USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 81
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Enoch Jacobs was born in the town of Marlborough, State of Vermont, June 30, 1809, and was married to Electa Whitney, of said town, June 22, 1831. His father, Nathan Jacobs, was born in Connecticut in 1762, and emigrated to Vermont in 1799. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. He married Sarah, the daughter of Captain John Clark, of revolutionary fame, about the year 1784. She was a native of Old Hadley, Massachusetts. The subject of this sketch emigrated to Brooklyn, New York, in 1827, where he engaged in me- chanical pursuits till 1843, when he removed with his family to Cincinnati. Between that time and the break- ing out of the civil war in 1861, he was engaged in the manufacture of iron work, being junior partner in the firm of Vallean & Jacobs. The people of the south be- ing their largest customers, financial ruin followed. His oldest son, Enoch George, enlisted in the Second Ohio volunteer infantry, three months' service, and was in the battle of Bull Run. He afterwards enlisted in the Twelfth Kentucky volunteer infantry, Federal regiment, where he was commissioned first lieutenant, and was in the battle at Mill Spring and the siege of Knoxville. He reenlisted as a veteran and served till the army reached Jonesborough, when his health failed, and he resigned his commission.
His second son, Henry C., enlisted in the Fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served till his death.
His third son, Nathan, enlisted in the Twelfth Ken- tucky volunteer infantry, and was commissioned first lieutenant in company I of Third regiment. He was a brave and gallant young officer. While temporarily ab-
sent from his regiment he was waylaid and murdered by a bushwhacker, near Somerset, Kentucky, about the twentieth of February, 1863.
The elder Jacobs was for a time with the First and Second Ohio infantry regiments, comprising Schenck's „brigade, and took part in the battle at Vienna, where oc- curred the first bloodshed in the war south of the Poto- mac. He afterwards identified himself with the Twelfth Kentucky, commanded by Colonel W. A. Hoskins, and recruited men for it, in which two of his sons hold com- missions. He took part in the battle of Mill Spring, and wrote the first published account of that battle. It appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial, and was copied by papers all over the country, and in Europe.
A month later he took part in the battle at Fort Don- elson, having obtained a position on the staff of Colonel Bausenwein, commanding the brigade on the left of the right wing under General McClernand, and with a detail of twelve men Mr. Jacobs accepted the surrender of two rebel batteries. About a month later while on his way to join the Twelfth Kentucky en route from Nashville to Pittsburgh Landing, a railroad accident occurred at Green river bridge, Kentucky, in which he permanently lost the use of his right arm. In 1863 he was elected justice of the peace in Mill Creek township, and served till he removed with what was left of his family to Waynesville, Warren county, in 1865. He resided at Walnut Hills from 1847 till 1865, and took a leading part in organiz- ing in that place the first free school in the State under the school law of 1849 and its amendment in 1850. He served nine years as trustee and secretary of the board with the late Dr. Allen of Lane seminary as president. In the winter of 1870-71 he accompanied the Govern- ment commission, on the United States steamer Tennes- see, to Santo Domingo as the special correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial. He travelled extensively over the island, and no correspondent went where he did not. The following winter, 1871-72, he returned to Santo Domingo, in the interests of the Cincinnati Commercial and New York Tribune. During that winter he gathered much testimony as to the alleged com- plicity of high officials in a scheme of speculation in connectionwith a proposition of our Government to pur- chase the island. This has been hitherto withheld from the public.
In January, 1873, he was appointed United States Consul to Montevideo, in the republic of Uruguay, South America. The United States Minister, Mr. Stevens, being absent, the work of the legislation devolved upon him in addition to the duties of the consulate. As the country was cursed with constant revolutions, it required all his energies in extending protection to American citi- zens; but the work was faithfully done. In 1874 he came home for his family (wife and daughter) by way of Europe, and with them returned by the same route to his post of duty. His health failing he resigned his com- mission and came home by way of Europe in June, 1876. In October or that year he removed to Mount Airy, and finished his official life with six months' service as mayor of that village.
