USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 23
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The transportation facilities of this little village are excellent. Two railroads, the Baltimore & Ohio and the Panhandle, pass through or near the village and the Dayton & Xenia traction line, which touches the village, places it within almost instant communication with either of these two cities. In addition to these means of transportation, the Dayton and Xenia pike, an excellent thoroughfare, extends through the village.
BUSINESS INTERESTS OF TREBEINS.
The village in 1918 has one general store owned by Clarence O. Miller. In fact, Miller is the principal business factor of the place. He not only owns the only store, but he also owns the elevator and flour-mill. The mill was erected during the winter of 1914-15, the construction beginning im- mediately after the former mill of Dewey Brothers burned on Thanksgiving Day, 1914. Miller bought the old site and at once began the erection of the ' present mill and elevator. The mill is operated by electric power and the elevator is also electrified, if such an expression may be used. All grain is dumped, carried from elevator to bins, from bins to the hopper, or from bins to a car on the tracks-all by the turning of a button. A car of wheat can be loaded in two hours by the method which Miller has installed. He does a large amount of custom milling and has already built up an extensive trade.
THE VILLAGE OF NEW GERMANY.
The village of New Germany is a small cluster of houses in the extreme northwestern corner of Beavercreek township, situated in the northwest quarter of section 5, township 2, range 7, on the Harshmanville road. The records do not reveal when the site of this village was first settled. Ap- parently the first residents of the little village were of Teutonic origin, be- cause the name applied to the settlement is New Germany. The village is not situated on a railroad.
CHAPTER XII.
CAESARSCREEK TOWNSHIP.
Caesarscreek township was one of the original four townships erected at the meeting of the associate judges at the house of Owen Davis on Beaver- creek, May 10, 1803. It was the second township erected at that meeting and its boundaries were delineated by the judges as follows:
The Township of Ceasars Creek shall Begin at the North West Corner of Sugar Creek Township, running thence North to the Little Miami; Thence East to the East line of said County : thence bounded on the East and South by lines of said county, and on the West by Sugar Creek Township. Elections in said Township shall be held at the House of William J. Stewart in Caesarsville.
THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWNSHIP.
The original south and east boundaries of Caesarscreek township were definitely located, since they were coincident with the county line, but the difficulty arises in the location of the north and west bounds. The location of these two lines depends entirely upon the situation of the northwest corner of Sugarcreek township. This point was established by the intersection of the north and east lines of the latter township. The east line extended north- ward from a point in the county line four miles east of the Little Miami river and the north line extended eastward from the northwest corner of section IO. It can thus be seen that this east line of Sugarcreek township if produced would strike the Little Miami river at the mouth of Massies creek and this was also the understanding of the county commissioners when they erected Xenia township in 1805. It follows then that the west line of Caesarscreek township extended due southward from the mouth of Massies creek to the southern boundary of the county, intersecting the latter line about a quarter of a mile east of Painters creek, and the north line of the town- ship extended due east to the county line, passing about a mile south of Cedarville and about a quarter of a mile north of Grape Grove in Ross township.
In those days the township was bounded on the north by Beavercreek township, on the west by Beavercreek and Sugarcreek townships; on the east by what is now Fayette and Madison counties, and on the south by what is at this time Clinton county. It is thus obvious that the township has been the parent of three townships in entirety and of four in. part. The three which have been taken wholly from territory which sometime before had
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
been a part of Caesarscreek township are Jefferson, Silvercreek and New Jasper townships, and those which have been erected in part from Caesars- creek township land are Spring Valley, Xenia, Cedarville and Ross town- ships. Apparently the township was quite extensive when it was established in 1803. Roughly speaking, it was a parallelogram, twelve miles wide and sixteen miles long and contained one hundred and ninety-two square miles. Moreover, when the point at the fork of Shawnee run was selected as the site for the new county-seat town of Xenia, it was found that this land was included in Caesarscreek township.
CHANGES IN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWNSHIP.
