USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 27
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In the immediate vicinity of the Killgore home were pioneers made of such as the following : Philip Powell came during the years intervening be- tween 1801 and 1804 and afterwards removed to Indiana, where he died. He was a Kentuckian by birth. Solomon Green remained a short time. It is said of his son William, that he brought from Kentucky and wore the first pair of boots ever brought to this settlement, which gave him the name of "Bill Boots." David Polly and Mr. Risdon were early residents of the neighborhood. The latter married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Killgore, Sr. In about the year 1815 Stephen Hunt removed to the farm which had
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been lately vacated by Polly. He was a carpenter, surveyor, blacksmith and justice of the peace. He eventually moved back to Illinois. Samuel Horn- beck occupied the farm later owned by Abram Blessing. Being subject to frequent attacks of fits, his wife was told that a permanent cure might be effected by taking off his under garment and burning the same. At the next attack the remedy was given a trial, resulting in the loss of the garment, but a failure as a cure. Moses Thomas settled on Sugar creek in 1825 and en- gaged in blacksmithing. Just below Moses Thomas lived James and Andrew Wicker, who were natives of North Carolina. William and John Horney settled early in the township and devoted most of their time to hunting. John Mock, from North Carolina, came first to Greene county, Ohio, and assisted in the erection of the first dwelling house in Xenia. In 1853 he came here and settled. He died in 1862. Joseph Kent, who came with the Killgores, remained with them until 1808, then removed to Madison county, where he lived the rest of his days.
OFFICIAL ANNALS.
The original boundaries of Jefferson township and the changes in the same may be found in the chapter on early settlement.
The following officers were elected on the Ist day of April, 1816, and sworn in on the 6th day of the same month: Justice of the peace, Thomas Robinson; trustees, Jacob Jenkins, Joseph Kendall and Nicholas Robinson; constables, William McCandless and Price Landfare; supervisors, Samuel Wicker, Jolın Miller, George Pence and James Sanderson; treasurer, John McKillep; lister, William McCandless ; overseers of the poor, Patrick Kernan and John Williams; fence viewers, Jacob Jenkins and David Creamer, the latter being appointed at a subsequent meeting of the trustees; clerk, David Creamer.
March 3, 1817, the trustees met at the house of William C. Blackmore and issued orders as follows :
John Miller, supervisor one year, $3.00; Samuel Wicker, received $5.25 for a like service : Jacob Jenkins, trustee, one year, $6.00; for serving in the capacity of supervisor one year, James Sanderson and George, each $2.25; Joseph Kendall, trustees, $4.00; Joseph Creamer, per cent. of funds, 98 cents : David Creamer, clerk, $4.00; following which appears this entry : "Settled all accounts with treasurer and there remains $1.22 in the treasury."
On March 21, 1818, John Fenel was paid $2.621/2 for his services as deputy supervisor ; the fraction was paid in "sharp shins" or "cut money."
On June 28, 1824, William Longbridge, constable, was commanded by
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John Ryan, an overseer of the poor, to "summon Samuel Thornton and Lida Thornton to depart out of this township."
The trustees, on May 24, 1834, bound to James Fent, as an apprentice. George Seamer, aged eleven, until he shall attain the age of twenty-one; con- ditioned that the said Fent shall clothe, maintain and educate said Seamer and at the expiration of his term of servitude shall present him with a Bible and two suits of clothes. This is the first transaction of the kind on record.
The first marriage in the township was between William Aurley and Lucy Kendall, at the house of Aaron Wood. Squire Joel Wood officiated.
Patrick Kerran, or Kerns, was the first blacksmith and followed his trade for many years. He brought his forge with him and was assisted by his wife in striking the iron.
Thomas McGara was the first physician. He lived at Washington and visited his patients on horseback. He enjoyed a good reputation and after- wards served his county as associate judge and representative. James F. Boyer and George Sharrette were the pioneer brickmakers; D. McCoy, the first merchant; Joseph Hidy and Stephanus Hunt, the first carpenters.
The counterfeiters who infested this county in the early days frequently victimized the citizens of Jefferson township, though there was no organized gang within the limits of the township. In later years, when Alfred Wals- ton removed to the blacksmith shop occupied originally by Moses Thomas, he found concealed in the same a mold for the production of bogus silver dollars.
