USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
348
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
HISTORY OF THE TOWN'S DEVELOPMENT.
The town of Spring Valley came into existence fourteen years before the township of Spring Valley was organized, the town being in Sugarcreek township at the time it was platted in 1842. The township of Spring Valley was not set off by the county commissioners until 1856. The town is located on the Columbus-Cincinnati pike, where the road crosses the rail- road, while one side of the town abuts the Little Miami river. It is in a good location for a trading center, and with the railroad and good high- ways, the town has enjoyed a steady growth. The electric line which form- erly connected the town with Dayton is being dismantled in the spring of 1918, and thus the town loses direct connection with Dayton. This elec- tric line was projected to operate between Dayton and Wilmington, but it was never built any further than from Dayton to Spring Valley.
Spring Valley has had an uneventful career for more than three- quarters of a century. It has had its share of the small industries common to towns of this size; there have been saw-mills, flour-mills, wagon shops, shoe-repair shops, blacksmith shops, tailor shops, tinshops, and the usual complement of merchants of various kinds. There can be no question that the village at one time in its career was of much more importance indus- trially than it is at the present time. Most of the industrial enterprises of the township have been centered in the village, an account of which has been given in part in the discussion of the township.
Moses Walton, one of the proprietors of the town, was the most im- portant man in the village for a long period of years, and continued active in business until his death, December 8, 1897. He was a very successful busi- ness man, and it seemed that he made a success of everything to which he turned his hand. At one and the same time he had the largest general store in the village, packed large quantities of pork each year, and engaged in farming on an extensive scale. His sons inherited their father's ability to manage industrial enterprises, and for a number of years prior to 1881 they had probably the largest bagging factory in the county in Spring Valley. Their plant burned down in 1881 and they never rebuilt. The two sons of Moses Walton, Moses, Jr., and Samuel, were in partnership from 1868 until the business was closed. The linseed-oil-mill and woolen-mill of Michael Daugherty have already been mentioned. Daugherty was an Irishman and a superior business man, if his career in Spring Valley may be taken to sub- stantiate the statement. He had the first industry in the village, and, like his contemporary, Moses Walton, was a man of varied interests. He ground linseed oil, carded wool, engaged in the dry-goods business, bought and ; sold stock and drove it overland to Baltimore and other eastern markets, and also killed and packed thousands of hogs annually. He also found time, with the assistance of his good wife, to rear ten children, all of whom grew
349
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
to maturity. They are now all deceased, not a member of this large family living in the county today.
It is not too much to say that these two sterling old pioneers of Spring Valley, Moses Walton and Michael Daugherty, did more for the town in the first half century of its existence than any other two men. Since their day scores of business men have come and gone, but these two have never had their counterpart-they stand on a niche apart from their successors in the business world as represented by the village of Spring Valley.
SPRING VALLEY IN 1874.
A local newspaper in 1874 summarized the village of Spring Valley as follows: Population, 550, two groceries, one dry-goods store, one shoeshop, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, one woolen factory, one hotel, one tin- shop, one cooper shop, one livery stable, one grain dealer, one harness shop, one oil-mill (flax-seed oil), one flour-mill, one pork-packing establishment, and one so-called "bagging-mill," operated by S. and M. Walton, which was also known as a tow-mill, this particular mill of Spring Valley being engaged in making flax material for the bags used in packing cotton in the South. The local mill did not make the bags. The village, furthermore, had three physicians, a lawyer, four churches and a school house.
The cooper shop was operated for several years by Giles Kinney and was the largest industry of its kind in the county. Walton had a number of partners in the pork-packing business, being associated at one time with William Byrd and at another time with Aurelius Alexander. The old card- ing factory of Daugherty closed down after Barrett opened his woolen -mill. I. M. Barrett opened his woolen-mill in 1865 along the railroad about three- quarters of a mile north of the village, using both water and steam power. It was closed in 1910, the building still standing in a good state of preserva- tion.
The village now has three churches: Friends, Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Protestant. The Methodist Episcopal congregation erected a handsome new structure in 1907. The building, which was made of con- crete blocks, was erected at a cost of about eight thousand dollars. The same year also saw the completion of a new school building, which was likewise constructed of concrete blocks. The use of concrete blocks in the construc- tion of these two public buildings may account for the interest taken in the cement-block industry in the village.
