History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 97

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

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in the Roman Catholic Church, and was placed in charge of the diocese of Columbus. He was noted for his great executive ability, as well as his great learning and talents as a speaker. In the summer of 1879, Bishop Rosecrans, just after the comple- tion of the St. Joseph Cathedral at Columbus, the great work of his life, suddenly died, without seemingly a moment's warning, at the early age of fifty-one years. His untimely death was lamented alike by Protestants and Catholics. His funeral procession was thronged by citizens, without regard to party or sect. Wesley, another son of Mr. Rosecrans, lives somewhere in the State of Iowa, and is a farmer by occupation. Crandall Rose -. crans was an intelligent and enterprising citizen, and greatly beloved for his amiable qualities. He died some years before the war. The descendants of the family of Rosecrans, who settled in Kings- ton before the war of 1812, are numerous, and some of them are still living in the county. But many of them moved away and are scattered over the Western country.

While Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsyl- vania were contributing their sons and daughters to the settlement of Kingston, West Virginia, in imitation of their example, did the same. In 1814, John White, of Ohio County, W. Va., pur- chased of the patentee 1,000 acres of land in Section 1, being the northeast quarter, and, in the fall of that year, built a log house on his land and moved his family into it. He had a large family of sons and daughters, some of whom were grown, and soon married and settled about him. John Brown, to whom reference has been made, was an immigrant from Ohio County, in West Virginia. He had married a daughter of Mr. White before he came to Kingston in 1812. In the spring of 1815, John Hall, also from West Virginia, came to Kingston, and the same year was married to a daughter of Mr. White. He purchased from his father-in-law 100 acres of land near by, and built a house and settled upon it, and cleared up a part of it. In 1817, Gilbert Potter, from the same county in West Virginia, purchased of Mr. Hall this farm and settled on it with his family, and Mr. Hall purchased another farm about two miles further south on the Little Walnut Creek. Mr. Potter, be- fore heleft Virginia, had married a Miss Farris. A few years later, perhaps in 1820, but the precise time is not known, a Mr. William Gaston, who had married a Miss Farris, and sister of Mrs. Pot- ter, came with his family from the same county in Virginia, purchased land and settled on the

same quarter-township, near Mr. Potter, and a few years later a brother of William, John Gaston, with his family, which was large and grown, pur- chased lands in the same neighborhood. Joseph Potter, brother of Gilbert, married a Mrs. Taylor, and settled on a large farm in the same school dis- trict, which, on account of the origin of the first settlers, who were noted for their morality, indus- try and their intelligence, was, and still is, called the " Virginia District." The influence of Mr. White was felt in his township immediately on his arrival. He was at the head of a large and rapidly increas- ing offspring, and he was soon, by all around him, looked upon in the light of a patriarch. His chil- dren were cver found following in the footsteps of their worthy father, who had taught them in their early youth the precepts of sobriety and honesty. This remarkable father in Israel and his aged wife, after many years of usefulness in the church and in society, died about the same time and of the same age, not far from their old homestead in Kingston, while living with their son-in-law, Mr. Benjamin Benedict, at about the age of seventy- six years. Their twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, all lived to manhood and woman- hood, were married and raised families, with the exception of Mrs. Benedict and Mrs. Garner Wil- cox. They are all dead, and with the "rude fore- fathers of the hamlet sleep.'

Mr. John Hall, Mr. White's son-in-law, settled in 1817 on the Little Walnut Creek, upon a tract of 100 acres of land, which he cleared up and improved with good buildings, for that day, and died in 1840, at the age of forty-six years. His wife died in the year 1854, at the age of fifty-six years. They had four children, three sons and one daughter. They are all living, except the daughter. She married John J. Wilcox, and died about twenty years ago. The oldest son, William, is now living in the State of Iowa, and is a lawyer by profession. George W., a farmer, moved West. John W. Hall, the second son, lives in Delaware, and still owns the old homestead farm, to which he has added several other farms. In a worldly sense, he is a thrifty man. He married a Miss Susan A. Deninuck, a daughter of an early pio- neer of this county, by whom he has raised a fam- ily of four children, three daughters and a son, all of whom are living except the daughter, Lenora, who married a Mr. William R. Carpenter, and is now deceased. Mr. Hall, although not a church member, has been liberal io his contributions to the different churches in Kingston, and is a moral