It was not long that Caesarscreek township maintained its large expanse of territory and its symmetry, because in a very short time the commissioners of the county began erecting new townships. The erection of the first town- ship which affected the extent of Caesarscreek township was that of Xenia township in 1805. This township took from Caesarscreek township a large triangular tract of land, the western boundary of which began at the mouth of Massies creek and extended thence with the western line of Caesarscreek township due south to the mouth of Anderson fork. From this point the line of the new township followed the meanderings of Caesars creek "to the East line of the County." This statement of the commissioners is somewhat vague, but it is shown when Silvercreek township was erected that the line between Xenia and Caesarscreek township left the course of Caesars creek at a point about seven miles west of the eastern county line and then main- tained a course due east to the county line. This line later became the north- ern boundary of Silvercreek township. Thus Caesarscreek township was shorn of almost one-half of its extent.
The boundaries of the township were left undisturbed until 1811, when Silvercreek township was established by the county commissioners, who on March 4 of that year, ordered that such a part of the township be stricken off as was bounded by a line which began on the southern boundary of the county one mile east of the old Ross county line, which extended north and south eight miles west of the present eastern boundary of the county, and then ran north eight miles. From that point the line of the new township extended due east to the eastern boundary of the county. By this Caesars- creek township lost fifty-six square miles more of its territory.
In 1853 the township lost more territory on its northern boundary by the erection of New Jasper township. By this action of the commissioners the present northern boundary of the township was established. Again, in 1856, the erection of Spring Valley township cut off a considerable tract on (15)
·
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
the west and thus established the present western boundary of Cæsarscreek township.
MILITARY LANDS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Caesarscreek township lies wholly within the lands of the Virginia Mili- tary Reservation, there being in all seventeen different surveys which lie either wholly or partly within the township. Even though these landowners held tracts within the township, not one of them ever became a resident thereof, all being absentee landholders. Moreover, not all of them were veterans of the Revolutionary War. There follows a table of all the surveys, carrying the name of the owner, the number of the survey and the number of acres in each survey :
Name of Owner.
Number of Survey. Number of Acres.
Warner and Addison Lewis
2,235
1,000
Warner and Addison Lewis.
2,234
1,000
Samuel Eddins
1,044
1,000
Robert Pollard
3,908
4,222
Willis Wilson
2,435
666 2/3
Henry Baylis
9,672
IIO
William Nelson
2,312
1,640
Nancy Grimes
2,473
1,000
Nancy Grimes
2,312
640
Carter Page
1,73I
1,000
Nancy Grimes
2,354
1,050
Carter Page
1,729
1,000
William Croghan
3,913
950
Alexander Balmain 1 1
1,274
1,200
Francis Dade
4,377
220
Nancy Grimes
2,474 and 2,526
1,740
Richard C. Anderson
2,383
2,533 1/3
1
I
I
1
1
J
1
1
I 1
I
1
Of these holders of military land, Samuel Eddins was a captain; Henry Baylis, a lieutenant ; William Nelson, a colonel; Carter Page, a captain ; Will- iam Croghan, a major; Alexander Balmain, a colonel; Francis Dade, a cap- tain, and Richard C. Anderson, a colonel. Warner and Addison Lewis were probably land speculators, for they owned thousands of acres of land in the county, and it was the practice in the early days for these speculators to buy up land warrants from many of the veterans of the Revolutionary War. Wil- lis Wilson and Robert Pollard were probably heirs or assignees and it is certain that Nancy Grimes was the heir of Capt. William Grimes.
Not all of the surveys included in this table lie wholly within the town-
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
I
1
1
1
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
ship. Those lying partly within the township are Numbers 2235, 2234, 1044, 3908, 1729, 3913, 1274 and 2383.
TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE.
Caesarscreek township as it stands at present is located in the south-central part of the county and is bounded on the north by New Jasper and Xenia townships, on the east by Jefferson township, on the south by Clinton county and on the west by Spring Valley township. The surface of the township is somewhat rolling and is fairly well forested with hardwood trees that are native of this section of the country. On the ridges are found many produc- tive upland farms, comprised of soil of rich clay, and here are raised consider- able quantities of corn, wheat and oats. Much of the rolling land affords excellent pasture for hundreds of horses, cattle and sheep and during the year, many swine are "fed out" for the market.