MOSS
Daniel Isgrigo
G. H. W. MUSEKAMP, M. D.
G. H. W. Musekamp, a practicing physician of Cheviot, was born November 17, 1840. His father, George Henry Musekamp, was also a member of the medical fraternity, being a native of Prussia. He was born June 27, 1802, and is indebted to that country for a good literary and medical education ; also for a good, amiable, loving Christian wife and mother, formerly Miss Johanna Goettenmul- ler. A few years after marriage the family set sail for America and landed with three daughters, one being born on the sea, in the city of Baltimore. This was in the year 1837; but they soon left that city, and in a wagon made the tedi- ous journey over the Alleghanies, and in the winter of that year arrived in Cincinnati. They located first on Abigail street, one door east of Main, at which place the sub- ject of our sketch was born. They next moved to Race street, between Fourteenth and Fif- teenth streets, before which latter removal, however, the wife and mother died. She was born June II, 1804, and died February 14, 1845. In 1849 the family removed to Green township, where Dr. Muse- kamp spent the remainder of his days in the ardu- ous pursuit of his profession. His death occurred August 31, 1874, leaving a family of four children.
Dr. G. H. W. Musekamp received a good, liberal education in the private, the free schools, and in the high schools of Cincinnati, after which he taught for one year, 1856-57, in Clermont county, in Goshen, near Charleston. He then pursued a thorough med- ical course of instruction under his father, and Dr. George C. Blackman, of Cincinnati, and graduated in the Ohio Medical college in the year 1861, receiving the de- gree of M. D. In 1861 he was married to Miss Maria H. Elizabeth Hilge of Cincinnati, and what is singular in the history of this couple they were both born in the same house, and immediate- ly afterwards the doc- tor settled in Cheviot, where he has practiced his profession ever since, it now being about twenty years, during which time he has been successful in building up a largeand extensive practice. He is of an agreeable dis- position, noted for his cordiality and warmth of feel- ing, and this added to his efficiency in his profession has made him a host of warm friends. In politics he has been a warm supporter of the Union cause as ad- vocated by the Republican party. He takes a lively interest in public matters and despite his heavy prac- tice has been elected to and filled several offices, hav- ing filled that of township treasurer several times.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
BRIDGETOWN.
This is a village a little over a mile west of Cheviot, just half way across the township from east to west, and two miles and a half from the south line. It is on the Cleves turnpike, half a mile west of the junction of the Harrison pike, and the Cincinnati & Westwood narrow- guage railroad comes up to the Cleves road about mid- way between the village and the junction of the turn- pikes. St. Aloysius' (Catholic) church is located here, with its parochial school of about fifty pupils, and a con- fraternity of the same name, all under the pastoral care of the Rev. Father Bernard Mutting.
CEDAR GROVE
is a locality in the extreme southwest part of the town- ship, about the headwarters of Lick run, and extending into the city upon the Warsaw turnpike. The Young Ladies' academy of St. Vincent de Paul, conducted by the Sisters of Charity, is in this grove, but within the city, at a place called "The Cedars," where a sister of Mary Hewitt, the famous English authoress formerly resided and wrote the charming letter, afterwards em- bodied in a little work entitled Our Cousins in Ohio.
CHEVIOT.
This is an old place, founded by an early settler named John Craig in 1818, and was incorporated March 2 Ist, of that year. It is pleasantly situated upon the hills west of the Mill Creek valley, on the Harrison turnpike, a mile and a half west of the township line. It had seventy-one inhabitants in 1830, and three hun- dred and twenty-five fifty years afterwards.
In his later years the Hon. Samuel Lewis, the famous philanthropist and educator, long of Cincinnati, resided near Cheviot, upon a farm he owned there. He con- tinued his labors for humanity almost to the end of life, often preaching in the neighboring churches. He died upon his place here, after a long career of usefulness, July 28, 1854.
At Cheviot, on the Fourth of July, 1832, there was a noteworthy celebration. Fenton's Cheviot infantry and Palmerton's Delhi infantry made a brave parade, escort- ing the orator of the day, General William Henry Har- rison, to the Presbyterian church, where the exercises took place. Mr. Enoch Carson was reader of the dec- laration, and the Rev. Messrs. Williamson and Biddle were the chaplains of the day. Messrs. Price and Car- penter served as committeemen. The dinner was at Rush's hotel, where the popular old time song, "The Death of Warren," was given amid much applause.
