USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 109
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Another son, Rev. John Bonham, graduated at Miami university and Lane Theological seminary, is now the faithful pastor of a Baptist church in Kansas. William Rees, an estimable citizen of Elizabethtown, and an elder in the Presbyterian church, is a son of May, the eldest daughter of Edward and Charlotte Hunt. [Some further notice of Mr. Haire is given below.]
Of the squatters who became purchasers of land and remained permanent settlers, John Bonham and his fam- ily deserve special remembrance. He was a native of Somerset county, New Jersey, and in early life left in 1792 to seek his fortune in the new country towards the setting sun. He spent two years at Red Stone, Old Fort, Pennsylvania, and thence came down the Monongahela and the Ohio in a flat-boat to North Bend, in 1794. He and his family were religious and members of the Baptist church. In all the years of their pioneer life they were careful to maintain their Christian life and family religion, as the lives of their children fully testified. Their sons . -John and Aaron-were men of real worth and stand- ing in society, and, after serving God and their genera- tion, have passed away. A daughter, Mrs. Rhoda Noble, now in her eighty-seventh year, is living, closing a long, happy and useful life at the residence of Amelius Francis, esq., her son-in-law, at Harrison, Ohio.
Alexander Guard, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, with his family, came to North Bend in 1793, and in 1796 to
407
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
this township. His family consisted of five sons-Timo- thy, David, Ezra, Bailey and Chalen, with three daugh- ters-Sarah, Betsy and Hannah. Many of the descend- ants of this pioneer family are honored citizens of the township at this time.
The families of Hugh Karr, Andrew and I. Hill, I. In- gersoll, I. Hayes and T. Miller became permanent set- tlers, purchasing land and improving it. The other squat- ter families removed west. Charmed with the frontier log-cabin life, they sought and secured its continuance by a fresh start where game was plenty and their cherished mode of life could be enjoyed .*
Hugh Karr was born in County Donegal, North Ire- land, of Scotch-Irish parentage, in the year 1772. In 1784 he, in company with his father, Matthew Dennis Karr, and his brothers Charles and Matthew, emigrated to the United States, landing at Philadelphia. Here he remained until the death of his father, who was fatally injured while engaged as a stone-mason, assisting in the erection of a church building in that city. After that he labored at North Hampton, Pennsylvania, where he re- mained until manhood, meanwhile having been married to Mary M. Shull, daughter of Peter Shull, we believe, a well-to-do German farmer of the vicinity. Meanwhile, having heard of the wonderful fertility of the "Miami country," he, with his brother-in-law, the Shulls, Shoupes and others of the vicinity, set out with their families for Wheeling, where they embarked on "Broadhorns " and Pirouges, floating down the Ohio to North Bend, where they arrived late in the autumn of 1793. During the next winter he, together with others, occupied a portion of the old block-house at that place, and while residing there his oldest surviving son, John Karr, was born in Janu- ary 1794. During the winter and early spring he selected a tract near the "Goose Pond " neighborhood, in Miami township, where he built a cabin and made a clearing, with the intention of purchasing the same. Here he re- mained with his family for two years. Meanwhile rumors were rife as to the unstable condition of the title to the lands embraced in the celebrated Symmes Puchase, and becoming discouraged thereat, he decided to remove further westward, and accordingly crossed the Great Miami into the then vast, unpeopled domain west of that river, and again became a squatter upon a tract of land lying near the west end of the present Cleves bridge, in Whitewater township, where he erected a cabin and made a considerable clearing, meanwhile deeming himself secure in his rights as a "Squatter Sov- ereign." Here he remained until he was ousted by a superior legal title held by a speculator, who had quietly obtained a patent for the lands so occupied from the United States. Soon after this he secured letters patent from the United States Government for the southwestern quarter of section nine, town one, range one, east, in this township, which he entered and occupied as his home- stead till the time of his death, August, 1839. His widow, Mary M. Karr, survived him until the year 1860, when she died, aged nearly eighty-eight years. The fam-
ily of Hugh Karr consisted of five daughters and four sons, who survived him. The former, after marriage, immigrated to different points in the west, one daughter only having deceased in the neighborhood of the old- home. All of the daughters were mothers of large fami- lies. Of the sons, John and Charles remained in the vicinity of the old homestead, John dying in 1857, aged sixty.three, without children, and Charles in 1853, aged forty-six years. James removed to McLean county, Illi- nois, where he died a few years ago. Joseph at the present writing is residing near Fieldon, Jersey county, Illinois. The three last named brothers were and are fathers of families.
