USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 26
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252
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
There have been and are several religious denominations represented in the township and at Bellbrook, among which are the Baptists, above named, the Associate Presbyterians, the Methodist Protestants, the Methodist Epis- copals, the Old School Presbyterians, the United Presbyterians, the Chris- tians and the Disciples, all of which are mentioned fully in the chapter on churches.
Another early Baptist minister of Sugarcreek township was Joshua Carman. He became a resident of this locality, where he ministered to the spiritual needs of the settlers, in 1802 settling on the George Wilson farm. Among his various activities he was especially noted for the number of mar- riage ceremonies he performed. Reverend Carman was a fighter as well as a preacher, because he gave his services to his country in the War of 1812. His death occurred on December 1, 1844, after he had reached the ripe old age of eighty-five, and he was buried one mile south of Bellbrook.
THE FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage of any resident of Sugarcreek township was that of John Wilson, Jr., one of the first settlers of Greene county, to a daughter of Jacob Mills, who was one of the earliest residents of the northern part of Warren county. The bride was a sister to the wife of Amos Wilson, a brother to the groom. This marriage took place some time prior to 1803, hence before the organization of Greene county. It was then necessary for the groom to make a long journey to some seat of justice for the territory and there procure the license. When the time came for the ceremony, the bride was living with her sister some twenty-five miles eastward, toward the Ross county line, and it was the intention that the party should go after her and have the ceremony performed at the old John Wilson house. Some objections were lodged against this arrangement by the women who main- tained that the license would not be valid in this territory. As usual the women had their way about the matter and the party crossed the Ross county line, where Rev. Joshua Carman, the pioneer minister of the section, per- formed the ceremony under a leaning whiteoak tree, while the rain poured down upon them. Then the party returned to John Wilson's house where the pioneer festivities of such an occasion were duly celebrated.
WILD ANIMALS.
In the early days wild animals characteristic of the Middle West abounded in this locality; in fact, they were a source of food supply before the advent of swine, cattle and sheep. Here the deer came down to the Little Miami to drink, panthers skulked about .in the dense forest and made the chills chase up and down the pioneer boy's spine by their screams in the evening
253
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
when he would go on an errand to a distant neighbor's house. Wolves by the hundreds made night hideous with their howling in the surrounding for- est. Bruin was also represented, and his depredations into the sugar houses of the settlers gave him an unsavory reputation. Between the Wilson settle- ment and where the town of Centerville, Montgomery county, now stands was a bear wallow. Here these animals would roll themselves in the soft mud like hogs. Nearby was a place where the deer usually went for water, and it was here that the settlers would lie in hiding to acquire their supply of fresh meat. At this place Daniel Wilson performed one of the hunting exploits of the times by killing two bears and one deer all in one evening. Panthers and wolves were numerous and destructive to the farmer's live stock. Even after the county was organized a bounty was placed on panther and wolf scalps by the associate judges.
MILLS.
One of the first necessities in the pioneer community was a mill where the early settlers could grind their corn for their coarse hoe cakes, "johnny" cakes and corn "pone." The very earliest settlers of the township used a mortar and pestle, which in turn graduated into a stump-mill. The first contrivance to which the name of mill can be ascribed was built just north of Clio in section 10, township 3, range 5, on the farm then owned by Amos Wilson. This mill, which was of the "corn-cracker" variety, was propelled by hand. When the neighbor brought his corn to the mill for grinding, he furnished the motive power himself, and would pay the owner of the mill a small grist for the use of the "cracker."
What gave a marked impetus to the building of mills in the township and in the county was the coming of Stephen Bell, one of the founders of Bellbrook. Bell was born in New Jersey, August 18, 1774. In his early life he learned to be a millwright. He became a resident of Greene county in the early part of 1812, settling near Xenia. In 1813 or 1814 he moved to Sugarcreek township and from there plied his craft throughout the county in the valley of the Little Miami. Among the mills he built was a saw-mill for Henry Opdyke on Sugar creek in the year 1832 or 1833.
