USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 35
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There is considerable rough land in New Jasper township, this arising from the fact that it is crossed by the several branches of Caesars creek. There is an outcropping of limestone along the main branch of the creek,
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
and a large amount of stone has been taken from the township in two or three quarries. The land which is in the valley of the streams is very productive, however, while the higher land is capable of good crops under modern farm- ing methods. New Jasper is considerably smaller than Ross township and yet it has about three times as much waste land, having 512 acres to 186 acres for Ross, the total acreage of New Jasper being 12,006 against 21,278 for Ross.
The crops for the year ending March 1, 1917, for New Jasper township were reported as follows: Wheat, 44,120 bushels; rye, 131 bushels; oats, 10, 117 bushels; corn, 147,241 bushels; Irish potatoes, 200 bushels; timothy hay, 820 tons; clover hay, 796 tons; clover seed, 312 bushels; alfalfa, 69 acres; alfalfa hay, 210 tons; ensilage, 5 acres; ensilage, 511 tons (evidently not all from the five acres) ; apples, 4,800 bushels; peaches, 220 bushels; cherries, 26 bushels; pears, 18 bushels. The township reported 21 silos.
The live stock report for the same year: Horses, 647; cattle, 991; sheep, 996; wool clip, 5,120 pounds; hogs, 3,066; hogs died from cholera, I,140; cholera infected farms, 18; cows produced 16,180 gallons of cream for sale, 6,486 gallons of milk for sale and 8,127 pounds of home-made butter. In 1916, New Jasper had 8,750 acres under cultivation; 1,642 acres in pasturage; 986 acres of woodland; 146 acres of orchards; 512 acres of waste land; total acreage of 12,006.
The farmers used 426, 110 pounds of commercial fertilizer and one ton of lime in their efforts to secure better crops. They also plowed under 512 acres of clover sod. Drainage in the township amounted to a total of 532 rods for the year 1916. The township reported 1,200 maple trees as being tapped for the purpose of making molasses and sugar. The sugar crop amounted to only 36 pounds and the molasses yield to 740 gallons. It is evident that the entire crop of the maple trees was not reported to the assessor.
VILLAGE OF NEW JASPER.
There are two villages known as New Jasper, the old town of the name being about a mile from the railroad, the other, usually designated as New Jasper Station, being on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The latter is hardly a village and does not pretend to be anything more than a station stop on the railroad, although it has a store, an elevator, a church and a few dwelling houses. It came into existence after the railroad was completed through the county in the latter '70s.
The original village of New Jasper is more than half a century old; in fact, there was a store there three-quarters of a century ago. It had hoped to be on the railroad line which was to connect Xenia and Jamestown, but as fate would have it, the little village was left about a mile to the
339
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
south of the road. This effectually dashed whatever hopes it may have had concerning its future possibilities as a village.
There is no record of the town being platted, but tradition is responsible for stating that a man of the name of Slagle was the first settler on the site, and if the place may be said to have had a founder, this Slagle may be credited with the honor. There has always been a store in the village, while a blacksmith shop completes the business enterprises of the hamlet. The store has changed hands so frequently that it would be impossible to trace the shifting ownership. Its present owner is John A. Fudge, who has been there longer than most of his predecessors. Doctor Davis has been located in the village for several years, and has built up a large practice in the sur- rounding community. There is one church, the Methodist, but there has never been a school house in the village, the nearest school building at the present time being about a mile south of the town. The population of the village is not more than fifty.
NEW JASPER STATION.
After the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was built through New Jasper township, the station of New Jasper was started where the railroad company built a siding. An elevator was built and has been operated by John Jenks & Son, of Jamestown, for a number of years. The place has never been platted.
STRINGTOWN.
In the northwestern part of New Jasper township is a collection of houses clustered along the road, which, for a number of years, was known as String- town. At the present time there are nine houses which might be considered as a part of the "town," and five of these are occupied by colored families. There is no store or church at this point.