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and upright citizen. His brother-in-law, John Brown, whose farm joined his own on the north, was a person much respected for his exemplary and Christian character. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and raised a large and highly respected family. Mr. Brown and his wife are dead, and none of his family are now living in Kingston. If any are living, they are in the West. Gilbert Potter died on the old homestead farm. He raised a large family, but they and their numerous offspring are scattered. His brother, Joseph Potter, a very enterprising and intelligent farmer, and his wife, are both dead. They left several children, and some are still living in Kingston, and the old homestead farm is still owned by the family. Daniel Maxwell, also a native of Ohio County, W. Va., settled upon a farm near the center of the township. His first wife was a Miss Farris, and a sister of Mrs. Gilbert Potter. His second wife was a Miss Haslett, niece of John Haslett, a native of Augusta County, Va. Squire Maxwell was a very intelligent and honest man. He, too, was a Presbyterian, and a good example of a Vir- ginia gentleman of the old school. He was a Justice of the Peace of Kingston Township for near twenty years previous to his death. His son, William H. Maxwell, lives in the township, and is his father's successor in the office of Justice of the Peace. He left, other children, some of whom still live in Kingston.

Among the early settlers in what is called the " Virginia School District," was James Gaston. He' was familiarly called "Irish Jimmy," and settled in the north part of the township. He married Miss Jones, and raised a large family, was a native of Ireland, and a relative of the two brothers, John and William. They were all Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The first generation of this numerous family are all dead, and their children and grandchildren greatly scattered. Two sons of John Carney, a native of Holland, immigrated to Kingston from Luzerne County, Penn., in the years 1820 and 1823. They were Thomas and James Carney. Their father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. They bought farms and went to work in good earnest. Thomas was born in the year 1795, and married a Miss Lott. He came a few years before James, and had made some improvements on his farm when the latter came. The farm is now owned by L. S. Owens. He died on the old homestead at the age of sixty-five years, and left a large family.

James Carney was born in 1797, and married, be- fore he came to Kingston, Miss Jane Ostrander. Her father was a carpenter and ship-builder, and often took long trips on the ocean, going often to the East Indies. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution for a period of seven years, and was Lieutenant under Gen. Washington. They settled on a farm in or near the center of the township. Mr. Carney died about the year 1830, leaving four sons. Theodore, the eldest, was born in 1822, and all his life was a student, possessed a robust physical constitution, and great native intellect. He studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Elijah Carney, of Berkshire, who was the leading physician in the eastern part of the county for many years, and graduated at a medical col- lege in Cincinnati. This promising young man, of great personal attraction, died of cholera on the Upper Mississippi on board of a steamboat.in the summer of 1851, at the early age of twenty-nine years. The second son, and brother of Theodore, Thomas Carney, was born in 1824, and in early youth was sprightly and precocious. He learned rapidly, and when quite young, he mastered the rudiments of a common-school education, and for a short time went to a select school in Berkshire. He left home to do for himself at the age of seven- teen years. He was polite, good looking, a born gentleman, and was well qualified by nature and education for mercantile life. He sought and ob- tained employment in a dry-goods house in Co- lumbus as a clerk, but remained there but a few months, when he established himself in business in Kenton, Ohio, as a merchant. He was most wonderfully successful in business, everything seemed to prosper his hands touched, and in a few years, he acquired the reputation of being a pop- ular and prosperous merchant. In 1848, he went to Cincinnati and became the chief clerk and sales- man of R. B. Bowler & Co., a wholesale dry-goods house on Pearl street, and in a short time he be- came the partner of Mr. Bowler in the house. In 1852, when Mr. Bowler retired from the firm, Mr. Carney succeeded him as the senior member of the new firm of Carney, Pendleton & Swift. Mr. Pendleton was a brother-in-law of Mr. Bowler, and a brother of the Hon. George H. Pendleton. They continued the business for some years, until January, 1857, when Mr. Carney withdrew from the firm and moved to Leavenworth in the State of Kansas. When he left, he had the reputation of being one of the wealthiest merchants in Cincinnati. He engaged extensively in business in Leavenworth,