Not long after the first settlement was made and wheat became a prod- uct of the township the first flour-mill was built by William Rogers about a mile east of Bellbrook on the Little Miami, about 1809. On this same site a more substantial mill was built at a later date. This latter mill was destroyed by fire about 1870. Along about the same time a man named Staley built a mill on the Little Miami, on the then main road from Bell- brook to Xenia. This mill was rebuilt in 1839 and again in 1877-78. The Washington mill was built in 1832 by Samuel Lamme with Resin Tucker
254
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
and Thompson Vaughan as millwrights. This mill was located about two miles northwest of Bellbrook on the Little Miami. Another saw-mill was built by Jeremiah Gest in 1838.
THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN.
The campaign of 1840, known in the political annals of the country as the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign, was one of the most remark- able recorded in the history of the United States. In that year Gen. Will- iam Henry Harrison, "Old Tip" as he was affectionately called by Whigs in commemoration of his signal defeat of the Indians at Tippecanoe in 1811, and John Tyler were the Whig candidates. This campaign was conducted with great enthusiasm in the settlements where hard cider, corn pone and "johnny" cakes were dispensed with liberal hands at the Whig barbecues. At political rallies and speakings and conventions, log cabins, indicative of the democratic antecedents of the General, were placed on wheels and trundled about with great enthusiasm by the zealous Whigs.
In those days Sugarcreek township was a strong Whig neighborhood, and the Whig residents of the township were busy with their demonstrations. When the time drew near for the great Whig convention at Dayton in the fall of 1840 Henry Harmon, Doctor Clancey, Jesse Sanders, Silas Hale, Ephraim Sparks, Benjamin Allen and Henry Mills, influential Whigs of the township, decided that the township would evince its enthusiasm for "Old Tip" in a unique manner. They concluded that a gigantic canoe mounted on wheels and appropriately decorated would be a fitting emblem to repre- sent the Whigs of Sugarcreek township at the convention. A large poplar tree was selected from the farm of Jerry Gest north of Bellbrook, cut down, slabbed off and delivered in the old Methodist Protestant log church, which stood where the parsonage of that congregation now stands. Henry Har- mon and his able corps of assistants set to work and under their zealous efforts the trunk rapidly took the shape of a dug-out canoe. When it was finished, it was forty feet long, twenty-six inches deep and three feet wide, and the sides were two and one-half inches thick. Seats for twenty-four girls were fitted in the craft, which was then painted with red, white and blue stripes, running from end to end. The day before the convention the canoe was mounted on a large wagon and the finishing touches were given it. Here and there flag poles were raised and secured to the boat and live 'coons held in little home-made cages were secured at different places on its deck. When all was ready six horses, each with a full set of bells, were hitched to the wagon and a driver perched on the high seat held the impatient steeds in leash. The twenty-four young ladies, decorated with white and blue sashes and waving flags, took their seats in the canoe, and then the whole
0
255
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
equipage moved forward to its rightful place, the head of the procession. When the canoe passed the grand stand General Harrison, who was present on that occasion, waved his hand in recognition, and while shouts went up on all sides for "Old Tip" the young ladies sang Whig songs with all the volume and enthusiasm they could muster.
After the return home, the flags and banners, the latter of which were painted by Jesse Sanders, were stored in the loft of Henry Harmon's house, which later was owned by Mrs. S. O. Hale, Sr. The canoe, which had served its purpose, was taken from the wagon and launched on the Little Miami at Harner's mills where it was used as a ferry for years.
The following is the list of the names of the twenty-four young ladies who rode in the canoe: Martha A. C. Ellis, D. M. S. Griffith, Kate Hop- kins Willoughby, Elizabeth Patterson Brelsford, Lavina Harmon Arbogast, Elizabeth Sebring, Caroline Sebring, Mary Dorsey, Margaret Sebring, Nan Turner Snodgrass, Malinda Snodgrass, Matilda Brewster, Amanda Clancy, Samantha Snodgrass, Elizabeth Emmons, Martha Boroff Mills, Sarah Ann Turner, Cynthia Ann Patterson Warren, Jane Girard Echelberger, Elizabeth Snowden, Martha Sembly Snowden, Mary Harmon Dunham and Phoebe Ann Austin.
SUGAR-MAKING.