To this immediate vicinity there came in the years before the Civil War a number of colored families to make their homes. They were from the South and were settled on farms in the corner of the township by their owners. It seems that the colored families, four in number, were freed by their masters, who, in a sincere desire to help the poor people, came to this county and bought about four hundred acres of land and gave it to them for their permanent homes the remainder of their days. These colored fami- lies were the Curls, Smiths, Brooks and Fergusons, well remembered by the older generation of the township, although they have long since left the township, most of them and their descendants finally locating in Xenia. The colored people living along the road in Stringtown are not of this group, being later comers into the township. The Young family now owns the old Curl and Smith farms.
CHAPTER XXI.
SPRING VALLEY TOWNSHIP.
Spring Valley township came into existence more than half a century after Greene county was organized. Prior to its creation in 1856 it had been a part of three other townships, Sugarcreek, Cæsarscreek and Xenia, each of these three townships having been in existence more than fifty years. The greater portion of the Spring Valley township as set off in 1856 had been included within the limits of Sugarcreek township since 1803. The fact that the township had been included for more than fifty years within other townships previously organized renders it a difficult matter to follow the careers of its early settlers. Its voters up to 1856 were to be found on the poll-books of one or the other of the three townships which con- tributed of their territory to form the township in that year.
Spring Valley was one of the three townships organized in the '50s, the other two being New Jasper (1853) and Jefferson (1858). As in the case of the other two it is difficult to see the benefit to be derived from the organization of the township, but the fact remains that a sufficient number of voters of Sugarcreek, Caesarscreek and Xenia townships agreed upon the organization of a new township in 1856 in order to make its creation pos- sible. Their petition was presented to and granted by the commissioners on December 3, 1856, the petition as shown by the commissioners' record being as follows :
The petition of Robert Evans, Ambrose Elkins and R. D. Page and other citizens and householders of Sugar Creek, Caesars Creek and Xenia Townships, Greene County, Ohio, praying the Board of County Commissioners to set off a new township, composed of territory taken from territory heretofore included in the bounds of Sugar Creek, Caesars Creek and Xenia Townships, was this day taken up and read in open session. The Com- missioners having taken testimony on the filing of said petition, which to them was satis- factory, that the intention of the petitioners had been legally administered and that the signers of the said petition in number contained a majority of all the householders in said bounds. It is therefore ordered that the territory included in the bounds as particularly set in said petition be and the same is hereby set off a new township and by the name and style of Spring Valley Township.
The township as organized in 1856 was bounded on the west by Sugar- creek township, on the north by Beavercreek, Sugarcreek and Xenia town- ships, on the east by Xenia and Cæsarscreek townships and on the south by Warren and Clinton counties. The greatest length of the township is seven miles and its greatest width a little less than six miles. It was originally
34I
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
heavily wooded, but practically all of the timber has disappeared, the last report on March 1, 1917, crediting it with only 1,642 acres of woodland out of a total area of about 15,000 acres.
The township is well provided with natural means of drainage. The Little Miami river enters it from Sugarcreek township three miles from the Warren county line and meanders through the southwestern corner of the township. Cæsars creek courses from the north through the eastern middle of the township. The many branches of these two watercourses afford ample drainage for all the township, Glady run and Andersons fork being the largest of the minor streams.
The fact that the township is crossed by the Little Miami river and Cæsars creek is responsible for most of the broken land found within its limits, although the 1917 report to the township assessor schedules only 131 acres of what was termed "waste" land. There is no better farming land in the county than is to be found in the township, and the crops grown by its farmers will compare favorably with those grown by the farmers in any other part of the state.
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY.
Practically all of the township falls within the Virginia Military Survey, all, in fact, except about two square miles in the extreme southwestern cor- ner, that part west of the Little Miami river. There are twenty-seven sur- veys, wholly or in part in the township, eight of which are of one thousand acres each or more. Only four of them call for less than one hundred acres. A complete list of the proprietors of these surveys, together with the number and acreage of each survey, is given in the appended table :
Proprietor.
Survey Number. Acres.