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

had large Government contracts ; purchased a large quantity of lands, and was personally very popular. He was elected to the Legislature of Kansas from the city of Leavenworth immediately upon the ad- mission of Kansas into the Union as a State, and the first year of the war, he was elected by the Union party Governor of the State of Kansas. He was energetic and patriotic, and his administra- tion was popular. Gov. Carney was not a poli- tician, and had no taste for public life, and at the close of the war he retired from politics entirely. He is now a wholesale merchant in St. Louis. LeRoy, a younger brother of the Governor, was engaged in business with him in Leavenworth. He was found in his room at the hotel, dead. The circumstances of his death were not known. The youngest and only surviving brother is Creighton, a farmer by occupation, who lives near Leaven- worth. After the death of James Carney, his widow married Richard Waldron, and by this marriage, she had three children, Sarah, Harrison and Caroline. Mr. Waldron died a few years ago, leaving this venerable mother a widow for the second time. She is now an octogenarian, and living in the enjoyment of good health, with her son Harrison, upon the old homestead, and wel- comes her children home once a year. Elder Thomas Wigton immigrated from the Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania, to Kingston in the year 1814, and settled with his family on a farm of 100 acres on the Little Walnut Creek near the center of the township. He was a local Baptist preacher, and was extensively known at an early day, his popularity as a preacher not being con- fined to his own denomination. All religious sects had confidence in his piety and sincerity as a minister of the Gospel. Free from bigotry and intolerance, his heart was ever filled with that " charity that is not puffed up," and that "re- joiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." He survived his twelve children, except his daugh- ter Nancy, who lives in Morrow County, and Mrs. Root, who lives in the West. He died in 1878, in Berkshire, at the great age of ninety-nine years and six months.

One of the most remarkable men among the early pioneers of Kingston is Mr. Joseph Lott, a native of Luzerne County, Penn. He was born in the year 1786, and is consequently in the ninety-fourth year of his age. His health, mind and memory, for one of his great age, are remarkably good. He immigrated to Kingston Township in the year 1817, and settled on the East Branch of

the Little Walnut Creek. He cleared up a farm, and raised a family of four children, two sons and two daughters. His two sons, Riley T. and Josiah Lott, are living upon their farms in Kings- ton. His oldest daughter married Mr. William G. Van Sickle, and Miss Eliza, his second daughter, married Mr. Ezekiel Longwell; they are both living. Moses Decker, with his family, moved into Kingston in 1820, from New Jersey, and settled on a farm in the eastern part of the township, and near his brother-in-law, Isaac Finch, who had previously moved from the same place in New Jersey. They raised large families, and their family connection by marriage is very extensive, and highly respectable, and many of them are settled in the eastern and middle part of the county. Mr. Decker is still living at the age of ninety years, and in good health and well pre- served in mind and memory, as well as body. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was the first Postmaster in Kingston Township, and was a Justice of the Peace for several years. By trade he was a carpenter and millwright, which he followed for many years, and was an early ad- vocate of the temperance cause. The first frame barn in the township was built by Elder Wigton on his farm. It was framed, raised and completed by Mr. . Decker. In those days, the habit was universal to have, at raisings, for the hands, ardent spirits, or liquors of some sort, but generally whisky, and, on this particular occasion, at the raising of Elder Wigton's barn, Mr. Decker would not allow any liquors to be brought on the ground. Notwithstanding the prediction that the barn would not 'be raised for the want of hands, it was raised on the first day, at the first trial, without accident, and when it was raised, it was a source of great rejoicing with all. This was in the year 1827. This structure, many years ago, by the wasting hand of time, rotted down, and is now numbered among the things that were, but the temperance movement created by this ex- ample, and the firm stand taken by Mr. Decker, has not in the least abated in old Kingston. This was the origin of the temperance enterprise in the township, and its influence was not confined to Kingston, but it reached the adjacent townships. Mr. Decker was a good citizen, and influential by precept and example. His father-in-law and family, Hiram Cuykendall, came and settled on a farm in the same year, 1820. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and in the war of 1812. His wife died in 1840 at the age of ninety-three

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years ; he died about the same time at a very great age, but the precise age is not known. Mr. E. Killpatrick came from the same place, in New Jersey, and, after the death of the father of Mr. Decker, Mr. Kilpatrick married Mr. Decker's mother. He was the grandfather of Gen. Kil- patrick, of New Jersey, the noted cavalry officer of the late war, and recently the American Minis- ter to Chili, in South America. He died at a very great age many years ago.