The Miami valley was famous for the quantity and quality of the "tree" molasses and sugar produced, especially along the second bottom where the sugar trees throve. Thus it was that that portion of Greene county along the two Sugar creeks which form a junction near Bellbrook, eventually became a market of no mean proportions for the product of the sugar tree. In those early days the village of Bellbrook became a center for the market- ing of this product in this part of the country and tons of maple sugar were hauled from that village to Cincinnati. An idea of the extent of this industry in Sugarcreek township can be gained from the following, regarded as the earliest official figures concerning the production, these being dated 1850. In the year preceding the farmers of this township "stirred off" 24,524 pounds of maple sugar and 1,457 gallons of maple molasses. Obviously the former product was even at that time a very important commodity of export in this section.
It can then be easily seen that the pioneers of Sugarcreek township in the selection of sites for their homes readily recognized the value of a good sugar grove, which was often such a source of income that it laid a substan- tial foundation for the farmer's financial success and enabled him to lift the mortgage from his holding. Transportation facilities in those days were so clumsy that corn could not be marketed save in the form of whisky. Eggs sold at three cents a dozen and butter was listed on the market quotations
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
of the day at a "fip" (six and one-fourth cents) a pound. With sugar it was different, for it sold in Xenia at from eighteen to twenty cents a pound.
In the spring of 1917 there were reported 4, III sugar trees, from which the residents of the township made forty-eight pounds of sugar and 1,326 gallons of maple syrup. These figures exceed those returned from any other township, hence Sugarcreek township is still deserving of its name.
AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS OF SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Sugarcreek township is pre-eminently an agricultural district. The census returns of 1850 give data concerning production of Sugarcreek town- ship in 1849, but before comparing these with the agricultural statistics for 1917 it is well to recall that Sugarcreek township was almost twice as large in 1849 as it is now, because Spring Valley township was erected from it in 1856. In 1850 the number of acres of improved land in the township was given as 18,250 and the unimproved land as 13,588; whereas, the report of 1917 returns the total number of acres owned in Sugarcreek township as 16,543. It also should be borne in mind that through some apparent over- sight the report for 1917 seems incomplete in several instances.
LIVE STOCK.
The following table shows the live stock statistics of the township in 1849 and 1917:
1849
1917
Horses, number
932
73}
Cattle, number
1
1
1
I
1
2,05 I
1,485
Sheep, number
I
1
1
4,294
572
Hogs, number
6,226
3,768
Butter, pounds
58,974
26,190
Cheese, pounds
3,955
Wool, pounds
9,979
18I
1
1
I
1
I
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
A striking feature of the 1917 report for this township is the number of hogs reported as having died in the township during the year of cholera. During the year there were four hundred eighty-six losses from this disease and twenty-three farms were infected. By the report of 1850 cattle were divided into three groups: Cows, evidently for dairy and breeding purposes ; work oxen, of which there were sixteen in the township, and other cattle, beef cattle.
GRAIN, SEED, VEGETABLES, ETC.
The table which follows compares the grain, seed, vegetable and mis- cellaneous production in the township in 1849 with that of 1917:
Bath House. Street Scene.
High School.
Government House. Township House.
VIEWS IN BELLBROOK.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
1849
1917
Wheat, bushels
40,557
36,212
Rye, bushels
633
1,106
Corn, bushels
226,205
(shelled) 207,110
Oats, bushels
17,109
27,24I
Barley, bushels 1
50
593
Buckwheat, bushels 1 I
3,643
Flax seed, bushels
3,004
Clover seed, bushels
II4
149
Timothy seed, bushels
22
(acres cut)
5
Irish potatoes, bushels.
5,300
2,914
Sweet potatoes, bushels
1,197
Tobacco, pounds
53,910
Sugar, pounds
24,524
48
Molasses, gallons 1
1,457
1,326
Honey, pounds
1
1 1
1,763
56
Hives, number
4I
Hay-
Timothy, tons
416
Clover, tons
1
791
Total tons
7,230
1,207
Alfalfa, tons
1
I2I
1
1
1 1
1 1
1 I
1 1
1 1
1
MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS.
It will be noted that no buckwheat or flax seed is now reported as being produced in the township. There probably was a considerable quantity of tobacco grown in the township in 1849, but there was no return for it in the census report; the same is true of sweet potatoes in 1917. Evidently in this latter year this district was not the bee country that it was sixty-seven years ago, but the fact that forty-one hives succeeded in producing only fifty- six pounds of honey in 1916 shows that the return was not complete or the residents of the township take little interest in furthering the honey pro- duction.
