USA > Ohio > Darke County > History of Darke County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 29
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Early in October Major Adams raised a company of mounted riflemen whom he expected to take to Fort Defiance. On the 2d or 3d. day of that month Patsey and Anna Wilson were murdered by the Indians near Greenville and reports of de- predations and hostile demonstrations by the Indians of the 'Mississinawa region kept coming in. Accordingly, the new Dayton company was ordered to Fort Greenville, where they soon arrived and garrisoned the stockade. On December 11th, a detachment of regular troops left Dayton in a north- westerly direction and proceeded against the hostile Miami Indian villages near Muncie town on the Mississinawa. As a result of this expedition thirty Indians were killed, some sixty wounded and forty-three taken prisoner. Great hardships were suffered on the return on account of the severe cold, insufficient provisions and forage and almost impassable roads. Major Adams went to their relief with ninety-five men and on the 22d, met and supplied them with half rations. Colonel Holt also assisted them on the 23d and enabled then to march to Greenville, where they arrived on the 24th, with forty-one prisoners. Colonel Campbell soon marched toward Dayton with his regulars, where he arrived on the 27th, and after resting several days, proceeded to headquarters at Franklinton (Columbus, O.). The Indians taken on this oc- casion were sent to Piqua on December 26th, under a guard of twenty-five men.
Major Adams, it seems, remained in command of Fort Greenville until after Harrison's treaty July 22. 1814, and the conclusion of peace with Great Britain later. During his two years' occupancy of the stockade Adams, no doubt, recon- noitered the country for many miles and selected a site for future residence. Accordingly, it is stated that he entered land at this time about five miles east of Greenville on Greenville creek, where he built a cabin and moved his fam- ily. Later he erected a little mill here where he turned out a coarse grade of cornmeal and flour. A little grocery was soon established here where whisky and tobacco could be secured, and the place became a popular resort, where shooting matches, quoit throwing, and fist fights were participated in by the pioneers. "Adams was a genial, fun-loving man, widely known and deservedly popular ; a crowd of congenial spirits gathered around him and the little settlement took the name of "Adams' Mill," and when the township was finally organized (1819) it was named in his honor. That Adams
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chose a good site for a mill is attested by the fact that a Hour mill is still located there (Cromer's) after nearly a century, it being one of the few remaining in the county. Besides his large circle of local acquaintances Adams retained the friend- ship of old comrades of the late wars, including Col. Robert Patterson, of Dayton, and his sons-in-law, Captain Nesbit and Henry Brown. In the winter of 1826-27 the Major was ap- pointed as associate judge for Darke county and served ac- ceptably in this position until his death, November 28, 1832, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. Major Adams and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of twelve children, probably half of whom died in infancy, or before the age of thirty-five. The record of these children's lives is quite incomplete, but it is known that Elizabeth, the first daughter, was born in 1796, in or near Cincinnati. She married Caleb Worley about 1816 and in 1823 moved to Covington, Ohio, where she resided until she was past ninety years of age. Her granddaughter, Avarilla Fahnestock, of Versailles, Ohio, married Dr. O. C. Kerlin, of Greenville, where she still resides. They have two sons, Oscar, Jr., and Worley and a daughter Doris. On account of his descent from Major Adams, Oscar, Jr., was chosen to assist in the unveiling of the Wayne Memorial tab- let in Greenville, August 3, 1906.
Nancy Adams, who was born in 1803, lived until near the close of the Civil war. Martha Adams, the last daughter, born in 1816, married Robert L. Harper and lived until 1894. The time of the death of two sons, George, born in 1794, and William, born in 1806, seems to be generally unknown.
The remains of Major Adams lie buried under a humble headstone in the Martin cemetery about three miles east of Greenville, and it is hoped that patriotic citizens will soon erect a fitting monument here to perpetuate the memory of his heroic life of service.
Abraham Studabaker.