At the celebration of 1841, at the same place, Judge Moore was president, Rev. George Cott, chaplain, W. J. Carson, reader, and Dr. J. D. Talbott, orator. The day seems to have gone off gallantly and pleasantly enough.
COVEDALE
is a small place on the township line, one mile west of the southeast corner, half a mile northwest of Warsaw, and on the road connecting that place with the Five Corners.
DENT
is a village on the south fork of Taylor's creek and the Harrison turnpike, two miles and a half northwest of
Cheviot, and two miles from the northern and western township lines, respectively. It has about two hundred inhabitants. Here lives the Hon. Charles Reemelin, formerly member of Congress, who is noticed at consid- erable length in the chapter on the German element in Cincinnati, in the second division of this work.
DRY RIDGE
is a hamlet of probably fifty inhabitants, on the Cleves turnpike, a mile west of Bridgetown, at the junction of that highway with the road down the south fork of Tay- lor's creek. The Ebenezer church and a school-house are situated at this point.
FIVE CORNERS.
This locality, with a little scatter of houses, is at the junction of three country roads, on the dividing line of sections eight and fourteen, a mile and a half south of Cheviot, and the same distance northwest of Covedale.
MOUNT AIRY
includes a tract of more than three square miles, lying mostly in Mill Creek township, in the chapter devoted to whose history it will be more particularly noticed. Five hundred and seventy-nine of its acres are in this town- ship.
ST. JACOB'S,
in the extreme north of the township, a mile and two- thirds west of the northeast corner, and a mile from the Colerain pike, on the projected Cincinnati & Venice rail- road, has a population of about one hundred, and a flourishing Catholic church and school.
SHEARTOWN.
This is a village near the extreme northwest corner of the township, with fifty to seventy-five inhabitants, a church, and a school. It is on the Harrison turnpike and the main stream of Taylor's creek.
WEISENBURGH.
Weisenburgh is a small place inhabited chiefly by Ger- mans, one mile south of St. Jacob's, and two miles and a half north of Cheviot, on the surveyed route of the Cincinnati & Venice railroad.
WESTWOOD.
This considerable suburb covers, with residences and grounds, more or less thickly, nearly four sections, being the whole of sections two, three and eight, the eastern half of section nine, and part of section fourteen, being in all two thousand three hundred and twenty-five acres. Along the east line of section two, it immediately adjoins the city in its northwest part. The Cincinnati & West- wood narrow guage railway runs for about two miles through the southern part of the suburb.
The village was incorporated in 1868. Among its earlier mayors were John Gaines, 1869-70; F. H. Oehl- mann, 1871; Thomas Wills, 1872-4. It had seven hun- dred and fifty-two inhabitants in 1880.
THE HARVEST HOME.
A few enterprising residents of Green township started the first Harvest Home organization in the county, which still maintains its annual meetings with great interest and success. On the Fourth of July, 1860, a little group of
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
citizens, comprizing Messrs. R. H. Fenton, W. L. Carson and N. Gregory, happening to meet in one of the central groves of the township, the suggestion of a regular Har- vest Home was started by Mr. Fenton, and cordially ac- ceded to by the others. Several townships had previously made spasmodic experiments in this direction, but had all proved failures after a short run. The foundations of the new Harvest Home were more strongly laid. Judge Robert Moore was secured as president, and drafted the original constitution of the Home. Mr. Samuel W. Car- son, now vice-president, was also the first to fill this office. Mr. Joseph B. Boyd was secretary; Nehemiah Gregory, treasurer; S. W. Carson, R. H. Fenton, James Wise, Samuel Benn and James Veasey were directors. A very hopeful organization was thus effected. The next thing was to obtain memberships, at fifty cents apiece, and to this the principal officers of the Home addressed themselves. It was uphill business for a time, but finally good results were reached, especially by Mr. Fenton, who had obtained a large number of memberships in the city. The first gathering to celebrate the "Harvest Home" was held the next year, August 16, 1861, in Carson's grove, half a mile north of Cheviot, where most or all of the annual reunions have been held. The Home has since never failed of its annual celebration, and has never ex- perienced a wet or unfavorable day at the appointed time. The last meeting was in Carson's grove, August 25, 1880, when at least ten thousand people were present (it is said that there are never less than ten thousand at the meetings), and a number of excellent and interesting speeches were made. An exhibition of grain, vegetables, fruit, flowers, garden products, bread, butter and other articles grown or made in the township, is nowadays held in connection with the Home, with premiums as at the annual fairs, and the managers think of adding a series of prizes for stock, poultry, improvement in farming im- plements and other exhibits. The reunions are always accompanied with a bountiful banquet, dancing upon a platform erected for that purpose and owned by the so- ciety, and other amusements. Liquor is never sold at the celebrations, so far as is known. Mr. E. C. Reemelin is now president of the home. No political or sectarian matters are allowed in any way to enter into its oper- ations.