The fact that there were several items in the one report which do not correspond with that in the other makes it necessary to deal with them miscellaneously. In 1850 there were 18,250 acres of improved land in the township and 13,588 acres that were unimproved. Bearing in mind the fact that the township was twice as large then as it is now, there were, in 1917, 16,543 acres owned, of which 12,648 acres were cultivated; I, IOI acres in pasture ; 2,317, in timber; 106, in orchard, and 317, waste land. The esti- (17)
1
I
I
1 I
258
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
mated value of all the farming implements in the township in 1850 was $32,153, but this amount will not compare with what is invested in the same at the present. In that same year the animals slaughtered were valued at $18,645.
In 1917 the farmers of the township reported eight silos and 217 tons of ensilage. In 1916 there were forty-nine acres sowed in alfalfa, and during the same season seven hundred and twelve acres of clover sod were turned under. At the same time 497,280 pounds of commercial fertilizer was used. The day when the farmer made his own cheese has passed, but large quantities of other dairy products were sold in 1917; for example, milk, 45,840 gallons; cream, 31,916, thus showing the use of the cream separator. The hen contributted her share to the general prosperity of the township by laying 41,160 dozens of eggs. Orchards produced 3.740 bushels of apples. There were nine rent- ers in the township who worked for wages and eleven farms were rented to tenants. No resident of the township was reported as having moved from the farm to the city during the year.
THE VILLAGE OF BELLBROOK.
Bellbrook is a historic little village tucked down in the grand old hills of Sugarcreek township. It is located at the intersections of sections I and 2, township 2, range 6, and sections 31 and 32, township 3, range 5, on Little Sugar creek, about one mile west of the Little Miami river. From it, roads lead to Dayton, Xenia, Waynesville and Spring Valley. Its population at present (1918) is about two hundred and fifty and is apparently diminishing, according to successive census returns.
The first settler of the locality which was later incorporated into the town was Joseph C. Vance, who entered the land extending along the east side of Main street, which was then a mere path called the Pinkney road. At the time of his settlement here in the spring of 1797, he erected the log cabin on the site which later became the southeast corner of Main and Walnut streets. Following Vance came James Snoden, who later became an asso- ciate judge of the county and who in 1799 entered land on which the western part of the village later was laid out. James Clancey. another of the early settlers on the site of Bellbrook, was here prior to 1803, for his name appears on the first poll-book of the first election in the township in June, 1803. When Joseph C. Vance was appointed director of the new county seat of the county he disposed of all his possessions in Sugarcreek township, includ- ing his cabin, and moved to Xenia. At the meeting of the associate judges on May 10, 1803, when the county was laid out into townships, the court . ordered that the first election on the following June in Sugarcreek township should be held in the house of James Clancey, hence Clancey was the possible
259
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
owner of the Vance cabin at that time. It seems to be an undisputed fact that it was this cabin wherein this first election was held. It was in the same house in 1803 that the Rev. Robert Armstrong preached to the little flock of Associate Reform Presbyterians (Seceders), and it was also here that the township organization was brought about in the same year.
Finding that this cabin was thus becoming the center of the activities of the township, James Clancey decided to open up a tavern. Accordingly he erected a more pretentious hewed-log building to the front of the little cabin and raised his tavern sign after complying with the law and receiving his license from the court of common pleas of the county. Apparently he began business in 1816 after the platting of the village of Bellbrook, for his petition to the court for permission was submitted in that year and a careful search through the records fails to reveal any prior application. This application is as follows :
To the Honorable Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene ounty :
The Petition of the undersigned freeholders of Sugar Creek Township Humbly repre- sent to your honors that we conceive a publick house of entertainment in said Township would conduce to the publick convenience; we therefore recommend James Clancey, one of our citizens, as a man of good character and every way Calculated to keep a publick house. We therefore pray your honors would grant him a licence for that purpose and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray --
John Hutchinson, Andrew Bird, Joseph Gillespie, James Gillespie, David Lamme, James McBride, John Clark, John B. Tode, John Blessing, Josiah Lamme, William Stand- ley, Alexander Armstrong.
January 22nd, 1816.