Churchill Jones
417
1,000
Francis Muire
432
1,000
Albert Gallatin
571
776 2/3
Albert Russell
598
1,000
John Crittenden
904
1,000
Samuel Eddins
1044
1,000
Leroy Edwards
I28I
677
Benjamin Moseley
I297
666 2
William Smalley
1965
200
Robert Gibbons (heir)
I295
1,000
Aaron Mercer
2233
900
David Price
2424
200
John Gibson
2425
400
Alexander Anderson
2426
733 1/3
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Lewis Booker
3576
475
Lewis Booker
3577
250
George Holland
3583
28c
George Holland
3584
230
William Fowler
4499
60
Ichabod B. Miller
4595
200
Nathaniel Massie
4704
460
Henry Field (representatives)
4871
500
James Galloway, Jr.
513I
80
James Galloway, Jr.
9365
43
Allen Latham
12248
1,000
Pamelia and Penelope Russell
2565
1,730
Moses Bradford
15237
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EARLY SETTLERS.
It has been stated that all of the early settlers of this township were iden- tified with one of the three townships which contributed of their territory in 1856 to form Spring Valley township. The names of every pioneer of the territory now comprised within the township may be found on the poll-books of either Sugarcreek, Xenia or Cæsarscreek townships, most of them being identified with Sugarcreek. Among the arrivals during the year 1803-1805 may be mentioned William, Samuel and Robert McKnight, Amos Compton, Edward Mercer, Jesse Sanders and Josiah Elam.
The Elam family became one of the most prominent of the early fam- ilies of the township, and many of the descendants are still found in the county to this day. Josiah Elam had fought in the Revolutionary War, and was married several years before coming to the county. One of his sons was old enough to participate in the War of 1812. Josiah Elam and his wife reared a family of ten children, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and married. One of the Elams, John B., born in Greene county, later settled in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he became one of the most prominent lawyers of that state.
In 1816 a group of settlers from Pennsylvania located in what was later to become Spring Valley township. It was the custom in those days for some one in the East to organize a party of at least half a dozen families and conduct them to the newer states in the West, and it was such a party that found a home in Greene county in Spring Valley in 1816. Numerous other such groups of settlers came from Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Caro- linas, Kentucky and Tennessee. The Collins family was one of the most prominent of the Pennsylvania party of 1816.
Spring Valley township boasts a number of citizens who have made a
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
name for themselves along some particular line. Among these sons of Spring Valley may be mentioned the following: Michael Daugherty, who operated the first oil (flax) mill in the county; John Clark, an associate judge for twenty years; George Barrett, a wool manufacturer; James E. Hawes, common pleas judge for two terms; I. M. Barrett and Joseph G. Gest, both of whom represented the county in the General Assembly of the state; Levi Riddell, county surveyor; T. R. Schnebly, for many years one of the leading lawyers of Xenia; William J. Alexander, teacher and lawyer for a generation, and Moses Walton, for many years an extensive dealer in cattle and hogs.
EARLY INDUSTRIES.
The tracing of the early industries of the county is an extremely diffi- cult matter. All of the early mills have disappeared so long ago that the oldest inhabitant scarcely remembers anything definite about them. The location of most of them is now more or less a matter of tradition, and since no written account has been preserved concerning them, it is impossible to ascertain any very definite information about them.
It is specifically stated that in 1880 the township had three flour-mills, two saw-mills, one woolen factory, one oil mill and one tow-mill. There was a large pork-packing establishment in the village of Spring Valley which had been established in 1855 by Moses Walton. His sons were en- gaged in the manufacture of bagging for several years prior to the burning of their plant in December, 1881. The first woolen-mill made its appearance in 1844 in the village of Spring Valley under the direction of George Bar- rett. The linseed-oil industry was started by James Daugherty in 1829 along Glady run and in 1832 Michael Daugherty, his father, built a mill on the site of the village, and engaged in the manufacture of both oil and, some- what later, carded wool. The pork-packing industry began in 1855 and continued with gradually decreasing business until it was discontinued by Walton in 1883. After Walton quit killing hogs in 1883 he continued curing hams and bacon until 1893, getting his fresh meat from Chicago.
SCHOOLS.
The township in common with all the other in the county began its educational career with the rude log school houses. These gave way to frame buildings and some of these again later to brick structures. As the population of the township increased from year to year additional school buildings were erected until they reached the maximum number of eleven in the 'zos. With the introduction of the idea of consolidation some of the schools have been abandoned.
