USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 82
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William, the great-grandfather, came from England
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
about the year 1725. He had two sons, Michael and Daniel, the last named beîng the grandfather of our sub- ject. Mr. Isgrig's father being born in the time of the Revolution gave him some opportunity of witnessing the consequences of the war. The Tories were troublesome, having burned his father's barn, and committing other depredations that caused fear and alarm to the family. After the war his father moved to the Alleghany mountains, eight miles above Fort Cumberland, and remained there until 1789, when the family removed to Maysville, Ken- tucky, going down the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers in a boat. The usual hardships of a pioneer life with the Indians as well as in many other respects, were ex- perienced by the family, and as usual many tales of ad- venture and heroism could here be told. Suffice it to say Mr. Isgrig's father was a bold and daring man, capa- ble of enduring what would have overthrown most men, and withal was a strict man in his family, observing the Christian duties of a father and husband himself. In 1806 the family removed to Green township, Hamilton county, Ohio, where Daniel Isgrig, the subject of this sketch was married, in the year 1817, to Miss Elizabeth McMahon.
In 1831 he bought the present homestead, consisting of seventy-three acres, living for a time at Mt. Healthy, but at the above named time moved to the present homestead two miles north of Dent, on the Pleasant
ridge. From here he moved to Taylor's creek, where he lived nine years, but returned in 1880.
In 1841 he was married the second time, his second wife's name being Mary Underwood, and from which union he was blessed with three children: Viola, the daughter of this wife, now Mrs. Marks has her abode with her father; Robert, a son, was nine months in the war of the Rebellion, and a regular nine years after the war. His third wife, Miss Seal, is still living; from this union he is the father of one child, and of eighteen children in all.
Mr. Isgrig is of a hardy, robust nature, has seldom ex- perienced sickness during his long, eventful life, and has been a character of some position and influence during his time. His education was necessarily limited, having mastered the rudiments of an education more by sheer contact with the problems of life than from instruction -nor in this do we find him unsuccessful. For thirty years and over he was the principal surveyor of his county, and during that period, but few roads or farms, and tracts of lands of his township have escaped from his glazing axe. He was also, many years, administrator, serving for different parties at different times. He was also for a number of years notary public, township trustee, etc., so that in summing up his life, we find him to have been a very useful and prominent citizen of his county.
HARRISON.
HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION.
This township had its origin in the manifest need of a new municipality for the convenience of the increasing population in the northwestern part of the county, which in 1853 caused the erection by the county commissioners of Harrison from Crosby and Whitewater townships. It is the northernmost township of the county. Its boundary lines are wholly artificial, and begin on the dry fork of Whitewater, at the southeast quarter of sec- tion thirty-three, in range one, township three; thence westward three miles to the county and State line; thence north six miles to the Butler county line; thence east three miles to the northeast corner of section four; thence south to the place of beginning. Dearborn county, In- diana, lies next to the westward; Butler county on the north; four miles of Crosby and two miles of White- water townships on the east; and Whitewater township on the south.
Harrison lies altogether upon Congress land, in the west half of the third township, range one. It thus con- tains eighteen sections of land, which cover a little more
territory than so many exactly full sections, by reason of some divergence of meridian lines in the easternmost tier, making some of them a little broader than should be. The central and western tiers are beautifully regular squares, appropriately exact. The acres of the township number eleven thousand one hundred and forty-seven.
Harrison township lies chiefly in the valleys of the Whitewater and Dry fork of the Whitewater, giving its surface a generally flat and fertile character. The former stream enters from Indiana upon section nineteen, half a mile south of Harrison village, and flows in a tortuous course of about three miles through four western and southern sections of the township to its point of exit nearly half way across the southern township line. The Dry fork skirts the southern half of the eastern line, with several ins and outs, and an exceedingly winding course, leaving the township finally almost exactly at the south- east corner. Lee's creek, with two other tributaries flow- ing into the Dry fork in Crosby township, partly or wholly intersect the northeastern part of Harrison; and some of the headwaters of Whitewater river, flowing to the west of
RICHARD CALVIN.