THE SPRING VALLEY OF TODAY.
The passing of the years has seen the passing of all of the early indus- tries of Spring Valley. Gone forever is the pork-packing industry, the woolen industry, the linseed-oil industry, the cooperage industry, and
3,50
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
the linen industry. They have had their day and there is little prob- ability that one of these five industries that once flourished in Spring Valley will ever return. But in their places have come others: Can- ning factories, cement-block plants, automobile garages and other industries of the past few years have stepped in to take their places. But there is not as much money expended for labor at the present time as there was in the days immediately following the Civil War.
The business interests of the village in 1918 are represented by the fol- lowing individuals and firms :
Bakery, C. E. Harnisch; bank, Spring Valley National Bank; barbers, C. H. Dill, C. M. Moon; blacksmiths, C. M. Reynolds, T. M. Underwood, T. M. Gartrell; canning factory, Spring Valley Packing Company; coal, fencing, etc., I. O. Peterson, J. W. Fulkerson; creamery, Western Ohio Creamery Company, J. A. Long Creamery Company; dry goods, E. N. Barley; garage, Henry Walton; general merchandise, Spring Valley Mer- cantile Company; groceries, Arch Copsey, C. A. Sollers, D. C. & L. Wilson; hotel, Valley House; livery, P. E. St. John; lumber, R. I. Starbuck; meat market, Samuel Holland; poolrooms, John Thomas, William Mott; physi- cian, W. M. Hartinger; printing, J. Val Sims; restaurant, Mrs. E. H. Haines; veterinary, R. V. Kennon.
TOWN OFFICIALS FOR 1918.
The officials of Spring Valley in 1918 are the following : J. W. Fulker- son, mayor; C. H. Butler, clerk; Roy Eagle, treasurer; William Copsey, marshal; Luther C. Hartsock, assessor: W. E. Crites, John Hood, E. M. Cropsey, Arthur Moon, T. M. Scarff and T. M. Cartrell, councilmen.
CHAPTER XXII.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
Jefferson township, the last in the county to be organized, is located in the extreme southeastern corner of the county. It is seven miles from east to west and about four miles from north to south, its northern boundary not being a due east and west line. When the county was divided into town- ships on May 10, 1803, the territory now in Jefferson township was a part of Cæsarscreek township, but after the organization of Silvercreek township in 1811 it became a part of that township. It continued a part of the latter township until its separate organization as a result of a petition to the county commissioners on June 7, 1858.
Since the township was not organized until it was completely settled, all of its pioneer history is really a part of the history of the other two townships of which it was a part for so many years, particularly of Silver- creek township. However, an effort is here made to mention some of the early settlers who were identified with the territory which became Jefferson township in 1858. For many years prior to its organization there had been a voting precinct at Bowersville, and it was the citizens of that thriving vil- lage in 1858 who took the initiative in forcing the organization of the new township. The official beginning of the township is set forth in the county commissioners' records under date of June 7, 1858, and reads as follows :
The petition of Elijah Husey, George Hutcheson and 136 other residents of Bowers- ville precinct, Silvercreek Township, praying the Board of County Commissioners to set off a new township, composed of Territory of said Bowersville precinct and as particu- larly set forth in said petition, was this day taken up and read in open session. The Commissioners having taken testimony as per papers on file with said petition which to them was satisfactory that the intention of said petitioners had been legally advertised and that the signers of said petition in numbers contained a majority of all the house- holders in said boundaries; it is therefore ordered that the Territory included in the bounds as particularly set forth in said petition be and the same is hereby set off a new Township by the name and style of Jefferson Township.
It is ordered that a record be made of the boundaries as particularly set forth in the said petition in the records containing the transaction and records of the County Com- missioners.
It is further ordered that notice of an election for three Trustees, one Clerk and one Treasurer for said Township be given, pursuance to the statute which is accordingly done.
The name of the township is said to have been the suggestion of Peter Bowermaster, a disciple of Thomas Jefferson. As has been stated, the early
352
THE OLD VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY.
The township lies wholly within the Virginia Military Survey. In-
Acres.