Richard Douglass, of Chillicothe, and one of the first practitioners at the Washington bar, owned a tract of land in Jefferson township, containing about twelve hundred acres, which was in charge of his brother, an ex- sea captain. Richard, or Dick as he was called, was very quick of temper, but usually regretted his outbursts the next moment. One winter he pur- chased a large flock of sheep and put them in his brother's care, who managed to preserve half of them; the others died from sheer neglect and were placed in a heap and covered with straw. On the following spring, Dick visited his farm and upon discovering the dead sheep exclaimed. "What in the hell," but, regretting the hasty remark, lifted his eyes and added, "God forgive me."
In the fall of the year 1844-5 a party of emigrants who were on their way from Virginia to a Western state, encamped in the woods on the Wash- ington and Jamestown road, on the site of West Lancaster. With them were two young men named Martin and McClung, who were prospecting and. having overtaken the emigrants, concluded to accompany them to the West. It was on the evening of the fall election and two young men, named re-
(19)
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spectively Hiram Hosier and Henry Smith, were returning from the polls at Jeffersonville in a jolly mood and on horseback. One of them, it is alleged, upon arriving at the camp conducted himself in such a manner as to insult the women and arose the indignation of the men, who proceeded to chastise them. The party attacked retreated about two hundred yards, then charged upon the assailing party. In the melee which ensued Hosier encountered McChing and struck him on the head, inflicting a dangerous wound, from the effects of which he died in a few hours. Hosier was arrested. The case, however, was postponed from time to time. It was finally brought to trial and Martin, the prosecuting witness, having been bribed to abscond, the jury disagreed. Thus the case was struck out.
On April 20, 1843, a party of young men went to a wedding at Straley's, then in Jefferson, but now in Jasper township, to "bell." They were attacked by those inside and Antrim Rankins, son of Thomas R. Rankins, was shot and died on the following day. John Hidy was arrested and charged with the deed. He was admitted to bail, left the country and never returned.
MILLS.
The pioneers of Jefferson township, as in other localities, enjoyed no · opportunities for trading at home. Grain and other products were conveyed to Cincinnati, Springfield and Oldtown, much time and labor being required in making these trips. It soon became apparent that nothing could be gained so long as there were no facilities for grinding the grain into flour and vari- ous devices were invented.
Perhaps the first mill was erected by William Robinson on Sugar creek. It was a very crude structure. Another water-mill was erected on the same creek by William Blackamore and used for grinding corn. Jacob Creamer, in 1840, erected a saw-mill within the present limits of Jeffersonville, where the covered bridge stood, and afterwards added a corn-cracker. During the wet season lumber was shipped across the creek on a raft and taken to the village. The lumber, which was white and burr oak, was used extensively. Edward Gray had charge of it and in the spring, when the water was low, frequently put his shoulder to the water gate in order to put the machinery in motion. David Creamer had a saw-mill on the land later owned by Wallace Creamer. These dams have long since been abandoned.
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TOWNS AND HAMLETS.
Jefferson township is not noted for many villages of importance. The present ones are Jeffersonville, with a population of seven hundred and six- teen; West Lancaster, with one hundred and forty-two; Parrott, with a population of fifty, and a mere hamlet, known as Blessing. Another early- day village was Pleasant View, of which a mention is made in this chapter. The total population of Jefferson township, together with that of the village of Jeffersonville, was, in 1910, two thousand seven hundred and eighteen.
Jeffersonville is beautifully situated on the banks of Sugar creek, eleven miles northwest from Washington C. H., and eighteen miles from South Charleston. It is on the Detroit & Southern railroad, running northwest and southeast, while the same system has a line, originally dubbed "Grass- hopper road," extending northeast and southwest. The old State road in its direct east and west course runs through Jeffersonville. As long ago as 1880 it was said of this village, "For the last year business in the village has made rapid strides, and at this writing there is not a vacant dwelling house in the place. The railroad has brought new industries and enterprises, and good mechanics are employed at steady wages."
While William Robinson was a resident of the land where now stands Jeffersonville, he cannot be called the first real resident. It was in 1831, when Walter B. Wright and Chipman Robinson, who owned a hundred acres of the present platting, believing that the farming community of this town- ship needed a trading post of some kind, laid off town lots, in March of that year, and disposed of them at five dollars each.