As an illustrious example of the stalwart pioneer, perhaps no better example could be taken than Abraham Studabaker. Born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, about the year 1785, he came in the vanguard of civilization with his father's family to Scioto county, Ohio, and later to Clinton or War- ren county, Ohio, where they settled. Here his parents remained until death, and in 1808 Abraham, then some
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twenty-three years of age, with his wife, settled on Congress land on the south bank of Greenville creek, opposite the pres- ent site of Gettysburg, in section 25 of Adams township. He is credited with being the first permanent settler in Adams township, and the third in the county. His nearest neighbor was Azor Scribner, the pioneer Indian trader at Greenville, about eight miles distant through the forest. He had other neighbors in Miami county on the Stillwater, some fourteen miles east. When he built his cabin he was compelled to use logs of such size as he could handle himself. The great In- dian trail connecting Piqua and the Whitewater Indian set- tlement passed near his door and brought him occasional dusky visitors. For the first three or four years these were mostly friendly but at times became troublesome. On one occasion two Indians appeared at the cabin door and de- manded some bacon which Mrs. Studabaker was cooking. Refusing to give up the precious meat which had been brought from the Stillwater settlement the day before, she held fast to one end while one of the redskins pulled at the other end and his companion cut the meat off near her hand. Her cries attracted her husband who was preparing ground for corn planting, but he arrived too late to save the bacon as the Indians had disappeared.
It is said that Tecumseh, the Prophet, Little Turtle, Black Hoof and other noted warriors frequently visited Studa- baker's cabin and that he had visitors almost daily whom he treated with kindness and hospitality and thereby made his life secure in the lonely wilderness prior to the war of 1812.
When Studabaker came to this spot he brought along a horse and a cow, and his stock was augmented before long by the birth of a calf. Shortly after he had harvested his first small crop of corn his faithful horse dicd of the then prevalent disease commonly called "milk-sickness." Not long after this the wolves killed the precious calf. Desiring to catch some of the volves he baited a trap with the carcass of the calf with the sad result that the cow stuck her head in the trap, thereby causing it to spring and break her neck. On another occasion Mr. Studabaker had gone to mill at Milton in Miami county, leaving his family alone over night. Having butch- ered a hog the day before the scent seems to have attracted a pack of hungry wolves, who created pandemonium about the lonely cabin in the night until a sudden smothered cry of pain from a single wolf was followed by a chorus of sympa-
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thetic snarls and yells for a moment when all became quiet again. The cause of this strange procedure was discovered in the morning when a large wolf was found within a few feet of the door with his tongue frozen to the blade of the axe, from which he had attempted to lick the blood and bits of hog flesh which had adhered to it in the butchering operations. It is supposed that his companions turned upon him when he uttered the cry of pain and soon ended his misery. The wolves never returned after this occasion to molest the cabin. The American panther inhabited this region and has left his name in "Painter" creek which drains the county a short dis- tance to the southeast. Mr. Studabaker had many thrilling and dangerous experiences with this stealthy animal and killed many of them during his residence. One specimen which he killed with his rifle after a very narrow escape, had an extreme measure of eight feet. Soon after the outbreak of the war of 1812, Studabaker built a block house on his land and made such defensive preparations as he could to resist any possible attack that might be made on the place. Six soldiers with arms and ammunition were soon sent to protect his family and this out station became an inn, a citadel and official quarters for the small garrison. It is said that upon one occasion he captured five armed Indians and turned them over to the government, but that they subsequently escaped and killed Elliot and Stoner in the summer of 1813, as before mentioned. During the latter part of the war, Mr. Studabaker furnished cattle for the government to feed the Indians, who had gathered around Greenville awaiting peace negotiations. About 1816 he settled on a tract of some eight hundred acres located about two miles south of Greenville in the Bridge creek valley, which, it is said, was ceded to him by the United States government in payment for these cattle. Although his early education was very meager his natural talents and business qualifications early won recognition, as is shown by the fact that he was placed upon the first board of county commissioners and served thirteen years in this ca- pacity : that he was a captain in the early militia; that he did much toward securing the Greenville and Miami railroad for the county ; that he advanced the money to build the first court house in the county, raised a large family and accumu- lated a competence. He is described as a man of excellent judgment, great sagacity, large hospitality, unquestioned in- tegrity and decided. outspoken convictions. He was married
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twice, was the father of twelve children and died March 16, 1852, leaving a long record of constructive accomplishments.
Dr. Isaac Newton Gard.