Richard Calvin was born at the old family homestead in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 1, 1806. His father, Joshua, was of German extraction, and held the office of captain at Marker's · Hook, below Philadelphia, in the War of 1812. All his grandparents were born and grew up to young manhood and early womanhood at or near Kingwood, Hunterdon county, New Jersey. All were farmers, except his grandfather on his father's side, who was a miller, but who devoted most of his time to agricultural pursuits. They all took an active part in the Revolution and reflected much credit on their names. His mother's father was for many years justice of the peace. His grandfather Calvin had six children, and his grandfather Up- dike ten children. Mr. Calvin's father and mother were the oldest out of each family. His father died at seventy-seven years, and his mother at eighty-five years, Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, being the seat of their death. Susan Ann was his mother's given name. Richard Calvin had four brothers and six sisters -- Jonathan, Katie, Grace, Clara See, Fannie, Rebecca, Samuel, Luther, Susan, William. Nearly all the family are dead, while those remaining are scattered throughout the land. Richard was born at Erwinna, a noted post
office near Doylestown, the county seat. At the close of the War of 1812, his father bought a farm on the Dela- ware, settled, raised a large family, and though not wealthy, was a powerful factor in all enterprises of private and public importance. He served two terms in the leg- islature about 1822. It was at the old homestead that
Richard received his
education. As was the fashion then, he attended school dur- ing the winter months only. Mathematics was his favorite study, and from his natural talents more than anything else, was en- abled in after years to compute and draft for public contracts. At twenty-two years of age he left home, went between Bristol and Easton and there, in partnership with Isaac Otis, en- gaged in building a canal from Bristol to Easton. This was
his first public con- tract. He next em- ployed himself in erecting a dam on the Schuylkill and build- ing a railroad from Port Clinton to Mockway. Here he became acquainted with Miss Martha Hann, an English girl, a resident of Pottsville. They were married at Read- ing, Pennsylvania, in 1831, and settled at the same place for a time. Anna, his first child, was born at Reading in 1832. He next contracted for building an inclined plane railway, very heavy work, over Broad mountain,
MRS. RICHARD CALVIN.
which was the first inclined railway in Pennsylvania. He next migrated to Michigan, because of non-employment in Pennsylvania. Porter was governor then, and on him Calvin called and was treated kindly. This was the sec- ond year after the Black Hawk war. Here he bought six or seven hundred acres of land, paid for it in cash, and began farming on the St. Joseph river. Indians and all manner of wild animals were in profusion ; and here, too, overtook them death and ill health, losing two of their house- hold. On account of these disasters the farm was sold, and from Michigan they changed to Logansport, Indiana. While here he contracted in building locks and bridges. In 1837 he lo- cated in Indianapolis, and again took contracts for bridges and canals. Then he changed to Putnam county, took more contracts, and here, too, his second daughter, Bettie, was born, 1840. In 1841 the State became bankrupt, and then a change was made to Har- rison, Ohio, turning his at- tention to agriculture. In 1844 his daughter Mattie was born. Again, in 1845, at the earnest solicitation of the Whitewater Canal com- pany, he engaged in building and improving dams on the river, between Brookville and Lawrenceburgh.
Mrs. Calvin was born in England, and came to the United States when a child, and grew to womanhood at Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. Her parents were prominent miners, and brought men from England
to carry on mining in the Eastern States. Her brothers were active in the cause of freedom, and early gave their time and means to their chosen land. One of them is now a government collector at Detroit, Michigan. They are large, strong, powerful men. She is one out of a family of twelve children-the third in line. Only three of her children live: Anna, wife of Charles Hilts, who has four daughters and one son; Bettie, wife of George C. Huston, who has two daughters and one son; and Mattie (wife of Thomas Taylor, son of ex-mayor of Cincinnati, Mark P. Taylor) whose husband is deputy sheriff of the county.
In politics and educa- tion Richard Calvin is fa- vorably known. In 1865 the Republican party elected him sheriff by a majority of five thousand. By nature he is adapted to accumulate property ; by nature he is honest and benevolent; by nature he is admirable and worthy of esteem. Mr. Calvin re- tired from business on ac- count of failing eyesight ; and though feeble, he may yet see many more years of happiness. His life has been a successful one, and amidst all his trials and tribulations, has been above reproach. Exposure and hardship often bring to light admirable qualities in men, and in Mr. Calvin's case they certainly produced this result. No one can lay to his action an uncharitable deed.
313
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Harrison village, have their source in the northwestern part of the township. The southern half of the town- ship is mostly low, belonging to the bottom-land of the streams; the northern half is more elevated, and broken into ridges by the wear of water-courses, and very likely other agencies, through the milleniums of geology.
The Whitewater Valley railroad, keeping pretty close to the river whence it takes its name, enters, like that, the township below Harrison village, and runs for about four miles to a point half a mile east of the viver and a little more than a mile from the southeast corner of the township, where it departs into Whitewater township. The Whitewater canal formerly had its course in part through this township, nearly on the same line as the railroad, and also terminating, so far as Hamilton county is concerned, near Harrison village. Its history is re- corded in a chapter of part I of this book. The Harri- son turnpike also comes in from the direction of Miami- town, near the southeast corner of section twenty-eight, and runs thence in a nearly straight and due northwest course across the township to the village of Harrison.
ANCIENT REMAINS.
The limited tract of Harrison township does not abound in ancient remains, but still possesses some of interest, as the mounds on Bonnell's hill, in the eastern part of the township, which are understood to be among the burial- places of the long-gone race in the valleys of the White- water and the Great Miami.
EARLY RELIGION.
