History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 33

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 33

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CHAPTER XVII. ADAMS TOWNSHIP.

Adams township is bounded on the west by Warren county, on the north by Chester township, on the east by L'uion township and on the south by Vernon township. Adams township is the smallest township in the county, having an area of fourteen thousand and two hundred acres, or a fraction over twenty two square miles. It was the twelfth township formed in the county and was named after John Quincy Adams.

The water courses of the township are bordered by great stretches of rich and fertile bottom lands, which are, in turn, flanked by a line of low bills that lead to the higher table lands above. From Todd's fork, which divides the township in almost half, to the north and west there is a rolling tableland of prolife soll, that is black and loamy. To the east and south of this stream the uplands are best adapted to the growth of wheat and grasses.

STREAMO.

Adams township contalus only two streams of any size. Todd's fork, which, as has been said, practically divides the township in half, a tributary of the Little Miami, and Lytle's creek, which empties into the first about one mintle southwest of the town of Sligo. It is thought that Todd's fork was named after Col. John Todd, a noted pioneer and Indian fighter, who was killed in the bloody battle of Blue Licks, August 19, 1752. This creek enters the township a short distance to the west of the northeast corner and flows to the southwest.

Lytle's creek enters the township at about the center of the eastern boundary and flows to the west until it empties Into Todd's fork. This stream was named after Gen. William Lytle, of Cincinnati, a pioneer surveyor of Hamilton county. To the east of Ogden, about a half mile, there is a small tributary of Lytle's creek, flowing from the south, known as Indian branch. It received its name from a band of Indians who made their home on Its banks before the white man came. About a third of a mile from the mouth of Indian branch there is another stream, known as Jess's run, that puts into it from an easterly direction.

From the northeast, the township line crossing it not far from its mouth. Dutch creek empties into Todd's fork. From a southerly direction, through the northeastern portion of the township, comes Little creek, which empties into Todd's fork about a mile above the mouth of Lytle's creek. There is still another small stream which finds Its source near the southern line of the township and flows to the northwest, emptying Into Lytle's creek, perhaps a mile below Ogdent.

TIMBER.

At the time of the first settlements, the whole of Adams township was covered with unbroken, virgin forest. Sprinkled among the stately white poplars on the hillsides and the black walnuts of the rich alluvial bottoms. were found the white oaks and the wide- spreading elms. These monarchs of the forest were often five or six feet in diameter and devold of limb or branch to the height of sixty feet. But they were forced to how before the axe of the ever-advancing pioneer, and their places were taken by homes and farms. In making the clearings the trees were usually girdled with the axe and left to "denden," as it was called. When their trunks had derayed to a slight degree. they were felled. rolled into great heaps and burned, the best being preserved to be split luto rails, with which to fence in the rudely cultivated plate.

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The following is a list of the Indigenous trees of the locality, both the common and the scientific name being given : Red, or slippery, elm ( Ulmus fulva), white elm ( Ulmus Americana ), hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), dogwood (Cornus florida), black gum (Nyssa multiflora), mulberry ( Morus Rubra ), sassafras ( S. officinale), linden or basswood (Tilla Americanus), burr onk (Quercus macrocarpa), white oak (Quercus alba), horn-beam or iron wood (Carpinus), red oak (Quercus rubra), sugar maple (Acer saccharinum), swamp maple ( Acer rubrum), sycamore or buttom wood ( Plantarus occidentalis), locust (Robina pseudacacia), honey locust (S. officinale), white walnut or butternut (Juglans cinerea ), black walnut (Juglans nigra), shellbark hickory (Carya sulcata), brown or pignut hickory (Carya pareina), buckeye or horse-chestnut ( Aesculus), common willow ( Salix cordata), black willow (Salix nigra), yellow poplar (Populus grandidenta), American aspen (P. tremuloides), beech (Fagus ferruginea), white ash (Fraxinus Americana ), blue ash ( Fraxinus quadrangulata), wild cherry ( Prunus serotina ).

FORMATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.

Chester and Vernon townships originally included the territory now embraced by Adams township. The first official act of the first board of county commissioners was the division of the county of Clinton Into the three townships of Chester, Vernon and Richland. The line between Chester and Vernon townships was Lytle's creek, begin- ning where the creek crossed the former line between Highland and Warren counties, and continuing to the point where it joined Todd's fork and from thence due west to the new Warren county line. This order was made on April 6, 1810. by George MeManis, Hames Birdsell and Henry Babb. This line remained until August 21, 1813, when, at n special session of the commissioners' court, it was moved farther north, to the state rond running from Wilmington to Lebanon. I'nion township was formed at this time, includ- ing within its limits parts of both townships. This order was reiterated in the follow- ing entry :

"June Session, A. D. 1830.

"Chester and Vernon townships. Alteration.

"At the present session of the commissioners of Clinton county, towit; the stated session of June. 1830, held by Joseph Roberds, John Lewis and James Sherman, com- missioners, a petition signed by divers citizens of the county, praying for a restoration to Vernon township of that part of Chester which formerly belonged to Vernon, that is, that the Lebanon state road be the line between sald townships; whereupon the com- missioners aforesaid, being of opinion that said alteration is necessary, adjudge and order that the said alteration be made, and that the road aforesaid be hereafter taken and esteemed to be the line between said townships."

This line ran through the village of Sligo, which, by 1849, although still unincor- porated, had grown to be quite a good-sized town. A movement was started by Its citizens and those of the immediate vicinity to form a new township, of which its would be the business center. On March 5. 1549. a petition was presented to the commissioners praying that a new township be formed out of the territory therein described, which Included parts of Chester. Vernon and I'nion townships. The commissioners appointed Hiram Madden to make a survey of the territory named, to ascertain the number of square miles it contained. It was found that this territory did not contain a sufficient area, as required by law, for the formation of a township and the petition was with- drawn. The following petition was drawn up at once, circulated and presented to the commissioners on May 1. 1849, asking for the formation of a new township. the survey this time containing more territory than before:

"To the Commissioners of Clinton County, Ohlo:

"Your petitioners. citizens of Clinton county. Oblo, respectfully represent that we labor under great inconvenience on account of our very remote situation from the place

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of holding elections, and from the place where other township business is transacted, in consequence of which we respectfully, but most earnestly, ask you to establish a town- ship to be taken out of I'nion, Chester and Vernon townships. . ( Here follows a descrip- tion of the territory the same as in the survey.)

"We, your petitioners, now claim it is an act of justice, as there is left in each of the townships from which the proposed new township is to be taken, ample amount of territory to still constitute a constitutional township, that our petition be granted as now asked for, and which is signed by citizens and voters in the districts included in the boundary of the new township.