Major Charles Karr, the second surviving son of Hugh and Mary M. Karr, as above stated, was born at the old homestead in Whitewater township in 1806. He inter- married with Jerusha Harvey, a native of New Hamp- shire, second daughter of Joseph Harvey, esq., later one of the pioneers of the Whitewater valley. Major Karr died in April, 1853, aged forty-six years. His widow still survives him. His family, surviving him, consisted of seven sons and one daughter, viz: John, Joseph H., Matthew H., Charles W., William W. N., Caroline, Lew- is C., and Thomas H. Karr. Of the sons, John and Charles W. are members of the Cincinnati bar, Joseph H. and William W. are. farmers residing in Nodaway county, Missouri, and Charles C. and Thomas H. in Whitewater township. Three of the sons served in vari- ous capacities during the war of 1861-5-John as State military agent, under Governors Brough, Anderson and Cox; Charles W., as a captain in the Second regiment, Kentucky volunteer cavalry, and afterwards as Adjutant- general of Ohio, under Governors Hayes and Young in 1876-7; Matthew H., as a sergeant in company B, Four- teenth regiment, Illinois volunteer infantry, and died from injuries and exposure upon the battlefield of Shi- loh, Tennessee, April, 1862.
Jacob Herrider was born in Pennsylvania, near Som- erset, January, 1790, and came to this county in 1795 or 1796. He first stopped at White Oaks for one year; then came to Crosby township and remained seven years ; then to Cincinnati for three years, draying; then to Mi- amitown and bought the first lot sold there after the town was laid out. First he worked at the cooper's trade. He at last bought a mill-flouring-mill-built by Major Henrie and continued in this business ten or fifteen years, at the end of which time he began in agriculture and continues yet, except not in the vigor of full manhood. His wife-first wife-Nancy Vantrese, bore him two sons and one daughter, the latter being dead. His second wife was Susan Henrie, whom he married November 24, 1824, who bore him five children-three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Herrider's father and mother came from Pennsylvania when she was a child and were called Pennsylvania Dutch. She was born December 24, 1802. Her grandfather Michael Henrie-the name has been mutilated-was a brother of Patrick Henry, of Revolu- tionary fame. Her grandmother was sister of John H. Piatt, one of the early and noted citizens of Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. Herrider are active consistent members of
*The remaining notes under this head were not prepared by Mr. Chidlaw.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the Methodist Episcopal church of Miami, he building the church-but which was rebuilt last fall-by contract in 1834. His father lived to be over one hundred years old; and at this writing he is the oldest man in White- water township.
Samuel McHenry, a native of Pennsylvania, emi- grated from that State in 1806 and settled at Elizabeth- town, on the farm now owned by Mr. Ezra Guard. The same year he was appointed by Governor Tiffin as cap- tain in the Ohio Militia, and, May 23, 1811, was com- missioned Major of the First battalion, Third regiment, First brigade, First division, in the militia. His wife was Margaret Piatt, also a native of Pennsylvania, who died at Elizabethtown June 22, 1845. He died in Indiana in 1858, aged eighty-one.
Ephraim Collins, born in the Keystone State in 1766, settled in this township in 1810.
Richard Simmonds, born March 14, 1800, near Balti- more, Maryland, came to Ohio in 1806, and settled on Lees creek, this county, one mile south of the Butler county line. In July, 1825, he married Susanna Potten- ger, daughter of Samuel Pottenger, founder of New Bal- timore, of Crosby township. By this marriage two sons and two daughters were born, one son-James-the only child living. Richard Simmonds has two grand- and two great-grandchildren ; had four brothers and two sisters. His life has been an active one, engaging in farming, dealing in stock and barter generally, during the twenty- five years which was spent on Lees creek. During seven years which followed at Sater in Crosby township, and the forty.seven years at Miamitown, great industry has re- warded him with handsome gains. The hardy forest lies fallen under his stroke ; the Indian, the wolf, the deer, the bear, these, too, have gone, and now, in declining age, a life freighted with philanthropy and good actions for imitation he retires to domestic happiness, waiting for a reaper which will soon gather an abundant harvest.
