.
Rose (Moser) Bechtold was born near France in 1826 and died in 1891. Her parents were natives of France, near the German border. To the union of George and Rose (Moser) Bechtold were born five children, and all are living: John G., of this sketch ; Lucy ( Moore), of Covington, Ky .; Rose (Wil- lerding), of Price Hill, Cincinnati; and Josephine and Carrie, both of Cincinnati.
Mr. Bechtold removed with the family to Cincinnati in 1869, and there remained until 1904, when he purchased his present home farm in Clermont county, Ohio. While he was a resi- dent in Cincinnati, Mr. Bechtold was in the retail liquor busi- ness at Fifth and Central avenues, and his later years have been devoted to farming.
The marriage of Mr. Bechtold to Miss Emma Dillman took place in 1893. She was born in Cincinnati in 1866, a daughter of August and Elizabeth (Huhl) Dillman, both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bechtold have reared five children : Lillie and John are attending the Williamsburg High School; Irene and Harry are attending the intermediate school and Jessie is at home.
By his study of the political issues of the day, Mr. Bechtold is led to vote the Independent ticket.
Mr. Bechtold and his family enjoy the high regard and es- term of all with whom they are associated, and are counted among the substantial members of Clermont county society.
FRANCIS WASHINGTON WALKER.
Mr. Francis Washington Walker is a representative agri- culturist of Williamsburg township. Clermont county, Ohio, where for the past twenty-seven years he has owned and operated a farm of one hundred and fifty acres of valuable land. It is a good farm and is improved with substantial buildings that stand in the midst of well cultivated fields. He also raises thoroughbred Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs. Mr. Walker was born in Sterling township. Brown county, Ohio, January 19, 1852, and is a son of Michael and Fannie ( Bratten) Walker.
Michael S. Walker was born in Brown county, Ohio, March
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9, 1813, and lived in that county all of his active life. After his retirement from active labor, he made his home in Wil- liamsburg, Clermont county, Ohio. He was a practical and successful farmer, and died at the home farm October 22, 1889, at the age of seventy-six years, seven months and thir- teen days. He was a devout Christian gentleman, and was a member of the Presbyterian church. He was a son of Hillary Walker and a grandson of Adam Snell.
Fannie (Bratten) Walker was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Robinson) Bratten, and a granddaughter of Elisha Bratten, who was born in 1742, and his wife, Isabella, who was born in 1749. The Brattens were among the earliest of High- land county, Ohio, settlers. Mrs. Walker was born April 15, 1816, and passed from this life January 27, 1865. She was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church. She became the wife of Mr. Michael S. Walker, on October 12, 1837, and was the mother of eleven children, all of whom grew to maturity and married. Eight are still living:
Leander A., born January 8, 1839, and was a farmer of Brown county until his death, August 21, 1896, at the age of fifty-seven years.
Nancy Melissa, born November 5, 1840, and married Henry Runyan. Her death took place January 12, 1909.
Elizabeth Cornelia, born September 13, 1842, married Mr. John Hill and resides at Westboro, Ohio.
Sarah Jane, born January 27, 1844, is the widow of Mr. James Davis, of Union Plains, Brown county.
Mary E., born June 14, 1845, married first, Enoch Hutchin- son and second, O. Dailey, and resides at Williamsburg, Ohio. Minnie A., born January 8, 1847, and married Joe McMullen, of Lerado, Brown county.
Cyrus Bratten, born May 6, 1848, married first, Ella Bing- amon, who died, and second, Louella Ferree, their residence being at Wauneta, Neb.
Joshua WV., born April 25, 1850, married Lizzie Foster and resides in Brown county, Ohio.
Francis W., the subject of this mention.
William R., born January 22, 1857, married Carrie E. Peter- son, and they reside at Peru, Ind.
Joseph B., born December 11, 1858, married Irene Harden. His death took place January 1, 1910, and his widow is a resi- dent of Cincinnati.