"Henry Harvey, William W. Sheppard, John P. Black, Ellbu Hambleton, Joel Me- Kinney, John R. Jobe, George Carter, William Vandervort, David Pyle, Micajah Moore, Harlan Maden, William Bennett, Henry Hazard, David S. Pyle, Jeremiah Kimbrough. Daniel Shank. Abel Thornberry, Jabez H. Hadley, Jebu Pyle, William Cooper, Samuel J. Cleland, James M. Davis, Eden Andrew, William Ballard, David Harlan, Benjamin Brackney, Egbert K. Howland, James H. Elkins, Jobu H. Moore, Adam Osborne, Uriah W. Hunt, John Crosson, Chalkley Albertson, Ezekiel Hornaday, Ell Kimbrough, John Hadley, Jr., William B. Andrew, John B. Davis, George Maden, Lewis F. Davis, George Slack, Esq., William Osborn, John H. Elkins, Ezekiel Conklin, Samuel Moore, Aaron Howell, William S. Riley, Alfred Black, Joshuu Clark, Joseph Thatcher, Stacy Haines, Daniel Smith, S. Lindley, Jobu Kimbrough, B. F. Laplaue, Lorenzo Jenks, James Black,' Joshua Moore, William A. Glover, Asa Green, William P. Harvey. Isanc Hornaday, Jesse Thatcher, J. H. Longshore, Alfred Holleraft, Alexander Bowen, David Curl, Jacob Had- ley, Gideon Truss, Alexander Cleland, Joseph Moore, Alden Jenks, John Townsend, Wil -- iam Henson, John Pyle, Clinton Parks, Eli Hadley, Levi Stratton, Simon Hadley, Levi N. Miller, David Jenks, Lorenzo Clark, Samuel Omerman, Cyrus E. Carter, Calvin Andrew, Joseph W. Slack, John J. Auson, William Simons, Moses Izard, Jobu Hornaday, Simon Harvey, Joseph Wingfield. John Fallis, Amos Haiues, Jonathan D. Hadley, Ezra Moon, William Daniels, William Moore, Augustus Buck, John B. Carter, Thomas J. Cast, David F. Harlan, Samuel Andrew, Reed Feris, E. F. Curl, Micajah Stratton, Hiram Maden, Eli Harvey, John Daugherty, Thomas Kimbrough, John Cleland, Ira Ferris, John B. Smith, DeLos Feris, Samuel Mart, Nathan M. Erritt, Artemas Nickerson, Jeremiah Kimbrough, Seneca Wildman, Jobn Maden, Isaac Schooley. Elf Maden, Mablon Stratton, Armoni Hale, Edward S. Davis, Alexander Harlan, Isaac Harvey, David Thatcher, Enoch Carter, Thomas J. Daugherty."

SURVEY OF ADAMS TOWNSHIP.

The following is the survey of the township as accompanying the petition and adopted as the boundaries of the township. It has remained unchanged to date:

"Beginning at a point opposite Jonathan Hadley's, at a stake In Warren county line. in A. Branstrator's feld; thence east 118 poles to Jonathan Hadley's, excluding bim : thence to Isaac Hawkins' farm south 68' 20' east, crossing Todd's Fork at one mile and 194 poles, to the turnpike road at one mile and 290 poles, whole distance, two miles and 40 poles, to a stake including the sald Hawkins; thence to the land line of John Osborne, south 58° east two miles and 102 poles, to a beech and two small mulberries; thence east 116 poles to the west line of U'nlon Township, to a stake and three beeches; thence south 1º west 44 poles, to the southwest corner of I'nion Township, to a dead beech and white oak : thence south 1º east 320 poles to a stake in said line in Peter Osborn's field ; thence north 7º west, crossing Cincinnati State Road at one mile and 00 poles, the county road at Joshua Moore's at one mile. 312 poles, the county road at Haines Moore's at two miles and 140 poles, Lytle's Creek at two miles and 170, poles, the turnpike road at three miles and 102 poles. Todd's Fork at four miles and 280 poles, Waynesville road at five miles nud 60 poles (whole distance five miles and 71 poles), to a stake; theuce west 81 poles,

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crossing the Waynesville road at 11 poles to a stake, where L'union Township line crosses the county road leading from Clarksville to Centre Meeting Hlouse; thence to Daniel Collett's, Esq., south 86° 48' west, three miles and 165 poles, crossing Miller's Creek at 205 poles, excluding said Collett; thence west to the Warren County line, south 1º west two miles and 571 poles to the beginning, crossing the Lebanon road and line of Vernon and Chester Townships at two miles and 46 poles, containing twenty-two and one- quarter square miles." This survey was made by Hiram Maden, a pioneer surveyor of the new township.

The commissioners considered the matter on May 1, 1849, and ordered that the township be established and that an election should be held In the new township on May 12. to elect the following officers: Three trustees, one clerk, one treasurer, one assessor and one constable. The county commissioners at this time were Azel Walker, Joseph Hoskins and Jesse Doan. The election was held on the date set, In the shop of John H. Moore, in Sligo, with Henry Harvey, David Jenks and W. B. Andrews as the judges, The following men were elected to till the offices: Jeremiah Harvey, David Jenks and Peter Osborn, trustees; Jonathan D. Hadley, clerk; Dr. W. W. Shappard, assessor ; Simon Harvey, treasurer, and James H. Elkins, constable. Henry Hazard was elected justice of the peace on October 10, of the same year.