Clancey's tavern thus became the rendezvous for all the surrounding country. In 1820 Clancey sold out his business and moved to Flat Rock, Indiana, where he lived the rest of his days.
LAYING OUT BELLBROOK.
In 1814 a couple of energetic men, Henry Opdyke and Stephen Bell, became residents of Sugarcreek township, buying the land which comprises the western part of Bellbrook from James Snoden in the following year, 1815, when the old judge left the county. These two men with James Clancey, who was the proprietor of the land on the east side of the Pinkney road which later became Main street, conceived the idea of laying out a town on this site. Accordingly they set to work. It is not known who did the sur- veying, for that fact is not recorded on the original plat of the village in Vol 3, p. 471, of the deed record in the office of the recorder at the court house in Xenia. But by February 9, 1816, they had their work finished and submitted the plat to James McBride, the justice of the peace for Sugar- creek township, for certification, and he made the following entry on the plat :
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
The State of Ohio,
Greene County.
I, James McBride, a Justice of the Peaece in said County, do certify, that before me personally came James Clancey, Stephen Bell and Henry Opdike, and each acknowledged the within plant of the Town of Bellbrook to be laid out for that purpose. Given under my hand and seal the 9th day of February, 1816.
JAMES McBRIDE, Justice of the Peace.
On the following day, February 10, the plat and certificate were duly recorded by Josiah Grover, the recorder of Greene county.
THE NAMING OF BELLBROOK.
Tradition has it that there was considerable difficulty in choosing a name for the new village and among the names suggested were "Opdyke- ville" and "Clanceyville," but finally Henry Opdyke hit upon the happy sug- gestion of "Bellbrook," which met with instant approval. The first part of the name is derived from the name of one of the proprietors, Stephen Bell, and the latter part no doubt come from the fact that Little Sugar creek curves around the southwestern corner of the village.
THE ORIGINAL LIMITS OF THE VILLAGE.
Originally, the town was laid out north and south along the Pinkney or Alpha road. This became Main street and it was made sixty-six feet wide. Beginning on the north the first cross street east and west was Walnut which has the same width as Main. Farther south, Franklin street, which is also sixty-six feet wide, crosses Main street in the center of the village. This street is a part of the Xenia road. There are two side streets each thirty- three feet in width, extending north and south parallel with Main, the one on the east being known as East street and the one on the west, West street. They are both thirty-three feet wide. Extending along the southern edge of the village is another, South street, but where it intersects Main street its course is changed from east to west to northwesterly. This street is also sixty-six feet wide. On the original plat there is no street extending along the north edge of the village, but when the Hopkins addition was made in 1849. High street was established and it extends westward from Main street. At some later date Maple street, which is thirty-three feet wide and which extends east and west from one side of the village to the other, was established between Franklin and South streets by widening an alley. This street was first called Hooppole street, then Battle street and finally Maple street.
SALE OF LOTS.
By the original plat of the village eighty-four lots were laid out, twenty of which were north of Walnut street, twenty-four between Walnut and Franklin streets and forty between Franklin and South streets. Lot No. I
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
is at the southwest corner of Franklin and Main streets. Each lot had a frontage of four rods and was ten rods deep. When all was ready for the sale of lots, the following announcement appeared in the Ohio Vehicle, a newspaper then being published at Xenia :
NOTICE.
The subscribers having laid out the Town of Bellbrook in the County of Greene, Sugar Creek Township, on the great road that leads by James Clancy's tavern, leading from Lebanon to Urbana, and where the road crosses leading from Franklin to Wilmington. The lots in said town will be sold to the highest bidder on Saturday, the 7th day of October, ensuing. The terms of the sale will be made known on the day of the sale. The situation of the town is healthy and convenient to springs which can be easily conveyed through the town. Saw and grist mills within a mile. Adjoining town lands is a stream of water on which all kinds of machinery may be erected.
STEPHEN BELL HENRY OPDYKE. JAMES CLANCEY.
September 19, 1815.
When the day of the sale arrived, the buyers of lots found Aaron Nutt, a pioneer auctioneer from Centerville, Montgomery county, present to cry the sale. From the nature of the jokes ascribed to him and the amount of liquid refreshment which was generally dispensed on such occasions, the live- liness of the day can readily be imagined. The first lot sold was No. I, whose location has already been described, and then the remaining were sold in order.
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