The central part of the township forms the divide between Painters creek and Caesars creek. The former rises in the extreme southern part of Silvercreek township, flows across the northwest corner of Jefferson township, enters Caesarscreek township at its northeast corner and then its course des- cribes a circular course down through the southern part of the township, which the stream leaves near the southwestern corner. This stream has sev- eral tributaries, one of which is Mursers run. This stream rises in the surveys numbered 2474 and 2526, flows southwest and empties into Painters creek in the southwest corner of the township. Caesars creek forms a part of the northwestern boundary of the township. It is from this stream that the town- ship derives its name. The creek in turn takes its name from the Negro servant of the officers who commanded the expedition of Gen. George Rogers Clark against old Chillicothe on the Little Miami in 1794. The expedition had progressed all the way from Kentucky without the knowledge of the Indians until they reached the territory now comprising Greene county, but this negro, whose name was Caesar, stole away from the command and brought the intelligence of their impending danger to the Shawnees at old Chillicothe. It is possible that Caesar left the command while it was in the whereabouts of the creek that bears his name.
THE FIRST SETTLER.
Possibly about 1800 David Painter, who had before that year become a member of a settlement of Friends at Waynesville, in what later became Warren county, decided to move northward into what was erected into Greene county in 1803. At the time when he reached his decision to change his place of residence, there was only an old Indian trail which led from Waynesville to Oldtown, but he loaded his few agricultural implements and household
228
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
goods into wagons, and accompanied by his family, moved slowly northward along this old trail. When he reached the creek, which later was given its name in honor of this early settler in the township, Painter decided to estab- lish here his home. His family at that time consisted of three sons, Jesse, Jacob and Thomas, and one daughter, all of whom contributed their whole- hearted efforts to the building of the home in the forest and to the bringing of the soil under cultivation. The land which David Painter settled now comprises the Harvey C. Faulkner farm.
At the time of the Painter family's settlement here, there were only three cabins between Painter's cabin home and Waynesville, but soon afterward other settlers of the same creed of this sturdy Quaker flocked into the town- ship, and a Friends society was organized. Painter himself was instrumental in the organization of this society. The death of this old settler occurred about 1840 and since that year all of his children have followed him to the grave. The Painters were ideal settlers, for they were a thrifty, steady and yet enterprising family. Moreover, their adherence to the creed of the Friends was instrumental in their becoming valuable and moral citizens of the new county and neighborhood. Even though the teaching of the Friends is against war, this first settler of the township waxed warlike when it seemed that a wholesale butchery of whites impended after Hull's surrender at Detroit. On that Sabbath morning when the news of the disaster arrived in the settle- ment, David Painter, under the exigency of the moment, shouldered his rifle and march off to join the volunteers who were hastening to Urbana to protect the Ohio settlements from the Indians who were reported to be com- ing southward.
OTHER EARLY COMERS INTO THE TOWNSHIP.
Shortly after the Painter settlement was established, Caleb Lucas, a native of Virginia who had settled temporarily in Warren county, moved northward into what is now Caesarscreek township and located on the Phillip Powers farm. Caleb Lucas was born in the Old Dominion on October 2, 1776, and his death occurred on April 25, 1851. He was a soldier of the War of 1812. A comparatively short time after he settled here in the town- ship, he sold his land to Samuel Martin, the so-called Indian doctor. The farm was later sold to Edward Powers, from whom it reverted to his son, Phillip Powers. Soon after Caleb Lucas settled in the township, his brother, John Lucas, settled on the Jamestown pike, on the farm which later came into the possession of his grandson, James Lucas. Since they were high- spirited Virginians, the two Lucas brothers were in frequent altercations with their neighbors and such difficulties were generally settled in fisticuff encounters in which the combatants went at it "hammer and tongs," as it
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
was described then. John Lucas was the younger of the two brothers, he having been born on July 29, 1793. His death occurred in 1871 after he had lived almost four score years.
Another settler who came to the township before 1803 was Frederick Price, a Virginian of German descent, who settled on what later came to be known as the D. M. St. John farm. Price remained there until 1830, in which year he sold his holding to Stephen Bones and then removed to Indiana, where his death occurred in 1870.
SOME LATER COMERS.