A history of Darke county would scarcely be complete without a sketch of the life of the veteran pioneer physician, Dr. Isaac Newton Gard. While not the first, he was among the first physicians locating in the county, where he remained during a long, eventful and eminently useful life. His pa- rents, Stephen and Rachel (Pearce) Gard, were natives of New Jersey, but migrated to Ohio early in the last century. Stephen Gard was a Baptist minister and organized many of the churches of this denomination in the Miami valley. Rachel Gard, the mother of the subject of this sketch, died in Butler county in 1816. Rev. Gard married a second time and died in 1839. Dr. I. N. Gard was born March 20, 1811, in Butler county, Ohio, and was educated in the common schools, Miami University and the Ohio Medical College, Cin- cinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1831. At first he practiced in his native county, but in 1834 came to Green- ville where he resided until his death on April 24, 1905, a pe- riod of seventy-one years. At the time of his arrival there were but few physicians in the county and his associates were prob- ably Drs. Briggs, Perrine and Baskerville. The county was very sparsely settled at that time and was covered with swamps, ponds and pools which bred nausea. Sickness was quite prevalent and the few roads were in a miserable condi- tion. Bilious complaints were especially prevalent. The doc- tors of those days rode horse back and carried their medicines in saddle bags. As an illustration of the manner of practice, a good story is told in Beer's "History of Darke County," as follows: "Dr. Gard was called in as a family physician to min- ister to the wants of a sick child. Cold water was forbidden and calomel, as was usnal, was administered. The doctor then retired with promise of a return next day. Cold water was barred; the boy begged for a drink, but entreated in vain, as the doctor's orders were immutable law. He then resorted to strategy. Feigning a desire for rest and repose, the family retired to permit their indulgence. Soon heavy breathing announced that all were asleep, and the patient arose from bed, staggered to the water bucket, and to his dis- may, found it empty. This discovery would have been hailed
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with imprecations that would have roused all in the house had not the necessity of the case demanded control. Water must be had, although the spring was at quite a distance. The coffee-pot was found, and the patient set out to assuage his consuming thirst. He rested several times in the wet grass, but finally arrived at the spring, drank heartily, and undis- covered, returned to his bed, having placed the well filled coffee-pot at the bedside. This was two-thirds emptied be- fore the suicidal act was known, when the doctor was hur- riedly summoned and soon stood with astonished and omin- ous look, awaiting serious results that did not happen. In a few days the patient had recovered."
The doctor often had to ride long distances but he was a man of powerful physique and withstood the years of ex- posure and fatigue in a wonderful manner. The doctor was a big man, mentally as well as physically, and was called upon by a confiding public to serve in various important capacities. He organized the first medical society, as well as the first agricultural society, and acted as the first president of each. He was also president of the Greenville and Miami railroad during the period of its construction. He represented his dis- trict in the state legislature in 1841 or 42, and in the senate in 1858-59. About 1862 he was appointed by the Governor as one of the trustees of the Dayton State Hospital (insane asy- lum) and held that office for sixteen years.
On January 6, 1835, he married Lucy Tod, of Kentucky, and to them five children were born, two of whom are now living, Mrs. A. Wilson Arnold and Mrs. Harry Knox. In pol- itics he was a Republican. He was a very sociable man upon all occasions and an enjoyable conversationalist.
Dr. Gard died April 23. 1905, full of years and honors.
Edward B. Taylor.
On October 21, 1821, there was born in Lewis county, Ken- tucky a lad who was destined to play an important part in the councils of a political party then unborn and to wield a power- ful influence in another state during the decade just preced- ing the Civil war. I refer to Edward B. Taylor, who, it seems, was descended from the Scotch-Irish settlers of Virginia, a race remarkable for patriotic zeal, intelligence and strife. From the meager records that we have, it appears that the Taylor family moved to Piqua, Ohio, when E. B. was a small boy
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and his father died not long afterwards, leaving him a waif wandering about the streets. One of the newspaper men of Piqua employed him to run errands for a mere pittance, and later discovered that he was a boy of exceptional feeling and intelligence. His schooling from this time was probably neg- lected but by dint of application he learned the printer's art and educated himself while he labored for a living. His progress is indicated by the fact that before the age of twen- ty-nine he had become editor and publisher of the Piqua Reg- ister. About 1848 or 1849 he removed to Greenville, Ohio, and soon purchased the Greenville Journal, of which he took charge on April 19, 1850. This paper was the ablest defender of Whig principles at that time in the county and at the or- ganization of the new Republican party in 1856 took up the defense of its platform. During this critical period Colonel Taylor gave free utterance to his personal convictions and became prominently identified with local Republican politics. During the historical Lincoln and Douglass campaign of 1860 he acted as chairman of the Republican Central Committee and on November 1st issued the following ringing call :
"Dear Sir :-
"Tuesday, November the sixth, is the day of the presiden- tial election. We enclose you this circular, containing a gen- uine Republican ticket, for the purpose of reminding you that we are on the eve of a great contest, and at the same time guarding against the possibility of fraud. It has been an- nounced that our opponents are circulating spurious tickets throughout the state, containing the names of Lincoln and Hamlin for President and Vice-President, with the Douglass and Johnson electors, for the purpose of imposing upon unsus- pecting and honest voters. Enclosed is a genuine ticket-take it to the polls, put it in the ballot-box and you are safe against imposition.