In 1834, John Haselett, with his family, immi- grated to Kingston, from Augusta County, Va. He purchased a farm in the east part of the town- ship, of 150 acres, of Mr. Isaac Rosecrans, on which he lived until his death, which occurred in 1863, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife was a Miss Nancy Matheny, a native of Angnsta County. Mr. Haselett was a kind-hearted man, was a local Methodist preacher, had a good native intellect, and in his religious exhortations was very enthusiastic and effective. He was an old Vir- ginia gentleman, and noted for his hospitality. He raised four children, one son and three daugh- ters. The oldest daughter, Miss Cecilia, married Mr. William Johnson, of Porter, and died in 1840. Miss Mary Ann married Mr. Thomas Potter, and lives in Delaware ; the youngest, Miss Nancy, married a Mr. Sharron, and lives in Kingston. Harvey, the only son, married a Miss Abigail Pot- ter, daughter of Joseph Potter, Sr., and owns and lives on the old homestead. In the year 1818, two brothers by the name of William and Samuel Finley, from Ohio County, W. Va., settled in the Virginia School District. They cleared up their farms and resided on them for about ten years. Samuel Finley sold out to John M. Cam- meron, who still owns it, and William sold to John Rodgers, whose heirs still own it. They were industrious farmers and exemplary members of the Presbyterian Church. Samuel Finley moved into Delaware and died a few years ago at the ad- vanced age of nearly eighty, and his brother Will- iam settled upon and cleared up another farm in Brown Township, where he still lives with his son, an octogenarian. They both left children and grandchildren, many of whom are still living in Delaware County. The family, by marriage and otherwise, is extensively connected. Henry Sheets, with a large and grown-up family of sons and daughters, from Rockingham County, Va., set- tled in the woods upon a new farm in the north- western part of the township, in the year 1834. He had seven sons: Solomon and Peter are

deceased ; Daniel, Benjamin and Jonathan live in Brown Township ; Benjamin owns a large grazing farm sitnated in Brown and Kingston Townships ; Henry Sheets, Jr., owns a large farm in Kingston, near the old homestead, and the youngest son, Jacob Sheets, Esq., who for many years has been a Justice of the Peace, lives ou the old homestead. The three last-named brothers are among the most enterprising and thrifty farmers in the county, and have done their full share of hard work in clear- ing up and improving their part of the township. The Waldron brothers, four in number, whose father immigrated to Kingston in 1816, settled on new farms. This family was from the State of New York. George, the oldest brother, lives in Brown Township. Richard, as has already been noted, is dead. William lives on and owns the old homestead, a large grazing farm, which these brothers cleared np and improved. The youngest brother, Jonas, now owns and lives on the old Elder Wigton farm. In 1824, Daniel Terrill im- migrated to Kingston, from Essex County, N. J., and settled on a farm in the southwest quarter section, on the township line. He settled in the woods on a tract of 200 acres of land, and raised a family of several children. His son, D. W. Terrill, now owns and lives on the old homestead.

It will be seen in the first settlement of this lit- tle colony in Kingston there were immigrants from different States, and of different nationalities and .sects. The descendants of the Puritans of New England, the Germans of Pennsylvania, the English and Dutch of New Jersey, the English Cavaliers of Old, and the Scotch Irish of Now, Virginia, constituted the major part of the early settlers. The customs and habits of these different races and nationalities were so different that it would not have been strange if bickering's and feuds had existed among these early families, but such was not the case. There was no neigh- borhood wrangling, and scarcely a discordant note was to be heard. In the most cases, the head of the family was a freeholder and the owner of a homestead. There was among them no caste. In the interchange of civilities and hospitalities there was great cordiality, and, as it was in the begin- ning of the creation, they married and were given in marriage. They obeyed the commandment, to multiply and replenish the earth, and in the veins of the first generation born after the first settle- ment, the blood of the Tenton of Pennsylvania mingled freely with the blood of Scotch-Irish Celt of West Virginia. These early immigrants