HISTORICAL NOTES.
Green township has just twice and a half the number of inhabitants it had a half century ago. The census of 1830 developed a population of one thousand nine hun- dred and eighty-five in the township; that of 1870 showed four thousand three hundred and fifty-six; of 1880, six thousand six hundred and eighty-nine.
At one time, in the early day, nearly the whole tract now covered by Green township was sold at sheriff's sale for seventy-five dollars. After the original proprietorship of Bendinot & Sims, it was owned mainly by Generals Harrison and Findlay, and Judge Burnet, of Cincinnati, for whom it was sold out in parcels by the father of Col- onel E. T. Carson, now chief of police in that city.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
THOMAS WILLS, ESQ.
This venerable gentleman, one of the best known citizens of the village of Cheviot in this township, is of Irish lineage on both sides of his family. His paternal grandfather, James Wills, immigrated from Ireland to the new world about the year 1780, with a brother, and settled in eastern Pennsylvania for a time, but shortly afterwards removed to the present Fleming county, Kentucky, upon or near the site of Flemingsburgh. He was among the earliest pioneers to this part of the "dark and bloody ground," and was driven from his improve- ments by the marauding savages as many as three times, once being obliged to remain away for the period of two years. When preparing for flight, Mr. Wills was com- pelled to bring all his farming utensils in which there was iron, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Indians. He had many troubles with the redskins, and for a long period could hardly consider his life secure at any mo- ment. James Wills is believed to have been a native of county Down, Ireland, so also was the maternal grand- father, George Dowler. He came to this country in 1790, and likewise located in eastern Pennsylvania, where he died some years afterwards. His son, George Dowler, jr., was a man of marked ability, and became a promi- nent minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. When his family removed westward, he was kept behind in Wheeling, through his mother's fear of the Indians, and grew to manhood in that place. After the death of the elder Dowler, his widow married James Grimes, of east- ern Pennsylvania. They removed to Hagerstown, in the same State, and remained there until 1795, when they came to Newtown, in Anderson township, Hamilton county, Ohio, being among the very first settlers of this region. Here Mr. Grimes spent the remainder of his days, in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, and died about four years after his immigration.
Samuel, son of James, and father of Thomas Wills, was born at the pioneer home near Flemingsburgh, Ken- tucky. He learned the trade of a stone-mason, and became proficient in all branches of the business. About 1808 he went to Newtown, in search of work, and there met Miss Mary, daughter of James Grimes and Mrs. Dowler Grimes, aforesaid, whom he married the next year. He died in 1822, when Thomas was but seven years old. About two years afterwards Mrs. Wills was united in marriage to William Hatfield, a shoemaker at Newtown. Thomas was the third son of the previous union. Upon the remarriage of his mother, he lived with his grandmother three years, and then returned home, where he learned the trade of shoemaking with his stepfather, and followed it in the paternal shop until the age of seventeen, when he left Newtown. In 1839 he removed to Cheviot, in Green township. Nine years after he was married to Miss Eliza Richardson, by whom he has had seven children, of whom three are still living. He continued the boot and shoe business and remained
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THOMAS WILLS.
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FRANK FRONDORF.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
at it as long as he was able to work. He was soon called, however, to the performance of public duties, in which he was more or less engaged all the rest of his life. When he settled in Cheviot that region was almost entirely isolated, and material for official service was rather scarce; he was hence, in a manner, forced into prominent positions which he would not voluntarily have asked or accepted. For twenty-nine years he was a jus- tice of the peace in this township, retaining remarkable popularity, and commanding general approval by the integrity and impartiality of his decisions. For thirty- one years, the entire period of a generation of the human race, he was postmaster at Cheviot. In 1865 he was chosen by his fellow citizens to a yet more responsible position, as director of the county infirmary, and was thrice reelected, serving in all, three terms in that posi- tion, with entire acceptance to his associates of the board and to his constituents. He then declined further service, on account of increasing infirmities and disabili- ties ; and has since declined to assume official duties. He died Sunday, February 27, 1881, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, leaving abundance of proof that the sunset of his life was as glorious and peaceful as had been the purity of his relations toward his fellow men.