MILLS.

The streams of the township furnished the power for the early mills. In 1805 Mordecai Mendenhall built a grist-mill on Todd's fork, about a mile above the mouth of Dutch creek. He sold It, with one hundred and forty acres of land. on March 15. 1506, to Jonathan Wright, who owned it until 1814, when he sold it to Richard Fallis. Fallis refitted and enlarged it and ran it until 1826, when he sold it, with a tract of two hundred and fifty-six acres of land, to his nephew, Jonathan Fallis. In 1830 the mill. with forty-seven acres of land, was sold by Jonathan Fallis to Josiah Townsend, but Townsend died soon after and the administrator of his estate deeded it back to Fallis by the order of court, In payment of an unpaid balance due on the original purchase price. Fallis at once sold it to John Hadley, who owned it until 1841, when he sold it to Stacey Haines, who ran it until 1854. It was afterwards owned by Thomas Kimbrough, Jeremiah Kimbrough, his son. William L. Hadley, Thomas Hazard, A. U. Hadley, and again by William I .. Hadley. Its use having been discontinued and the building fallen into decay, he removed it about 1867.

Eli Harvey and John Hadley, brothers-in-law, built, In 1808, a grist-mill on Todd's fork, about a mile below Springfield meeting house. It afterwards came into the sole possession of John Hadley and gained a wide reputation and patronage as Hadley's mill. His sons, Isnac and Jobn, afterwards ran it for a long period and sold it in the early fifties to Jesse Thatcher. Soon after its purchase by Thatcher, it caught fire and burned down. He rebuilt it in a magnificent manner and ran it for about twenty years, when he took it down and moved it to Wilmington.

A saw-mill was built on Lytle's creek, near where Ogden now stands, by John Holla- day in 1818, and about three years Inter a grist-mill was added. The saw-mill was rebuilt about 1846 and a short time afterward the grist-mill was refitted and steam power installed.

In the year 1811. Caleb Harvey built a carding and fulling-mill on his farm on Little creek and kept it running for several years. It stood a few rods up the stream from where the Lebanon road crosses the creek. This will did a flourishing business in its time and was one of the most widely known mitlls in the county. The early settlers often came from miles distant to this mill to get their wool carded and formed Into rolls, and their blankets and jeans fulled. It was often forced to run at nights. A man by the name of Alexander Montgomery was for many years its proprietor. It has long since disappeared.

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Another mill in the township that has long since followed its predecessors was built about the year 1842 by William B. Andrew on Lytle's creek, about a mile and a half above its mouth. It was a saw-mill and was kept running for many years.

All of the above mentioned mills had decayed and disappeared by 1882 except the mill at Ogden, which was still standing, but in disuse. At that time even, it was con- sidered a relle of the past and pointed out to all the visitors of that village. But the younger generations of today do not have even the decaying and fallen ruins of these old mills to remind them of the times when their grandfathers, as lads, carried a bag of grain on the back of "old Dobbin" to the mill, for the family's flour.

SCHOOL HOUSES.

The first school house In the township was erected in 1SOS, on the land of Isaac Harvey, about one-fourth of a mile north of Todd's fork. In 1812 or 1813 there was n school building built on the Nicholas Carter farm and In 1814 another was ererted on the farm of Isaac Stout, about n quarter of a miile enst of Lytle's Creek meeting house. In 1813 or 1814 George Carter, with the help of Jeremiah Kimbrough, Thomas Kersey and Nathan Mendenhall, built a log school on his farm. Several other school buildings were erected from time to time and several were controlled by the society of Friends.