Silas Van Hayes, was born May 31, 1833, and is the son of Enoch and Sarah E. His mother was Stephens, married in April, 1813. His father came from Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, and died October 23, 1857, in Dearborn county, Indiana, being born Decem- ber 27, 1791. Silas Van is one of a family of five sons and three daughters, the youngest, Silas, the only one liv- ing. His father is of Scotch-Irish descent. His mother's father was of Irish origin, and his grandmother came from New Jersey. In education he devoted himself for two terms in earnest effort at Farmer's college, and would have continued longer, but his father's health failing, he was called home and never permitted to return. In August, 1857, he married Rachel P. Miller, daughter of Enoch H., of Dearborn county, Indiana, who bore him five sons and five daughters-three sons and two daugh- ters being dead. Politically, S. V. Hayes is one of note. For five years he has been a member of the board of control and in minor offices has been prominent. Mr. Hayes is one of the coming men of this county.
Moses B. Wamsley was born in Kentucky, in 1814, and two years afterwards was brought to Whitewater township by his parents. He became, in due time, a
farmer and grain buyer, and has been, for twenty-five years, one of the most extensive dealers in this part of the country. In 1839 he was married to Miss Eunice Hayes, of the well known pioneer family. They have had nine children-five sons and four daughters, viz .: Anderson B., Anna H., Albin C., James Finley, Abitha B., Mary Frances, Job H., Arabella, and Chalon G. Those deceased are Anna and Albin. Mr. Wamsley resides in Miami township, and is one of the prominent and sub- stantial citizens of the county. The only representa- tive residing in Whitewater township, is Anderson, the eldest son, who was born in the year 1840. He resided with his parents until the time of his marriage, in 1867, to Miss Mary H. Lewis. To Mr. and Mrs. Wamsley were born seven children-four sons and three daughters: Joseph L., Benjamin B., Anna, Clara, Edward H., Mary Alice, and George L. Mary Alice died in in- fancy. Mr. Wamsley is one of the enterprising young farmers of Whitewater. He was a soldier in the war of 186r-5 for more than three years. He en- listed as a private, but received three commissions as first and second lieutenant and captain. He was in numerous severe engagements, but fortune favored him and he escaped unhurt, and returned to his home crowned with all the honor to which our gallant sons were justly entitled. He has been assessor of his township various times, thus bespeaking for him the full confidence of the people. Mrs. Wamsley is an earnest member of the Presbyterian church and a staunch sup- porter of the faith. Mr. Wamsley is not associated with any church organization, but ever favors the right and is a firm advocate of law and order.
Henry Lemmons was born May 4, 1838, on the Great Miami river, one mile south of Miamitown, on the old homestead, and married Sallie J. McHenry, September 28, 1865, daughter of Esquire Joseph McHenry, of Colerain township. By this union one child-a son, Harry-was born March 30, 1867. Mrs. Lemmons was born August 19, 1840. David Lemmons, his father, came from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1816; settled in Colerain township for ten years, and then came to White- water township, where he resided until his death, in 1871. His mother, Margaret Shrill, as well as his father, was of German descent, coming from the nobility of Europe. Henry Lemmons has two brothers and two sisters, all of whom are living. Mrs. Lemmons is one of a family of six sons and seven daughters, five of the family, three sons and two daughters, with her parents, being dead. Her father descended from clear Scotch blood, while her mother, Nancy, daughter of Samuel Pottenger, founder of New Baltimore, comes from excellent parentage. They are among the first families of the county.
Nicholas Reeder was born in Germany in the year 1819. He came to Hamilton county in the year 1849. In 1855 he married Miss Elizabeth Sowers. They have no children. The occupation of Mr. Reeder has always been that of a farmer. In 1859 he made the purchase of a beautiful tract of land, which he now owns and oc- cupies. He is one of the substantial farmers of the township.
REV. W. B. CHIDLAW, A. M.