"We carried Ohio in October by 25.000 majority ; and we can carry it again, if we all vote on the 6th day of November. There are fifteen thousand school districts in Ohio-and two votes lost in each will lose us the state and decide the presi- dential election against us! Will your district be one of the delinquents? 'One more fire and the day is ours!'
"Vote early and see that your Republican neighbors vote. By order of the Republican Central Committee.
"E. B. TAYLOR, Chairman."
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Taylor's patriotism, loyalty and ability attracted the atten- tion of the new party's leaders and in 1861 Lincoln appointed him register of the land office at Omaha, Neb., to which city he soon moved. Here he purchased the Omaha Republican and in 1866 became its editor. He was a member of the Na- tional convention that nominated Grant for president in 1868, was a member of the State senate of Nebraska during its first two terms, serving most of the time as speaker. Upon the death of the Governor-elect he served a short time as Gov- ernor of Nebraska. At this formative period in the state he is said to have exerted much influence on its progressive leg- islation, especially in framing the school laws, which were modeled after those of Ohio.
Taylor's career was now reaching its climax, but before closing this brief sketch of his eventful life we desire to revert to the period of his residence in Darke county.
This was the time of the building of the Greenville and Miami railway and Colonel Taylor took such interest in the enterprise that he was made president of the company, and sent to New York where he negotiated a loan of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars with which to purchase rails and rolling stock. The farmers, who had been hauling their grain over bad roads to the markets at Piqua and Dayton, freely donated labor and ties toward the construction of the road. The county voted a tax of fifty thousand dollars, and Green- ville an extra ten thousand dollars to subsidize the project, which turned out to be a great benefit to the county.
Taylor continued to be president of this road from 1850 to 1859, filling this office acceptably while at the same time publishing his influential paper and engaging in politics. His was indeed an active life and we are not surprised to learn that his life was cut short before he completed his fifty-first year. He died at Omaha, May 21, 1872, after suffering sev- eral strokes of paralysis.
In a sketch written for the Historical Society in 1907, Mr. Calvin Young made the following thoughtful analysis of his character: His most striking characteristic, we should say, was a strong, clear, fertile brain, that grasped subjects with the strength of a giant, and analyzed them with the most per- fect clearness and precision. To know anything with him was to know all about it, and no subject which attracted his atten- tion was left until he had mastered it, not only in a general way but in the minutest detail. When he stated a fact he (22)
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always had a reason at his command, and in times of excite- ment in national or political affairs, his wonderful command of facts and statistics rendered his opinion of very great value. He seemed never to forget anything, and his memory was so tenacious that he could refer to the minutest facts and occur- ences, although years had intervened since he had studied them, or had been an actor in the scene. As a writer he had few equals; his copy was the pride and boast of the printer, being almost as plain as the print it was to appear in, and his points were made with the greatest clearness and accuracy. He went right forward with sis subject like a commander with his men, and when his editorial or important document was finished, or his resolution drawn, they covered the ground completely. There was no loop-hole of escape for his adver- sary and nothing wanting to make the whole matter he had in hand perfectly plain, reasonable and intelligible. He wrote with equal facility, whether surrounded by a crowd or alone in his room, and seemed fixed to nothing but his subject, though there might be disturbances enough to distract a man less cool and self-possessed. His power of concentrating ideas was most remarkable. As a public officer he was always efficient, energetic and successful, and his course met the ap- proval of those by whom he was appointed, and the sober sec- ond thought of the people. When he held the position of president of the senate, the efficiency of his work was the constant theme of those associated with him in those ardu- ous and perplexing duties. His decisions were correct, his views on all political matters well digested, eminently prac- tical, and his course manly, able and impartial. For these reasons the people learned to admire his ability, to respect his judgment, and to feel for him a friendship that has never waned, but grown stronger with the lapse of time. His friends were perhaps as strongly attached to him as to any public man in the state, and, consequently, he could rally them whenever he needed their aid or council for any enter- prise in which he was engaged. It is a source of consolation that Col. E. B. Taylor died surrounded by his family and friends, who administered to him all the comforts that it was possible as he went down into the valley of death."