344
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
CHURCHES.
Spring Valley township has had its full share of the churches of the county from the beginning, although there are not as many in the township today as there were fifty years ago. The Methodists have the largest mem- bership and at one time had five churches in the township. The Baptists once had two flourishing churches, but they have disappeared. The first church in the township was organized by the Friends as early as 1808, their log church standing about three miles east of the village of Spring Valley. A complete history of the churches of the township may be seen in the chapter devoted exclusively to the churches.
ROADS AND BRIDGES.
The township is well provided with good roads and they are being improved each year. Formerly there were a number of toll roads, but these were gradually taken over by the county, and it has been several years since the traveler had to stop every few miles and pay his two cents per mile for the privilege of driving along the road. The streams are spanned with substantial bridges, the largest bridge in the county being the one across the Little Miami just below Roxanna, near the south line of the township. There is another bridge across the Little Miami at the village of Spring Valley. Cæsars creek is spanned by four bridges in the township, one bridge spanning the creek on the line between Spring Valley and Cæsarscreek townships.
AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.
The farmers of Spring Valley have been prosperous for a hundred years, but never more so than in 1918. Their crops are the equal of any other township in the county and Greene county claims to be second to none in the state. The following summary of the crops, amount of live stock, and general agricultural statistics has been taken directly from the report compiled from the township assessor's report for the spring of 1917. The major crops grown by the farmers with their yield were as follows: Wheat, 47,436 bushels; corn, 139,716 bushels of shelled corn; oats, 6,727; winter barley, 416 bushels; acres of ensilage, 14; tons of sugar corn, 49; potatoes, 1,780 bushels; onions, 180 bushels ; sugar trees, 1,240; timothy hay, 926 tons; clover hay, 510 tons; alfalfa, 72 acres, and 161 tons; tobacco, 7,460 pounds. Joseph Benson had fifteen acres of tobacco in 1917, for which he received twenty-five cents a pound in the spring of 1918.
In the way of live stock the township reported the following: Horses, 880; cattle, 1,593; sheep, 1,075; wool clip, 370 pounds; hogs, 6,137; hogs
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
died of cholera, 527; hog-cholera farms, 22. The dairy business in figures looked prosperous, as witness these figures: cream sold, 3,723 gallons; but- ter, home-made, 7,174 pounds; milk sold, 10,677 gallons. The humble hen contributed 71,140 dozens of eggs.
The question of keeping the soil in condition to produce the best crops has been one of increasing importance. Last year the farmers of the town- ship turned under 391 acres of clover sod. They also used 437,120 pounds of commercial fertilizer and two tons of lime on their land. . Among other interesting statistics relating to the farmers of Spring Valley township as revealed by the last report to the county auditor are the following: Acres cultivated, 10,140; pasture land, 2,712 acres; timber land, 1,642 acres; orchards, 43 acres; waste land, 131 acres; total acres owned in the town- ship, 14,668.
ROBINSON.
One of the most pretentious of the early villages of Greene county-on paper-was the quondam village of Robinson. There is probably not a person now living in the county who would be able to give a complete his- tory of this once flourishing village -- as it existed in the mind of its fond promoter. But a reference to the official records shows the existence of such a village in what is now Spring Valley township.
The site was laid in Military Survey No. 904, and the owner was one Edward Robinson. The site was surveyed in May, 1837, by Moses Col- lier, then surveyor of the county, and recorded on May 25, 1837. It con- tained ninety-four lots, most of them being sixty-six by one hundred and fifty feet. It had a so-called Main street of sixty-six feet in width, and other streets of varying width, while the whole site was girdled with a street-a boulevard, it would be called today. It was a good looking and prosperous town-on paper.
GREENWOOD SPRINGS.
The plat of Greenwood Springs was surveyed by Robert Evans on March 1, 1854, and recorded three days later. The site was owned by W. H. Moseley and was a part of Military Survey No. 12248, lying in what is now Spring Valley township, along the Little Miami river and the railroad. Part of the lots were between the river and the railroad, the remainder being east of the railroad. This is another of the proposed towns of the county that owe their platting to the railroad, but which, like several others, was not destined to get beyond the paper stage. The entire plat contained forty lots, fourteen between the river and railroad, the remainder being across the railroad track.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
CLAYSVILLE OR ROXANNA.