Rev. W. B. Chidlaw, A. M., was born in Bala, North Wales, Great Britain, July 14, 1811. His paternal an- cestors were Huguenots, who, in the persecution which o lowed the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, fled from France and found refuge among the mountains of Wales. His parents were Benjamin and Mary Chid- law. They emigrated to the United States in 1821. Their voyage in the ship Manhattan, from Liverpool to New York, occupied forty-seven days. From New York they reached Albany in a sloop, on the Hudson, in a week; thence in wagons to Schenectady, and up the Mohawk river in a keel-boat to Utica. After remaining here a few weeks with some Welsh friends, they pro- ceeded in wagons to Black Rock (now Buffalo), and on the "Walk-in-the-water," the first steamboat that plowed the waters of Lake Erie, they voyaged to Low- er Sandusky. After waiting here for trans- portation for several days, a wagon was secured to take the family-parents, a daughter and son-to Delaware, Ohio, where several of the neighbors in Wales had settled some years before. In a few weeks the father, stricken by fever, died. In 1822, his mother, a noble Christian woman, en- ergetic and capable, bought a tract of land in the Welsh settle- ment of Radna, a few miles from Del- aware. Here, in a log cabin home, the fatherless boy spent his early years, ac- quiring habits of industry and skill in the use of the axe, the hoe, and the sickle. In Wales he had been taught in the Sunday-school of the Congregational church of his native village to read, revere, and believe the Holy Scriptures, in his vernacular. In 1823, in the log school- house of the settlement, with Webster's spelling book, for which he bartered four pounds of butter, he com- menced his English education. Engaged in labor dur- ing the summer, and attending school in winter, he mastered Webster's spelling book, read the Columbian Orator, and grappled with Pike's arithmetic. In 1826 he attended the school of Bishop Chase, at Worthington, and one term of Kenyon college, the first after the insti-
tution, was removed to Gambier, Ohio, in 1827. In 1829 he united with the Presbyterian church, worshipping in a log chapel five miles from his mother's home. The same year he taught school in the settlement, receiving nine dollars a month salary, and his board in the hospitable cabins of his employes. Encouraged by the religious people in the settlement, and anxious to be useful, he organized a Sunday-school in the log meeting-house, which became a decided success. This service in his early religious life, with the deep convictions of his own mind, led him to consecrate his life to the work of the gospel ministry. Aided to the extent of the resources of his widowed mother, and his own earnings by manual labor and teaching, he graduated in the Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, in 1833. He studied theology as a resident graduate with six other students, under Dr. R. H. Bishop, Professors McGuffey? Armstrong, and Scott, the able fa- culty of the univer- Sity. Like many others of his worthy fellow-students, sacri- fices were made to obtain an education. Compelled to a rigid economy during his course of training for the work of life, he boarded himself at thirty eight cents a week during the win- ter terms. Hebought corn meal at ten cents a bushel, po- tatoes the same price, and beef at one cent and a half a pound, choice cuts. Raw material at these prices, and, being his own cook, he lived comfortably, enjoyed good health and great facilities for study.
In 1835 he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Oxford, and accepted a call to the Welsh settlement of Paddy's Run, Butler county, Ohio, preaching in the Welsh and English languages. Organizing Sunday- schools and preaching outside the bounds of his con- gregation, his labors were blessed in the furtherance of the gospel, as well as in his own special charge. In 1839, invited by an aged and wealthy uncle in Wales, with his venerable mother, he visited the land of his birth. During this visit he travelled extensively over the Principality, preached in over a hundred chapels, wit-
MRS. W. B. CHIDLAW.
nessing wonderful revivals of religion. In one congre- gation, Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, his native town, over two hundred souls were converted and added to the church. On his return, in 1840, he entered the service of the American Sunday-school union, as its superin- tending missionary for Ohio and Indiana, in which he has continued until the present, except during the war of the Rebellion, when he was chaplain of the Thirty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, Colonel John Groesbeck's regi- ment, and in the service of the United States Christian commission. In his regiment he was a good Samaritan and true evangelist, caring faithfully for the souls and the bodies of the brave men for whose good he served God and his country. His daily religious service, reading the scriptures and pray- er in the presence of the regiment at dress-parade, his Sunday-school and preaching, as well as pastoral labors in the tent or barracks, the soldiers always ap- preciated and en- joyed. At Camp Benton, near St. Louis, in the autumn of 1861, when ten regiments were en- camped, Colonel Curtis commanding, invited him to preach on the day of fasting and prayer appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln. In the presence of this large body of troops and their officers, he discoursed on "the conditions of Divine deliverance in times of national peril," founded on Second Chronicles 7.14. In the hospitals of Per- ryville, Kentucky, Nashville, Millikin's Bend, Murfrees- borough, Stevenson and Chattanooga, his labors of love in behalf of the Christian conversion were abundant and useful, a true friend and a willing helper to the sick, the wounded and the dying soldiers.
In 1863 Governor Brough appointed him trustee of the Miami university, an office he still holds. In 1866 he was appointed by Governor J. D. Cox trustee of the Ohio Reform Farm school for boys, at Lancaster. Re- appointed by Governors Hayes and Bishop, he served the commonwealth faithfully for fourteen years. In 1880 he was oppointed by the American Sabbath-school union to represent the National society at the Raikes Sunday-
school centennial memorial services, held in London, when over five hundred delegates, representing fourteen Christian nations, assembled to celebrate the first cen- tury of Sunday-school history. Before returning home he spent two months among the mountains of his native Wales, delighted by the cordial welcome and genial fel- lowship of old and new friends, participating in various religious services, and enjoying life on the sea shore and climbing the grand old rock-ribbed mountains.