1,000
1,000
1,333
1,200
1,200
1,200
1,000
1,000
1,000
666 2/3
I00
100
105
400
296
540
250
150
1,333
75
1,000
1,000
1,000
850
836
925
I228
I273
1274
1336
1729
I732
2387
4887
4905
549I
5977
598I
6620
7021
13290
I3378
868
872
841
I
1
I
F
1
1
I
1
1
I
I
1
1
F
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
I
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
I
1
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
Simpson Foster (representative)
James Galloway, Jr.
William Henry Dangerfield
E. P. Kendrick and Henry Warner
Clement Biddle
George Carrington
Edward Carrington
1
1
1
1
Proprietor.
Robert Draffen
Abraham Hite Clement Read
Joseph Eggleston
Clement Biddle
Cadwallader Wallace
Alexander Balmain
Robert Kirk
Carter Page
Carter Page
Duncan Cameron (heir to Hugh).
Thomas Ray
Thomas Bailey David Maron
Henry Tatum
Richard J. Waters
I
1
F
I
I
1
I
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
F
1
1
-
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
I
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
citizens of the township were identified with the other two townships which, up to 1858, included all the territory within the township as created in that year. Thus the poll-books of Silvercreek township in 1811, and for the suc- ceeding years up to 1858, include the names of all the early voters of what was to become Jefferson township.
cluded in the township, wholly or in part, are twenty-four separate surveys,
fourteen of which are for tracts ranging from one thousand to two thousand.
three hundred and thirty-three and one-third acres. Eight of the tracts call
for exactly one thousand acres. A complete list of the proprietors of these
surveys, together with the numbers of the respective surveys and their acre- age, is set forth in the following tabulation :
Survey Number.
936 and 951
13623 and 13663
1
1
I
1
I
1
$
1
1
1
I
1
I
1
1
2,333 1/3
1
Samuel B. Greene
353
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
TOPOGRAPHY.
The surface of Jefferson township is uniformly level, with just enough variation in the surface to make it susceptible of easy natural drainage. The general altitude of the township is something more than one thousand feet above sea level, the government survey giving the altitude as ranging from 1.028 to 1,049 feet. Practically all of the township is drained to the west, its surplus water finding its way into Cæsars creek through a number of small streams, known as runs, namely: Love, Grog and Painters. Love run is the small stream which passes through Bowersville on its way southwest to Cæsars creek. The extreme eastern portion of the township drains to the east into Rattlesnake creek.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The honor of being the first permanent settler in what finally came to be organized as Jefferson township is credited to Christopher Hussey, who came from his native state of Tennessee in 1806, and located near the present village of Bowersville. Hussey married Margaret Haughey sometime after coming here and they reared a family of nine children. After the death of his first wife he married Catharine Lockard, the second marriage resulting in eleven more children. This first settler in the township died in March, 1873. Many of his descendants are living in the township today.
Probaby the second settler was John Mickle, also a native of Tennes- see, who became a son-in-law of Hussey. Mickle taught the first school in that settlement and was the only teacher thereabout for a number of years. Following close after these first two settlers came Robert Stewart from Washington county, Virginia, with his wife and five children. He arrived in the township and located about a mile northwest of Bowersville on March II, 1810. The family came in a wagon all the way from their native state, not taking the Ohio river route as did so many of the early settlers who came from the East.
It is not possible to follow the succeeding settlers in the order of their arrival. A number were here in 1811 when the territory now within the township became a part of the newly organized Silvercreek township of that year. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell from the poll-books where the settlers, lived, but it is certain that there must have been nearly a hundred families living in the township by the close of the War of 1812.
To enumerate a number of the other early settlers. The Klines, Ham- mers, Arys-three brothers, Charles, William and John-Rumbaughs, : (23)
354
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Blanes, Haugheys and some others were here at the opening of the War of 1812. Kline settled in the western part of the township; the Rumbaughs located south of Bowersville, about half way between the village and Port William. Asher Reeves built his rude cabin near what later became known as Blanetown. The Blanes once had a store three miles due north of Bow- ersville.