In 1834 there was a school house built on what was then the Holiday farm (after- wards known as the Quinby farm), and, about 1845, there was a neat frame building erected by the society of Friends at Lytle's Creek meeting house. After several years. these all became district schools and passed under the control of the board of education of the township. All these old buildings have long since disappeared and not a vestige of them remains today to even Identify the spots where they stond. In 153 a new school law, with a new system of maintaining schools, went into force, and the town- ship was subdivided and redistricted throughout. The old school houses were nhandoned, new sites procured and new buildings erected. The old log school house, with the large Areplace, the greased-paper windows, the stools and sents withont a support for the back, with no blackboards or maps, have become a thing of the past forever. Among the early teachers were William Holaday. George Carter, Warren Sabin. Joseph Doun. John Harvey. James Dakin, Henry Harvey, Eli Harvey, Thomas Kersey, Hiram Maden and James Osborn; of the second generation, were William Cooper, James Crawford. Thomas Green and Henry Zimmerman.

THE PIONEERS.

The first resident of the township was Samuel Lee, who, by 1804, had built a cabin in the neighborhood of the Springfield meeting house, on what was afterward known as the Isane Harvey land. Archibald Edwards, Peter Dicks, his brother-in-law. Isaac Harvey, Jacob Hale and John Hadley emme from Ohio in the following year and settled in the same vicinity. Soon afterward Isaac Harvey journeyed to North Carolina, where he purchased, with his brother. Ell, the great Pollard tract of two thousand neres of land, of a Pollard who resided at Richmond, Virginia. He returned to Ohio, bringing his brothers, Ell, Joshua and Caleb, and their families, with him in the fall of 1Mm. They all settled on the Pollard traet and were the foundation of the great Harvey set- tlement of Adams township. Another brother, William, followed them from North Carolina a few years later. These brothers had two sisters, Martha and Lydia ; Martha married Jacob Hale, Sr., and Lydia married John Hadley.

Isane Harvey, who lived neur Springfield in a brick house built in 1814. married a sister of Peter Dicks by the name of Lydia. To them were born three sons, William. Harlan and Simon D., and six daughters, Nancy, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Martha, Lydia and Ruth. William, the eldest son. married a young lady by the name of Crew : Nancy. the eldest daughter, married Archibald Edwards: Elizabeth married Enock Harlan; Rebecca became the wife of Jonathan Hadley : Martha, the wife of Aaron Antram; Ruth.

151

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the wife of a man by the name of Towel. Mary Stantielf was the maiden name of the wife of Ell Harvey, who settled between Lytle's creek and Todd's fork, near their june- tion. He died on April 12, 1822, at the age of sixty years, leaving one son. William, and three daughters. Ann, Mary and Cynthia. Joshua Harvey. a brother of Isaac and Ell, who settled on the south of Todd's fork, was married three times. He first marrled a woman by the name of Morrison, by whom he had five children, Caleb, Hannah, Simon, Levi and Robert. Mary Moon, his second wife and the sister of James Moon, was the mother of twins. Jehu and Nancy. Samuel and Abigail were the children of the third wife, a sister of Renben, Imac and John Chew. Caleb Harvey, a fourth brother, settled about one-half a mile southwest of Springfield. His wife was Sarah, daughter of Jesse and Hannah Towel, of North Carolina. The fruits of this marriage were six children, Jesse, Joshua, Hannah, Eli. Rebecca and Elizabeth, the eldest being born In North Carolina. His wife died on June 27. 1825. at the age of forty-eight ; he died at the age of fifty-four on December 12, 1:30. They were both buried at Springfield. Their son Joshua died in 1831. leaving a small daughter, Nancy, who was raised in her paternal grandfather's household. William Harvey, the fifth brother, married Mary, the daughter of David and Sarah Vestal. To them were born in North Carolina three sons, John. EH and David, and on Ohio soll, two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth. He died on Decem- ber 5. 1558, at the age of eighty-eight, and his wife followed him five years later. in 1×63. in her ninety-sixth year. Both found their final resting place at Springfield.