Now, in sight of the seventieth milestone in life's jour- ney, he enjoys good health and vigor, and is fully de- voted to his chosen work, connected with the interest of religion and the early Christian education of our youth.
In 1842 he mar- ried Miss Rebecca, youngest daughter of Ezekiel and Mary Hughes. They were blessed with eight children. Henry Kerr, the youngest, died in 1862, and the eldest, Martha, who married John Karr, died in 1873, leaving seven children, Mar- tha, Jane, Rosa, John, Benjamin C., Charles and Mary C. John Chidlaw, their eldest son, married Miss Harriet Hayes. They have four chil- dren-Edward H., Rebecca C., Martha and Walter. Benja- min, their second son, married Lucre- tia T. Matson, and have one son-Wil- liam M. Chidlaw. James H., their youngest living son, married Miss Eliza- beth Tanney. They had three children - Harry, Ida and Grace. They have three daughters-Mary Irene, Anna and Jane Carter- unmarried and at home, cheering and blessing the de- clining years of their earthly pilgrimage with ministrations of love and kindness. The family residence of Mr. Chidlaw is on a large and valuable farm on the banks of the Miami. The old mansion is in a beautiful grove of forest trees, and is surrounded by the homes of his three sons, who are cultivating the farm with industry, enter- prise and skill. As the shadows of the eventide of a long and useful life are gently falling on their pathway, they wait in hope for the hour of departure from the la- bors and joys of life to the rest and glory of the life eternal.
409
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Aaron Simonson, third son of Barnabas and Elizabeth Simonson, and subject of the following sketch, was born in Hamilton county, November 17, 1840. He resided with his parents until the time of his marriage, in 1867, to Miss Anna Wait. To Mr. and Mrs. Simonson were born four children, two sons and two daughters. Their names are as follows: Carrie B., Ada, Albert, and one died in infancy unnamed. Mrs. Simonson is an earnest mem- ber of the Christian church, and a staunch supporter of the faith.
Jacob Haire came from Virginia to Whitewater in 1817, became a farmer there, and died in New Orleans in 1852. His wife's maiden name was Susan Hunt. She was born in New Jersey, December 16, 1793, and died April 5, 1871. They had children as follows: Edward, who resides at Chicago; and John P., who lives in Janesville, Wisconsin; Mary and Susan re- side with George Haire, adjoining the old homestead; Charlotte E. Delemater, living at Delhi, Hamilton county ; Kittie, Humboldt, Kansas. Jacob Haire and wife are both dead and lie buried side by side in the little burial ground at Elizabethtown. George, the only male representative residing in the county, was born in Eliza- bethtown in the year 1821. His vocation through life has been that of surveying and farming. He was mar- ried in the year 1850 to Miss Catharine Porter, daughter of quite an early and distinguished family. Her father being in early life a school-teacher, afterwards a justice of the peace for many years, and later, in the fall of 1835, he represented his people in the legislature. He died January 30, 1857. His widow is still living and resides with her son-in-law. To Mr. and Mrs. Haire were born three children, two sons and one daughter-Ada Callo- way, resides at Madison, Indiana; Jacob H., M. D., and Charles L., teacher, both reside at home. Mr. Haire and wife are earnest members of the Presbyterian church and are staunch supporters of the faith they profess.
Otho Hayes was born May 18, 1810, in Dearborn county, Indiana, and married March 15, 1835, Eliza Miller, of same county, born May 3, 1818. His father was of English extraction and his mother of Scotch descent. Joseph Hayes, his great-grandfather on his father's side, was one of Washington's captains. Walter Craig, his great-grandfather on the side of his father's grandmother, was a colonel of Washington's. Solomon Hayes, his grandfather on his father's side, came to North Bend in 1795, from Chester county, Pennsylvania. Thomas Billingsley, his grandfather on his mother's side, came to Reading, Ohio, about the close of the eighteenth century. Otho Hayes is the father of sixteen sons and two daughters, eleven of whom are living-nine sons and two daughters. In business he farmed, and in commerce made twenty-five round trips to New Orleans. Thomas Miller, Mrs. Hayes' grandfather, was from Pennsylvania, a German. Enoch Hayes, her grandfather on her mother's side, was of English descent, son of Captain Joseph Hayes. Captain Hayes' mother was Joanna Passmore. This family is interwoven closely and handed down to generations a handsome legacy.
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