John Haughey, a native of Virginia, had married Patience Studivan before coming to the township in 1810 or 1811. They were a very youth- ful couple when they set out after their marriage, he being twenty-one and she eighteen, and it must have been an interesting honeymoon trip that brought them to the wilderness of Jefferson township. But they lived through all the hardships of those pioneer days and reared a family of twelve children, ten of whom grew to manhood and womanhood and mar- ried and reared families of their own. There is not a Haughey left in the township.
John Bales was another of the first arrivals, he having come early enough to represent his settlement in the War of 1812. He was married during the progress of the war to Sarah Lucas. He bought land, reared a family and became a substantial citizen of the township. He died on March II, 1864, and his widow survived him ten years, her death occurring on June 8, 1874.
One of the young unmarried men to come to the township after the War of 1812 was Benjamin Vanniman, who was born in Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 17, 1795. It is not known just when he came to the township, but the records show that he was married to Sophia Hussey, the daughter of Pioneer Hussey, in 1817. They became the parents of thirteen children. The mother died in November, 1846. Vanniman died on August 9, 1879.
Other early settlers of whom a record has been left include William Bragg, who was especially famed as a hunter; Herbert Hargrave, a noted traveler, who was always proud of the fact that on one occasion he was shown through the White House by President Andrew Johnson; Aquilla Dorsey, who at the time of his death in the '8os was the oldest resident of the township, being well past his ninetieth year. Among other settlers of ante-bellum days were David L. Reeves and Andrew D. White, 1820; Gil- bert F. Bentley, 1830; Cargil Chitty, Stephen Barber and William Sheeley, 1840; Daniel Early, William Johnston, John Brakefield and William H. Burr, 1860. While these pioneers constituted only a small portion of the early settlers of the community, yet they represent the most active and influential of those who were identified with its pioneer days.
355
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
MILLS AND OTHER INDUSTRIES.
The fact that there are no streams of sufficient size in the township is responsible for the fact that there has never been a mill within its limits operated by waterpower. There were probably a few horsepower mills in the early history of the township, but the settlers either had their hand-mills, or took their grist to the mills at Xenia, Oldtown or Port William. The first steam saw-mill made its appearance in Bowersville about 1845, and since that time there have been a number of steam-mills in the township. The steam saw-mill of 1845, erected by Joseph Smith and Christopher Hussey, was one of the old-fashioned upright saw-mills, where the sawing was done by a straight or "whip" saw, running up and down. It was the first steam- mill in the section of the country and did a big business for years. Four years after it was opened, the owners sold it to Christopher Hussey, Jr., and Elijah Hussey for two thousand two hundred dollars, this price also includ- ing thirty-two acres of timber land adjoining the mill. The new firm ope- rated the mill at full capacity the year round and sawed an immense amount of lumber. They did a large amount of custom sawing, and also sawed con- siderable for the open market, much of their surplus being hauled to Xenia and other nearby towns. In 1859 the mill passed into the hands of J. C. Irvin and Andrew Jackson, who purchased the mill and three-quarters of an acre of land for two thousand one hundred dollars.
The firm of Irvin & Jackson sold the mill after operating it a short time, and during the next few years it passed through a number of hands, but in 1876 it came into possession of an owner who held and operated it for several years. This was Charles Wilson, who completely remodeled the mill, tearing out the old whip saw and installing modern machinery. He also improved the corn-cracker which previous owners had attached to the mill and this feature was heavily patronized by the farmers of the com- munity. The mill was dismantled in the '80s.
AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS.
The farmers of Jefferson township have every reason to congratulate themselves on the quality of the land which they have, and the easy manner of draining it so as to insure the best crops. There is practically no waste land in the township, the last report giving only 376 acres of waste land out of a total of 12,623 acres. The following statistics are those of March I, 1917, and show that the township is well to the front in comparison with the other townships in the county.
The chief farm crops made the following reports: Wheat, 29,172
3,56
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
bushels ; rye, 316 bushels ; oats, 41, 107 bushels; corn, 227,110 bushels; Irish potatoes, 220 bushels; timothy hay, 916 tons; clover hay, 648 tons; clover seed, 36 bushels; acres of alfalfa, 409; alfalfa hay, 930 tons; ensilage, 412 tons ; peaches, 60 bushels. The township reported 32 silos. There were 9,480 acres cultivated; 1,648 acres in pasture land; 940 acres of woodland; 376 acres of waste land; total acreage of township, 12,623.