The first house was built by Robert Wiley, on Main street. This was platted as Lot No. 1. Among the people there at that time-all that year or the next-were William Devault, Reuben Carr, Jacob Jenkins and M. B. Wright. Then followed Edward Gray, a native of Morgan county, Virginia, who came to Ohio in the fall of 1836, with his father Michael and the family. They came over the completed National road. He purchased land in this township, at three dollars per acre. It was all a dense forest and very diffi- cult to clear up. Edward moved to town a few years later and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which were conducted by himself and later by his son. The first store in the village, it is thought by many, was that of Edward Popejoy. Reuben and Jesse Carr were early dry goods dealers. Hiram Duff was the pioneer blacksmith, Joseph Garnes the first tanner, and Doctor
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Boarer the first physician. In 1840 there were seventeen buildings, most of which were log, and altogether the village did not present any too attrac- tive an appearance to the passing stranger. H. H. Pearson came in about 1843 and started a grocery and liquor store. He had a large trade in both commodities and made a fortune in a few years ; he finally went to Defiance, Ohio, and there lost most of his wealth. He then emigrated to Iowa.
The business of this village in 1914 is about as follows: Attorney, U. G. Creamer ; agricultural implements, Frank Vanorsdall, R. A. Horney ; auto garage, Jefferson Auto Company ; blacksmiths, C. W. Spangler. John Boone, David Davis ; barbers, J. L. Spellman, Ira Mosier ; banks, Citizens and Farmers banks; dray lines, Albert Inskip, O. G. Glaze, McKalip Coal and Supply Company ; dentist, Dr. G. M. Hines; drugs, J. B. Davis; elevators, Threll- keld and Blessing : furniture, Janes & Company ; groceries, W. A. Reid, F. A. Horney, C. D. Bush, Sears & Son, Wood & Duff and Frank Coe; dry goods, Hull & Company, W. W. Routson ; hardware, Boobo Hardware Company ; harness, M. F. Hudson ; hotel, "Mecca," by C. F. McAuliffe ; jewelry, G. H. Follett ; lumber, C. C. French; livery, F. C. Vanarsdoll, C. J. McGrew; millinery, C. Maude Wood; mills, The Jefferson Milling Company ; news- paper, The Citizen; restaurants, Maggie Wilson, Lester Allen; physicians, Drs. F. E. Wilson, J. H. French, H. V. Lusher ; real estate, G. L. Carr ; stock dealer, A. C. Shepard : veterinary, Dr. F. J. Morris; meat market, T. W. Mock; racket store, W. O. King: tinning and roofing, A. E. Moon; cement blocks. R. E. Thornton; bakery, Charles Miles; pool room, John Rowell; merchant tailor, J. C. Tudor ; undertaker and funeral director, F. C. Morrow ; fire insurance, F. C. Morrow; coal dealers. O. J. Glaze, McKillip Coal and Supply Company : clothing, Harry Frieds.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
Under authority of the state of Ohio, the town of Jeffersonville was duly incorporated in March, 1838. The corporation limits were materially extended in April, 1880.
Ordinances passed at various dates included some which seem curious to the reader of today. The first was dated April 26, 1838: "That if any person or persons shall run a horse or horses in any of the streets or alleys within the limits of said town, they shall, on conviction, be fined in any sum not more than five dollars, nor less than one dollar, at the discretion of the mayor."
April 14. 1845: "That any person setting up a grocery for the pur-
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pose of selling liquor by the dram or less than one quart (except for medicinal purposes ) shall be fined in any sum not more than five dollars, nor less than one dollar for such offense."
August, 1852: It was ordained that there should be no more liquor sold in the place, and the marshal was instructed to close certain places of im- moral resort within the place.
The last named year it was also ordained that some suitable person be appointed to sell spirituous liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes.
In 1879 the council ordained that "Hereafter all places where intoxicat- ing liquors are sold shall be closed at nine o'clock each evening and remain closed until six A. M." A fine was fixed as a penalty in the sum of from ten to fifty dollars.
By 1880 this town had grown into a fine business center, and had its churches, Masonic and Odd Fellows halls and excellent schools.
The following is a list of the mayors of Jeffersonville as nearly as can be obtained. As to any resignations during any of these terms the minutes do not give them. All the minutes read "Council met in regular session with mayor in the chair," and do not say who. Adolph Voigt, 1882-1888; J. M. Straley, 1888-1890; J. B. Fent, 1890-1892 ; A. C. Morrill, 1892-1894: N. C. Wilcox, 1894: J. M. Straley, 1894-1896; S. J. Todd, 1896-1900; J. M. Scott, 1900-1902; Lesson Day, 1902-1904; G. W. Blessing, 1904-1906; Frank Pond, 1906-1907; A. W. Duff, 1907; J. D. Davis, 1908-1910: H. W. Duff, 1910-19II ; J. D. Davis, 1912-1913; U. G. Creamer, 1914.