In 1806 Elisha Bales, a native of Pennsylvania, brought hi's family, including his four sons, Jonathan, John, Jacob and Elisha, Jr., into Greene county and settled in Caesarscreek township. A part of the family located in the northern part of this township and some members settled in that part of Caesarscreek township which was later included in New Jasper township. The elder Bales spent the rest of his life in the township, improving his farm, and his death occurred in 1828.
In the same year came Robert Faulkner, a brother-in-law of David Painter and a native of Virginia. He located with his family on a tract of land adjoining Painter's place and for many years the Faulkner posterity continued to reside in the community.
In 1807, David Murphy, also a native of the Old Dominion, brought his family to this township and located in the military survey which joined the possession of Caleb Lucas on the west. His wife had fallen heir to this part of the military survey, her father having evidently been a veteran of the Revolutionary War. The Murphys possibly became dissatisfied with their location here and in 1850 the family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana.
THE EARLIEST ELECTION RECORD OF THE TOWNSHIP.
When the associate judges laid out the county into townships on May TO, 1803, they ordered that the election for the township of Cæsarscreek be held in the house of William J. Stewart in Cæsarsville. It is almost a cer- tainty that the election was held sometime later in the year and at the place indicated, but the whereabouts of the poll-book of that first election in the township is not known. On October 9, in the following year, another election was held, and the poll-book of this election is the earliest one found pertaining to Caesarscreek township. From this poll-book one can determine the names of some of the earliest settlers of the township as it was then, but the limited number of electors included indicates that the settlers either were careless in exercising their right of suffrage or were too busy garnering their crops to take a part.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
THE POLL-BOOK.
Tuesday, October 9th, A. D. 1804,
State of Ohio, Greene County, Township of Ceasars Creek.
Poll Book of an Election held at the House of Wm. I. Stewart for the purpose of Electing one member of Congress, one member of the Assembly, also one Commissioner and one Senator.
The Electors' Names-Samuel Anderson, Frederick Bonner, James Bonner, Valentine Bone, Jacob Bone, William A. Betty, John Billington, John Campbell, John Casey, Josiah Elam, Edward Flood, Josiah Grover, John Hoop, George Isham, Samuel Lee, Caleb Lucas, Abraham Lucas, Joseph Lucas, Joseph Lambert, Charles Moore, Isaiah McDonald, Dempsey McDonald, Samuel Miller, William McFarland, John McClelland, Samuel G. Martin, John Martin, John Mendenhall, John Paul, David Price, William Price, Frederick Price, John Stafford, Gardner Sutton, Gennire Sutton, Samuel Sutton, John Sterritt, Joseph Sterritt, Moses Trader and Remembrance Williams.
Judges : Frederick Bonner and Isaiah McDonald.
Clerks : Charles Moore and Chappell H. Bonner.
The result of this election in the township was that Jeremiah Morrow received thirty-nine votes for Congress; John Bigger, forty votes for the state Senate; John Sterritt received twenty-seven votes for state senator and Joseph Tatman, twelve; James Snodgrass, forty votes for county commissioner.
THE FIRST ENUMERATION.
The first enumeration sheet of the township antedates the above poll- book by a year and from it one can obtain the names of many more of early pioneers of the township as it stood in 1803. This enumeration of the free males in the township above the age of twenty-one years was begun by the lister, Joseph Price, on August 3, 1803, and was finished on the tenth of the same month. The additional names which thus can be added to the above list are the following: Isaac Bonner, Samuel Bone, James Corey, William Conkleton, Joel Coleman, Stephen Hoggett, Josiah Hunt, James Lawrey, John Montgomery, Leavitt McDonald, Stephen Mendenhall, Will- iam Mullen, Martin Mendenhall, Edward Mercer, Joseph Price, David Price, Jr., Peter Price, David Painter, Nathan Porter, James Porter, Henry Prill, Sr., Henry Prill, Jr., Isaiah Sutton, Jonah Sutton, Amariah Sutton, Lewis Sutton, William I. Stewart, Noah Strong, Reuben Strong, William Stanfield, Leonard Stump, Joseph Wilson, Sr., Joseph Wilson, Jr., Remembrance Will- iams.
As this list of names is scanned, the impression must not be gained that these early settlers were all residents of Caesarscreek township as it is today. Reference to the discussion of the changes of the boundaries of the township reveals that many of these settlers no doubt lived in the eastern part of what is now Xenia township or in the present townships of Silvercreek, Jefferson or Spring Valley.