The live stock of the township showed up as follows: Horses, 860; cattle, 1,134; sheep, 668; wool clip, 160 pounds; hogs, 6,209; hogs died from cholera, 410; cholera-infected farms, 14. The chickens of the town- ship produced 57,880 dozen eggs; the cows yielded 14,200 gallons of cream sold, 58,360 gallons of milk sold, and 36,150 pounds of home-made butter.
In order to keep up the fertility of the soil the farmers of the township bought 361,420 pounds of commercial fertilizer during the year 1916, and also plowed under 249 acres of clover sod. There was also lime used to the extent of 4,000 pounds. Incidentally, it might be mentioned that the farmers put in 740 rods of drain tile during 1916. The assessor's reports show that there were only thirteen farms rented in the township in 1916, a statement which is probably open to amendment; it is also stated that there were eleven renters working for wages.
BOWERSVILLE.
The village of Bowersville is ten years older than the township in which it is located, the town having been officially created in 1848, while Jefferson township did not come into existence until ten years later. The town was surveyed on April 6 and 7, 1848, by Samuel T. Owens, surveyor of Greene county, on a part of Military Survey No. 4389, the entire townsite covering a fraction less than ten acres. The site was owned by Christopher Hussey, probably the first settler in the township, and as platted contained twenty-six lots.
The additions to the original plat have substantially increased the size of the town, the various additions, the number of lots therein, the name of the proprietor of the additions and the date of the recording of the same, being indicated in the appended table :
Proprietor. Lots. Date of Recording.
Benjamin Vanniman
40 October 9, 1872
Benjamin Vanniman
18
June 20, 1873
Elias Vanniman
20 November 21, 1881
E. R. Mills
62
April 29, 1913
The addition of 1881 contained the tile-mill, which was located on lots 19, 20 and 21. The 1913 addition was admitted by the town council on
357
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
April 26, 1913, and certified at that time by Frank M. Kennedy, surveyor. The sixty-two lots of 1913 lay south of the railroad, but most of them never have been included in the corporation.
EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES.
The village was named after its first business man, Peter Bowermaster, who had a store in the place before it was platted and was serving as post- master when the town plat was recorded. There were some three or four houses on the town site in 1848, and the residents of the village in that year were Bowermaster, Christopher Hussey, Benjamin Vanniman and Rea- son A. Bowermaster. Hussey lived about forty rods north of the site at the time.
The first lots sold in the infant village brought the proprietor from forty to sixty dollars each, and he seemed to have had a considerable sale. Several who bought did not, however, erect buildings on their lots, prob- ably holding the same for speculative purposes. Bowermaster applied for a commission as postmaster on December 23, 1847, and on February 12, 1848, received his commission, serving continuously until his death. in 1859. It is not certain whether Bowermaster or Albert Bryant opened the first store in the village, but the latter had a store in operation in a small log cabin which was later occupied by L. H. Starbuck as a residence. Merchants from various places came to the new town to try their fortunes, but most of them left without becoming burdened with wealth.
Samuel Lockhart and John White were there before the Civil War and remained a number of years. It is not profitable to follow the succession of merchants of one kind and another who vended goods of all sorts in the village. Some came only to remain a short time, while others continued in the town for a long period of years. It is recalled that I. C. Stewart was the first blacksmith, and a man by the name of Strong was the second. Reason A. Bowermaster and Lemuel Cottrell were both woodworkers. Bower- master had a shop where he made wheels, chairs, tables, dressers, closets and any kind of furniture which one might want. Cottrell devoted most of his time to wagon-making.
The '70s saw the town on a boom, due largely to the prospects of having a railroad, a direct line from Columbus to Cincinnati. As it finally turned out, the town did get a railroad, but it never reached either Columbus or Cincinnati. It runs from Sedalia, in Madison county, to Kingman, in Clin- ton county, but the road nevertheless gives the town of Bowersville an outlet for its grain, and furnishes it communication with the outside world. The road was built through Bowersville in the latter part of the '70s and it is not too much to say that several of the business firms listed below came to
3,58
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.