The municipal officers in 1914 were: Mayor, U. G. Creamer ; clerk, Othelo Wade; treasurer, R. L. Saunders; council, J. B. Fent, chairman, G. M. Hiner, O. C. Glaze, J. C. Tudor, D. J. Charles, S. C. Morrow; health officer, William Bergdill; marshal and street commissioner, O. M. Allen.
Jeffersonville has a chemical fire engine and a volunteer company, but no water works system. It is supplied with electric lights from Washington C. H.
POSTAL HISTORY.
According to recent figures received from Washington, D. C., the fol- lowing have served as postmasters at Jeffersonville (office established in 1834) : Jacob Creamer, June 21, 1834; E. H. Skillman, December, 1839; E. H. Crow appointed September 25, 1841 ; H. K. Pearson, August 6, 1845; W. B. Logan, March 6, 1863; Lewis Goldman. June 5, 1863; J. W. Hay- maker, March 5, 1864; Edward Gray, January 15, 1872: Fred Higgins, December 8, 1881 ; L. A. Elster, February 26, 1883: A. J. Lewis, August 3,
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1885 ; Jesse M. Bloomer, June 13, 1889; R. N. Scott, August 24, 1893 ; James Straley, September 14, 1897; Warren W. Williams, October 1, 1901, and present incumbent. Two rural free delivery routes go out from this point. Jeffersonville was one of four places of a thousand and under in Ohio which the government two years ago installed as "free delivery" as an experiment, and two and three deliveries are made daily. This was instituted at the instigation of Postmaster Williams. It is altogether a success and will doubtless be followed by many more.
A large, two-story brick town hall and corporation building was erected here in 1898 at a cost of about eighteen thousand dollars. It includes a fine opera house. The place now has a population of almost eight hundred. Its churches are the Methodist Protestant, the Methodist Episcopal, the Uni- versalist and Church of Christ (in Church Union) and two colored organiza- tions. See Church chapter. The lodges include the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
The streets are well kept, the side walks are an honor to the town and the class of business houses and residences do credit to the enterprising citizens.
CHAPTER XXI.
JÅSPER TOWNSHIP.
Jasper township is the central western sub-division of Fayette county. It is bounded on the north by Jefferson, on the east by Jefferson and Union townships; on the south by Concord township and Clinton county; on the west by Clinton and Greene counties.
This part of Fayette county was first settled in 1809. Jacob and Joseph Coile, in the spring of that year, emigrated from Pendleton county, Virginia, and located on a military claim of two hundred acres belonging to their father, Gabriel Coile, a Revolutionary soldier. The sons were both married before leaving Virginia. These families remained here until 1814, then located near Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1814 another Virginian came to the township. This was Jacob Her- shaw, who located on the original Coile claim, having traded his farm in Virginia for a hundred and sixty acres of this tract. He was a resident until 1818, when he relocated in Indiana.
Robert Burnett, of Pendleton county, Virginia, came here in 1810. He was a single man and worked out by the month until 1812, then married and squatted on government land. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and later served as a militiaman, being captain of a company. He held several township offices in Jasper, including those of clerk and trustee. He was later still appointed road viewer by the county commissioners. He was an excellent land surveyor and surveyed out many of the county roads of Fay- ette county. Between 1813 and 1821 he resided in Union township. He was noted for his good citizenship and peaceful qualities. It is recorded of him that in all of his more than four score years' citizenship, he was never known to have a quarrel with his neighbors or to have been engaged in a law suit. He was a very temperate man and enjoyed old age as well as youth and young manhood. He passed away like a golden sheaf, fully ripe and mature.
Leonard Bush, another son of the Old Dominion, was born in Pendleton county, Virginia, in 1778, and came to Ross county, Ohio, in 1809, locating at a point later known as Convenience Station, on the Dayton & Southeastern railroad. He.only remained in Ross county two years, then came on to Jas-
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per township in the spring of 1811. He purchased two hundred acres front his father and erected him a log cabin, without a floor. He cleared fifteen acres of timber the first spring and planted it to corn. He worked by means of the old style wooden-mould-board breaking plow. He next built him a shop and followed his trade, that of a wheelwright, for seventeen years in connection with his farming operations. By the time his son married he had secured as much as three hundred acres and, having that all to attend to, he quit working at the wagon business.