The village of Claysville or Roxanna, located in the southwest corner of Spring Valley, on the east side of the Little Miami river, is on a part of Military Survey No. 4704. The beginning of the village was due to the building of the railroad through the county in the middle of the '40s. The site of about five and a half acres was surveyed into twelve lots by Samuel T. Owens, then surveyor of Greene county, and recorded on April 29, 1845. The proprietor was Elias Adsit, according to the public records, although one John Speer is said to have been interested in the townsite. It was too close to Spring Valley, two miles to the north, to hope to become a place of any importance and never had more than a half dozen houses in it. There was a grain elevator built along the railroad shortly after the railroad was built through the county, but it was never extensively used. A. Alexander owned and operated the elevator for several years, but it has been discon- tinued for a quarter of a century. At the present time the village of Roxanna has a population of seven.
TRANSYLVANIA.
A village by the name of Transylvania was platted by Samuel T. Owens, county surveyor, for the heirs of J. W. Merrick. E. F. Drake and Benoni Nesbit were the agents and attorneys for the heirs and had the sur- veying done and took charge of the sale of the lots. There were only ten lots, "irregular for most part, located on southwest bank of the Little Miami, in part of sections 18 and 24, township 4, range 5." The survey was made on the 16th and 17th of May, 1850. The plat was sworn to and ac- knowledged by Lydia Merrick on November 30, 1850. This proposed vil- lage was immediately west of the Little Miami, across the river from the town of Spring Valley, along the Xenia-Cincinnati pike. Its platting was the extent of its history.
There was a small hamlet bearing the name of Transylvania in existence on the above site as early as the '20s. This Transylvania was the forerunner of the village of Spring Valley. When the railroad was surveyed through the township in the fore part of the '40s, the Waltons decided that the best site for the town would be on the east side of the Little Miami, and accord- ingly platted their town on that side. This meant the dissolution of what- ever was left of the ancient village of Transylvania, its few inhabitants and business enterprises moving across the river to the new site. Little is known of the original Transylvania other than that a man by the name of Jeffrey Truman had a tavern there, and presumably had a small store of some de- scription.
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GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
SPRING VALLEY.
The village of Spring Valley is one of the villages which came into being following the building of the Little Miami railroad through the county in the '40s, and owes its existence primarily to the railroad. It was surveyed in 1842 by Samuel T. Owens, surveyor of Greene county, for the two men who owned the town site, Edward and Moses Walton, father and son. The site lies in Military Survey No. 4871, originally owned by Churchill Jones.
For some reason the owners of the townsite did not appear before the county recorder to have their plat filed until February 16, 1844. The Wal- tons appeared before Joseph Mason, a justice of the peace, on February 14, 1844, and their sworn statement on that day sets forth a full description of the site. It is recited that the surveying was done on January 18, 19 and 20, 1842, by Owens; that Owens filed his report on January 31 ; that the plat contained II.57 acres, of which Moses Walton owned 7.39 acres and Edward Walton had 4.18 acres; that it was located on survey No. 4871 ; finally, that there was a total of forty lots, all of which are carefully delin- eated.
Since the original plat was made there have been a number of additions to it, a summary of which is given in the appended table. The table shows the proprietors of the additions, the number of lots, and the dates of the recording of the additions.
Proprietors.
Lots.
Date of Recording.
Moses Walton
17
March 30, 1848
Edward Walton
I6
1848
Edward Walton
6
May 3, 1849
Edward Walton
6
April 15, 1854
Michael Daugherty 1
IO
July 15, 1872
Moses Walton
28
April 26, 1878
Moses Walton
73
April, 1882
Moses Walton
I
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1
1
13
October, 1881
J. F. Stump
23
October 26, 1886
T. M. Scarff
12
April, 1909
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The plat records in the court house note that lots I-48, inclusive, were . vacated on February 20, 1884. The lots credited to Moses and Edward Walton in 1848 appear to have been in part, at least, resurveys of the orig- inal site. The record is not clear on this point, but is given as it appears.
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