23I
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
IMPROVEMENT IN THE TOWNSHIP IN THE EARLY DAYS.
Under the steady strokes of the ax, the magnificent forests in Caesars- creek township gradually gave way before these sturdy pioneers, and soon there were scattered over the whole extent of the township log cabins and log barns which housed the settlers, their families and live stock. As time passed tanneries sprang up here and there to provide leather for the old- fashioned "fare-leathers" saddle and for the shoes used by the pioneer house- hold. Since whisky was held to be absolutely necessary for the early resident of the county in those day to neutralize the heat of summer, the cold of winter, the ravages of ague, stomach trouble, for weddings, for influencing bids at public sales, for influencing voters and for dispensing good cheer on all occasions, several distilleries were erected in the township and did a flourishing business for many years. Then, with the passing years, the pros- perity of the settlers became more evident with the abandonment of the old log cabin which sheltered them and their families in the early years of their residence here, and they erected in their places dwellings of brick or of timber which had known the buzz of the saw-mill. A glance at the assessor's returns for the years 1830, 1833, 1840 and 1841, reveals some of the improvements which were made in the township in those years.
In 1830 David Painter, the first settler in the township, razed his old log house and erected in its stead a brick structure which was valued for taxation at one hundred dollars. In the same year Joel Ellis built a brick addition, valued at one hundred and fifty dollars, to his house. Three years later, it was found that Isaiah Oglesbee was finishing his new dwelling in survey No. 1831, but the value of two hundred dollars which the assessor placed upon it brought a warm protest from the owner, because he thought the estimate too high. In that same year, John Fudge, who was a prominent figure in the politics and government of the county in his day, was the owner of a tannery in survey No. 1383, valued at three hundred dollars. The assessor's returns for 1833 showed that Jesse Faulkner was busily engaged in adding two hundred and fifty dollars' worth of improvements to his hold- ing in survey No. 1274. James Curl, the owner and operator of a tanyard, the land for which he had leased from Jacob Painter, succeeded in having the value of his enterprise reduced one hundred dollars.
In 1840-41 Joel Peterson was meeting the wants of his neighbors for liquid refreshment with his distillery on survey No. 3708. This enterprise was of considerable importance as compared with other like enterprises of the township, because it was valued at one thousand dollars. The clearing away of the old, friendly log cabins, which gave place to the frame build- ings, created the need for a saw-mill and one such was owned by Elijah B.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Hartsook on a part of a tract of one hundred and ten acres in survey No. 2435. The motive power for the plant was derived from an adjacent stream, the volume of which did not always admit of running the mill more than six months of the year. William Whinnery, a tanner of the township, fur- nished the residents of the township with leather. In that part of the town- ship which was later included in New Jasper township William Long and William Hardie had erected, respectively, a brick and frame dwelling, the former of which was valued at four hundred dollars and the latter at three hundred. Evidently distilleries at that more recent date furnished an accept- able market for the corn grown in the township, for Bernard F. Rowe operated a steam distillery and chopping-mill in connection on a one-acre lot which was a part of survey No. 1378.
THE VILLAGE OF PAINTERSVILLE.
The only village in Cæsarscreek township as it is today is Paintersville, which is located in the eastern central part of the township, about a mile from the township line, in military survey No. 2254. The town was laid out along the Jamestown pike, which forms the main street of the village. About two hundred yards north of the northernmost lot of the village flows Painters creek.
Before the village was laid out, the site was a part of the farm of one hundred and fifty acres which belonged to Jesse Painter, a son of David Painter, the first settler of Cæsarscreek township. Before the town was laid out Jesse Painter and Jonathan Oglesbee owned country stores on its site, where the residents of the surrounding country came to purchase their sup- plies. A short time before 1840 Painter decided that the modest trading point could take upon itself the dignity of a village of considerable im- portance and since he was the owner of the surrounding land he secured the services of Moses Collier, the county surveyor, who platted the village in the latter part of the summer of 1837. The work was finished on September 7, 1837, and on the 16th of the same month the plat was received for record and recorded by J. H. McPherson, the county recorder, as follows :
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