Another early comer was a Methodist preacher named Jones Brooks, who came into the township in 1811 from Virginia. He followed both farming and preaching.
Jacob A. Rankin came from Virginia in 1800, settling on Salt creek, in Ross county, where he remained two years and then moved to where Bloon- ingburg now stands. He died in 1876.
Another name among the pioneers of Jasper township and Fayette county which should never lose a place in the annals of the same is that of John Coons, of whom Doctor Mason, of Milledgeville, wrote many years since the following, in substance: "One by one the old pioneers are dropping off. 'Uncle Johnny' Coons, as he was familiarly called, has gone. He died after a short illness, leaving a family of three children beyond the age of fifty years. 'Uncle John' was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1792, and his boyhood days were spent in welding the old flint-lock musket barrels at a gov- ernment shop in the town of his birth. Subsequently he enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812, serving until peace was declared, after which he drew a pension so long as he lived. He married Hannah Jones in 1820 and set out for the then 'far west,' traveling in a wagon, through an almost impassable wilderness, with no one to share his lonely and perilous undertaking save his newly-made wife of but a few days. The land he spent his last days on was bought by him at three dollars per acre in about 1830. In 1880 much of the timber on it could not be counted too high at one hundred dollars per acre. At his death he was worth about seventy-five thousand dollars. He was not a church member, but was known for his deeds of kindness and benevolence among the poor and needy. He used to watch through the long weary hours of the night at the bedside of some sick neighbor ; even in times of epidemics he chanced his life where others failed to respond. His life work was his best monument, for his deeds truly live in the hearts and lives of many a man of this county where he labored so long and ably for the good of others."
In 1802 Solomon Smith was born on a farm in Pendleton county, Vir-
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ginia, and immigrated to Jasper township, Fayette county, Ohio, in the early settlement days. He rented land at first from Henry Coile. He was still living in the township in 1880 and was upwards of the eighty-year mark. He was constable in Jasper township for thirty-four years.
In the Center neighborhood of Jasper township, William Furgeson was the first to settle. In 1842 he bought a tract of land of Gen. James Taylor, of Kentucky, and removed to it the same year.
Stephen Mitchell Irvin was counted among the first to invade Jasper township with a view of becoming a permanent settler. Capt. William Palmer preceded him but a few months. He settled in the southwestern part of Fayette county. His land was really in portions of Fayette, Clinton and Greene counties. Mr. Irvin's ancestors were from Ireland. Andrew Irvin. the father, was in the War of 1812 and at the battle of Oldtown. He died in 1830. The son Stephen was eight years old when the family went to Ken- tucky. They traveled all the way in a cart drawn by a single horse. This was in the autumn of 1788. For many years they suffered the privations of frontier life. The family had come to be Calvinists and were strict Presby- terians in church faith. The reason of Mr. Irvin coming to Ohio was on account of it being a free state-he abhorred slavery and did not care to rear his family under its influences. Here he erected his first cabin in 1813. After clearing up land sufficient for a good large garden, he then set about planning for clearing up for farm land. He went through the same line of hardships which he had gone through in old Kentucky. Mills were scarce and far between. Hence hominy was used much for the family's food. This was produced by hollowing out a solid block of wood. Into this a por- tion of corn was placed and beat with a pestle. When finished, the hominy was delicious, but was not what all members of the family craved. Hills- borough, Highland county, was their nearest trading place. Here they bought their salt, groceries and dry goods. Mrs. Irvin passed from earth and her companion's side in 1833, aged forty-three years. This was a hard stroke to the head of the family. Two years later he married again and this wife survived her husband, who died July 25. 1852, in his seventy-second year. He was a man who never allowed himself to get angry. During the last years of his eventful life he preached nearly every Sunday. When told by Dr. I. C. Williams that he could not live long, he replied, "I did not think death was so near; but if it is God's will it is mine."
It is impossible, at this late date, to give the locations and date of com- ing of many of the vanguard in this township, but suffice it to add that the
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majority of the men and women of Jasper who might be properly termed "first settlers" were from Kentucky and Virginia, and were of the best type of settlers. They laid well the foundation stones.
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