Colonel Taylor was married on March 23, 1843, to Jane B. McClure. Five children were born as a result of this union Of these one son, Edward A., was recently living in Portland. Ore., and one daughter, Mrs. George Arnold, in Indianapolis,
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Ind. Mrs. Blanche Hughes, wife of Attorney Thomas J. Hughes, of Greenville, is a daughter of Mrs. Arnold.
Enoch Beery Seitz and Family.
One of the most distinguished citizens who ever lived in Darke county was Enoch Beery Seitz, of whom one writer said: "He was in mathematics what Demosthenes was in ora- tory, Shakespeare in poetry and Napoleon in war; the equal of the best, the peer of all the rest."
This man was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, August 26, 1846, and was the son of Daniel Seitz, a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, where he was born December, 1791. Daniel Seitz was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Hite, by whom he had eleven children; and his second wife, Cath- arine Beery, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. He died near Lancaster, Ohio, October 14, 1864. Enoch, the third son of Catharine Beery Seitz, was raised on his father's farm and had the advantage of a common school education supplemented by a course in a private school in Lancaster. He took a mathematical course in the Ohio Wesleyan Univer- sity, Delaware, from which he was graduated in 1870. His mother had moved with her family to Greenville, Ohio, in the fall of 1866, where she lived on West Fourth street until her death in February, 1904, at the advanced age of almost ninety- six years. It is said that while a boy on the farm Mr. Seitz exhibited great talent and liking for mathematics and that he mastered and completed algebra alone at the age of fifteen. His mathematical talent early became known in Darke county, where he had been teaching summer school during his course at Delaware and he was elected to the professor- ship of mathematics in the Greenville high school in the sum- mer of 1872, which position he occupied until the summer of 1879. On June 24, 1875, he was united in marriage with Anna E., daughter of William K. Kerlin, at that time treasurer of Darke county, and later president of the Second National bank. Miss Kerlin had been teaching in the public schools for some time and was recognized as one of Greenville's most refined young ladies. During the period of his tutorship in Greenville he contributed solutions to different problems proposed in some of the best known mathematical magazines, including the School-day Magazine, the Analyst, the Mathe- matical Visitor and the Educational Times, of London, Eng-
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land. His specialty was average and probability problems, the solution of which required untiring patience, energy and perseverance. A great problem had been proposed by Pro- fessor Woolworth, the great English mathematician, in 1864, which he had solved with great labor and lengthy demon- stration. His solution stood unchallenged until Professor Seitz mastered the same problem and demonstrated it clearly in a fraction of the space required by the great English professor and thereby won the plaudits of the mathematicians of Eng- land and America. Speaking of his methods a mathematical writer said: "In studying his solutions, one is struck with the simplicity to which he has reduced the solutions of some of the most intricate problems. When he had grasped a prob- lem in its entirety, he had mastered all problems of that class. He would so vary the conditions in thinking of one special problem and in effecting a solution that he had generalized all similar cases, so exhaustive was his analysis. Behind his words he saw all the ideas represented. These he translated into symbols, and then he handled the symbols, with a facil- ity that has never been surpassed." Professor Seitz did not gain his knowledge from books, for his library consisted of only a few books and periodicals. He gained such a profound insight in the subtle relations of numbers by close application, with which he was particularly gifted. He was not a mathematical genius, that is, as usually understood, one who is born with mathematical powers fully developed. But he was a genius in that he was especially gifted with the power to concentrate his mind upon any subject he wished to investigate. This happy faculty of concentrating all his powers of mind upon one topic to the exclusion of all others, and viewing it from all sides, enabled him to proceed with certainty where others would become confused and disheart- ened. Thread by thread and step by step, he took up and fol- lowed out long lines of thought and arrived at correct con- clusions. The darker and more subtle the question appeared to the average mind, the more eagerly he investigated it. No conditions were so complicated as to discourage him. His logic was overwhelming."
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