FRANK FRONDORF.
Frank Frondorf, an enterprising farmer, lives about two miles from Cheviot, Green township, on the Cleves turnpike. His farm consists of over two hundred acres of choice lands, which he has secured for a homestead, having bought the same in parts at different times as op- portunity and business prosperity would permit.
His father, George Frank Frondorf, his wife Catharine, Elizabeth, their daughter, and four sons, Phillip, Frank, Christopher, and Henry-the youngest who died soon after their arrival-left Hesse Darmstadt in the year 1840, and after landing in New York made their way to the State of Iowa, where the father and part of the family remained.
Frank Frondorf came back to Ohio after a short stay of three months, and began life working for himself, re- maining thereafter in Hamilton county. He was born the tenth of March, 1819; was about twenty-one years of age when he first began working for R. H. Fenton, who kept the tavern at the Seven Mile house. After a stay here of three years he worked about five years at the Buckeye house for Reid & Anderson, who were pro- prietors. During the second year of his stay at the last named place he became acquainted with Miss Mary Elizabeth Kælling, from Melle Hanover, who came to this country alone in the year 1842, arriving first in New Orleans, from there coming to Cincinnati, where she married Mr. Frondorf in the year 1846. She was born December 26, 1818. The young couple, after working two or three years longer in the hotel, added their pennies together and bought eighty acres of the present home- stead, to which they added, at different times, from thirty to fifty acres, until finally the farm increased to
two hundred and forty acres, the amount of which he owns at present. He also worked two years at the Mill Creek house. This was previous to going to the Buckeye hotel, and making in all several years service as a hired hand, by which he saved earnings sufficient to start him as a farmer.
After Mr. Frondorf moved to his farm the young couple began a system of labor and economy that laid the basis of their future wealth. They not only worked and economized, being sparing of their earnings, but they added improvements, from time to time, to their little home until now their beautiful place somewhat re- sembles a miniature town. They not only have an ele- gant mansion (the second one, the first burned down) for the rest and repose of themselves, but by a singular foresight, common only to the most industrious and thriving classes of society, have looked as closely after the wants and necessities of their stock and domestic brutes as to themselves.
Phillip, the oldest brother, joins farms with Frank. He came to America in 1837.
George Frank Frondorf, the father, lived in Iowa until 1856. His wife died in 1843. He was a shoemaker, and also owned a fine farm, but seemed never contented in America, and died in the seventy-third year of his age in the year 1856. The last two years of his life were spent with his son Frank in Ohio.
Mr. Frondorf has also been a useful member of so- ciety in various ways. He was the founder and chief supporter of the Catholic church in Cheviot, being not only the prime mover but a munificent giver until the church building was erected and the church established, having furnished the brick for the building himself. He is the father of three children. The son has charge of the farm entire, Mr. Frondorf having retired from busi- ness altogether. One daughter is a member of the Sisters of Charity; the other remains at home.
DANIEL ISGRIG.
Daniel Isgrig, of Dent, Green township, is one of the oldest residents of the county, having been born June 30, 1796, in Baltimore county, Maryland, and most of the time since which period has resided in the immedi- ate vicinity of his present home. His father is of Eng- lish and his mother of German descent. His father, Daniel, was born in Maryland, March 2, 1775, and died in Ripley county, Indiana, July 17, 1854. His mother, Rachel Barns, was the eldest daughter of John Barns; was born in Virginia, March 22, 1760. She died in Rip- ley county, Indiana, August 16, 1854. The parents were both buried near Moor's hill, in the above named county, where the father died in the eightieth year of his age. His widow was the mother of seventeen children, one hundred and twenty-three grandchildren, and one hundred and ten great-grandchildren, and before she died could say to her daughter, "Arise, daughter, and go to your daughter, for you daughter's daughter hath a daughter."
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