Mr. Francis Washington Walker received a good common
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school education and began his business life as a clerk in the drug store of his uncle, Capt. H. J. Walker, continuing for four years, thus becoming familiar with all the details of the drug business. In 1877, on the death of his uncle, Mr. Walker became the owner of the store, which he sold later and em- barked in the grocery business.
About this time the marriage of Mr. Walker took place, his union being with Annie B. Reed, a teacher in the Williamsburg schools, and the ceremony was solemnized in May, 1878. She was born in Batavia and her parents were Jacob Baker and Francis Ellen (Davis) Reed.
Joshua Davis, grandfather of Mrs. F. W. Walker, was widely known as one of the pioneer stage owners of this sec- tion, having run a line from Cincinnati through Clermont county to Georgetown and West Union, with the mails for a period of over thirty-five years. J. B. Reed, father of Mrs. F. W. Walker, was a son of Michael Reed, who was born near Bethel, Ohio, in January, 1806. Michael Reed was a son of Isaac and Margaret (Baker) Reed, the former of whom was a native of Lancaster, Pa., and the latter of whom was the eleventh child of Jacob Baker, who was born in Holland about 1742.
Jacob Baker was one of six brothers and three sisters, who came from Holland to America, and of these brothers, Henry Tillman, William and Jacob were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, Henry having been an officer.
Hannah Sweet Davis, grandmother of Mrs. Walker, was a daughter of William and Elizabeth Sweet, who came from Germany. Michael Reed married Sarah Ann, a daughter of Richard and Jane Trotter Bishop, who were from Bourbon county, Kentucky.
The children of Francis W. and Annie (Reed) Walker are: Edith Mabel, born June 2, 1879, and died July 24, 1879.
Frances Ethel, born December 4, 1880, was a graduate of the Lebanon Normal School and married on the 4th of June, 1903, Mr. Robert Lee Allen, a graduate of the normal school of Lebanon, Ohio, and of Yale College. He is a lawyer of Owensboro, Ky., and they have three daughters-Dorothy Lee, Annabelle, and Mary Charlotte.
Lillian Estelle, born August 4. 1883. and married Frank Nathaniel Dailey, on November 10, 1909. and they have two children-Earla Virginia and Donald Walker. They are resi- dents of Denver.
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Ralph Reed, born June 5, 1886, is a graduate of the Ohio State University in the class of 1912. On May 2, 1913, he was united in marriage to Edith Lytle Foster, a graduate of Wooster, and a native of Williamsburg. They reside at Cor- sicana, Tex., where he is superintendent of F. N. Drane's stock and grain farms.
Hugh Francis, born June 8, 1888, is attending the Ohio State University, class of 1914, and is preparing for a veter- inary surgeon.
Helen May, born September 13, 1890, is a graduate of the. Williamsburg High School.
Ruth Pauline, born July 26, 1895, is attending the Williams- burg High School.
Mr. Francis Washington Walker was compelled to give up the grocery business on account of his health. He pur- chased a farm, which he operated for two years, when he re- turned to town, and bought out the business of Mr. B. N. Stockton. He continued in this line of work for two years . and again returned to the farm. He is very successful as a farmer and stock raiser, and his methods are practical.
Mrs. F. W. Walker is the eldest of four children, the sec- ond, Charles, died in infancy ; Albert W. is a harness maker of Williamsburg, Ohio; and May, who is now Mrs. M. B. Griggs, of Williamsburg.
Mr. and Mrs. Walker and the family are members of the Presbyterian church, and are active in all affairs of that de- nomination.
Mr. Walker votes for the men and measures of the Repub- lican party, and is a good citizen in every way, although he does not care for public office.
Socially, Mr. Walker is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Williamsburg, and Mrs. Walker is a mem- ber of the Woman's Relief Corps, of Williamsburg.
EVELAND FAMILY.
The first of the Evelands to come to America were three brothers, all being single men. It is not now known to a certainty from what country they came, some of the descend- ants thinking it was Scotland, while others think it was Hol- land. Be that as it may, it is certain that they came as early
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