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were not backwoodsmen, such as are sometimes found on the borders of a new country, and whose occupation is hunting, fishing and trapping. They were enterprising farmers ; some had left comfort- able homes, and they were in search of new homes in a new country where they could purchase more lands, and better their condition, and the condi- tion of their families. In morality, intelligence, industry, and all the elements which constitute high and noble character, they were quite up to the average of the families in the communities from wherever they emigrated. They were a God- fearing and Christian people, and believed implic- itly in that religion that promises to the meek an earthly inheritance, and they brought with them the Bible, the prayer-book and the hymn-book, and they immediately applied themselves to the improvement of their homes, the construction of roads, and the building of churches and school- houses. For many years, religious services were conducted in private houses and in the early schoolhouses, and, when the weather was pleasant, meetings were held outdoors in the groves.

It was not until the year 1822, that the first meeting-house was built. In that year, the Pres- byterians erected a log meeting-house near the center of the township, as well . as the center of population at that time, on the present site of the Old Blue Church, the cognomen by which it is now so widely known; and, while this humble church edifice belonged exclusively to the Presby- terians, when not occupied by them its doors were thrown open for all denominations. The Presby- terians in numbers were the strongest, and next in numerical strength were the Methodists, and then the Baptists. At this time, the church membership and the population were rapidly on the increase, and five years after this, in 1827, they raised by subscription the necessary amount to build on the old site a frame structure in place of the old one. This was quite an imposing church edifice for that day, but the growing con- gregation soon made it necessary to enlarge it, and it has been from time to time remodeled and enlarged until it has reached its present dimen- sions, but yet it remains the same old church. Moses Decker was its architect and builder. Among the membership of this church, at this early day, were Moses Decker and wife, John Van Sickle and wife, John White and wife, - Fin- ley and wife, James Wheeler and wife, Isaac Finch and wife, Gilbert Potter and wife, John Brown and wife, Benjamin Benedict, William

Wigton and his wife, Richard Waldron, Thomas Carney and his brother James and his wife, Will- iam Waldron and others. The Rev. Ahab Jinks was their Pastor. When finished, all but the painting, a skillful painter was employed to do the painting. He went to work, and soon had the outside painted a beautiful drab color. Not long after its completion, to the surprise of all, the color turned to a beautiful blue, which gave the church the name of the Blue Church, and it has ever retained that name, notwithstanding the change of color.

The next church in the township was the old Methodist Episcopal Church at Stark's Corners. It was built in the year 1836, although the society that built it was organized ten years previous. The society held their meetings for many years in the old log schoolhouse, located on the first cross-road west of Olive Green. This society also organized about the same time a Sabbath school, which was held in this schoolhouse. When the weather would permit, they would hold their quar- terly meetings in a grove near by, where they had seats and a stand, and everything in readiness for the occasion ; but, when the weather was unfavor- able or inclement, they used, by invitation, the Old Blue Church of the Presbyterians. The schoolhouse became too small to accommodate the congregation, and they changed their meetings to the dwelling-house of Mr. John Haselett. By his own personal effort, unaided by others, Mr. Hase- lett raised by subscription sufficient funds to build the church spoken of. The services of this con- gregation were irregular. The Pastors who rode the circuit were compelled to hold meetings nearly , every day of the week to get round once a month over their charge. Thus they were compelled to have week-day services and hold prayer-meetings on the Sabbath. Moses Decker, the architect and builder of the Old Blue Church, was the architect and builder of the M. E. Church, aided by Mr. Reid M. Cutcheon. At this church the society met and worshiped for many years, when the ques- tion of repairing the old church came up; it needed a new roof, re-plastering, re-seating and re-painting. All these needful repairs would cost nearly as much as a new church, with the assist- ance offered them; and then again, the congrega- tion in numbers had outgrown the capacity of the church for their accommodation, and to repair it they thought would be a useless expenditure of money and time. Olive Green is a village three- quarters of a mile distant, in Porter Township,

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 97

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818