Eli Harvey, son of Willlam, was born in North Carolina, In 1803, died in April, 1872. at the age of sixty-nine, and was buried at Springfield. His first wife was Narah. daugh- ter of John and Mary Fallis, and the mother of six children. Lydia, Mary, William Penn. Esther. Ann and Sarah. She died in July. 1835, at the age of thirty. His second wife was Ruth, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Fisher, and the mother of Joseph, Isaac. Hannah. John, James and Sinai. The first two died in Infancy.

Isane Harvey, son of Caleb, married a daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Edwards. of Warren county, Ohio, and was the father of nine children. Caleb, Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Rebecca, William, Nathaniel. Abigail. Jesse H. and Enos F.

Preserved Dakin come from New York state in 1806, and settled on what was afterwerde the Lebanon road, near Lytle's Creek meeting house, He soon afterwards removed to Chester township.

Morderat Mendenhall settled on Todd's fork in 1506, building a mill there which he afterwards sold to Jonathan Wright and which later became known as the Fallis mill. A brother of his. Nethan Mendenhall, who was a brother-in-law of Jeremiah Kimbrough, settled on a farm in the same riefnity.

Joshua Nickerson settled in 1804. on Todd's fork about a mile above the Harvey set- tlement. He came from the state of New York. He had three sons and one daughter by the name of Clark. David. Artemus and Susannah. Susannah married William Mor- row and afterward lived in Warren county, Ohio. Clark. the eldest son, married Martha Ashby and was the father of five children, three sons. James, Joshua and David, and two daughters. One of the daughters married a MeKay, and the other became the wif- of Evan Hadley. Artemus Nickerson married Elizabeth Reed and bnd six children, Susannah, Amanda. Mary, Elizabeth, Abigali and Samuel R. David married a young woman by the name of Spencer and moved to Indiana.

David Ferris settled in Adams township as early as 1905 or 150G. Jeremiah Poe settled on Todd's fork, in the Gates survey. prior to 1809. but soon afterward sold his farm and songht a home elsewhere. A man by the name of Wright, one of the first settlers of the township, and the donor of the land for the graveyard at Lytle's creek. sold his form in 1816. to Mahlon Stratton, and moved away.

John Hadley and his wife, Lydia, daughter of William and Elizabeth Harvey, sister of Eli, Isaac. William, Caleb and Joshua Harvey, came to Ohio from North Carolina in

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1806 with the party of Harveys, Hadleys, Dicks, Hales and Edwards mentioned above. John Hadley was born the son of Josbun and Ruth Hadley, on September 23, 1770, in Chatham county, North Carolina. He was married to Lydia Harvey, of Orange county. North Carolina, in Crane Creek monthly meeting. as early as 1794. They were the par- ents of twelve children : Willlam, Simon, Elizabeth, Joshua, Jacob, Isaac, Ell, John. Thomas, Jonathan D., Ruth and Jane, all but four of whom were born before they moved to Ohio. Of these, Joshua died in infancy and Thomas, at the age of nineteen. With his brother-in-law, Ell Harvey, John Hadley built and afterwards became the owner of what was for years known as the Hadley mill. It stood on Todd's fork, about a min below the Springfield meeting bouse. Both he and his wife were Hfelong members of the society of Friends and members of the Springfield monthly meeting. He died in 1832. when sixty-two years of age. His widow survived him twenty years. They were both laid to rest In the Springfield cemetery.

William Hadley, their ellest son, was born on July 18. 1595. in North Carolina, and came to Ohio with his father in 1906. His first wife was Sarah Lindley, who died ou April 28, 1820, and who was the mother of seven children, Jonathan, Deborah, Thomas ( who died in infancy ). Eleanor. Ell L., Mary and Milton, He afterwards married Susan- nab Thatcher, the widow of Thomas Thatcher and the daughter of Joseph Stratton. She was the mother of two children. Sarah and William. William Hadley died on Octo- ber 23, 1×45. His wife died on August 18. 1550, at the ripe old age of sixty six years, and was buried at Springfield.

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 33

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108