About 1803 a regular Baptist church, attached to the Miami Baptist association, was organized in what is now the northern part of Harrison township, and took the name of Dry Fork of Whitewater church, a singular name for a church of immersionists, truly. In 1836 this society went off with the anti-mission Baptist churches, and is said to have lost its identity altogether in 1853. At this time the majority of the association, in membership and vastly so in number of churches, including this one, joined the anti-mission standard.
THE MORGAN RAID.
The great event in the brief history of this, the young- est township of Hamilton county, was the John Morgan raid, which occurred ten years after the creation of the township, or in July, 1863. The invading force crossed it on the main roads, but entered ic on but one-that through Harrison village. The advent of Morgan and his horde at that place was a thorough surprise. It was known by the people that he was somewhere to the west- ward in Indiana; but his direction of march was un- known, and there was no special reason to expect him at Harrison. Morgan's forces were, indeed, considerably scattered in southeastern Indiana, on the twelfth of July, and it was exceedingly difficult to divine the leader's in- tentions; but on that day and the forepart of the next they moved rapidly by converging roads upon Harrison, at which one point they struck Ohio. About one o'clock in the afternoon of the thirteenth the advance of the rebel command was seen streaming down the hillsides on the west side of the valley, and the alarm was at once
given in the streets of Harrison. Citizens hastened at once to secrete valuables and run off their horses; but in a very few moments the enemy was swarming all over the town. The raiders generally behaved pretty well, however, offering few insults to the people, and maltreat- ing no women or other person. They secured what horses they could, and thronged the stores, taking whatever they fancied. The eccentric character of the stealing, as de- scribed by Colonel Duke in our chapter on the Morgan raid through Ohio, was manifest here. One gentleman who kept a drug and notion store was despoiled of noth- ing but soap and perfumery. He had a large stock of albums, which were popular then, and expected to see them go rapidly; but not one-was taken. Similar inci- dents are related of other shops in the village; and from one and another a large amount of goods in the aggregate was taken. But there was no robbery from house to house, or from the person; and after a very few hours stay, having refreshed themselves and their horses, and gained all desired information, the head of the column began to file out of the village in the direction of Cincin- nati, on the Harrison turnpike. Reaching the junction of the New Haven road a third of a mile out, part of the force took to that thoroughfare, and proceeded eastward through Crosby township, crossing the Great Miami at New Baltimore. The remainder kept down the Harrison pike, through Whitewater township, crossing the river at Miamitown. Their passage on both roads was attended by no special incident, and was of course entirely unop- posed. That same night found the invading force abreast of Cincinnati, and the next day out of the county, after a tremendous midsummer march of thirty hours. But the thrilling story has been related elsewhere, and need not be further dwelt upon here.
THE OLD SOLDIERS.
For the following list of veteran volunteers from Har- rison township, in the late war, credit is due to the hand- some double number of the Harrison News, published Christmas day, 1879 :
Bruce Keen, Jackson Williams, and Alexander Wiles, of company C, Fifth Ohio cavalry, all reenlisted February 15, 1864, and mustered in March 16, 1864.
Christopher Doerman, same company and regiment, reenlisted March 31, 1864, mustered in April 25, 1864.
Arthur Hill, same command, reenlisted March 29, 1864, mustered in April 25th, same year.
Will R. Hartpence, company C, Fifty-first Indiana infantry, reenlist- ed January 1, 1864, mustered in February 12, 1864.
William T. Campbell, George W. Pierce, Francis M. Shook, Joseph Davis, William Gold, William Orr, and David H. Lawrence, Fifty- second Indiana infantry, enlisted and mustered in February 27, 1864.
Frank Crets and Isaac Jackson, Seventeenth Indiana battery, reen- listed and mustered in January 1, 1864.
Patrick Haggerty.
NOTES OF SETTLEMENT.
John Ashby was born in the territory of Indiana, in 1810, June 2nd. Fourteen years after that date he went to Cincinnati, Ohio. When he came to Ohio he learned the tanner's and currier's trade, but abandoned it after- ward, and, coming to Harrison, entered into partnership with his brother, Hamilton, for the purpose of trading in dry goods. In 1843 he was appointed postmaster of
40
314
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Harrison, which position he kept for seven years. In 1851 he was engaged by William & Samuel Ferris to su- perintend their store, where he remained four years. One term he served as mayor of Harrison, and at several dif- ferent times he has been elected to the office of justice of the peace, which office he is holding at the present time. He has always been a Democrat in politics. His first wife, Elizabeth Tooker, was born in 1818, married in 1836, and died in 1854. She had five children: Mar- tin V. B., Olin H. P., George M. D. (married to Clara Zeumer), Alice, and Ida. His second wife was Phœbe C. Zeumer, who died in August of 1879, at the age of fifty-eight.
Warren Tibbs, born in Prince William county, Vir- ginia, in 1791, emigrated from North Carolina to Ohio in 1807, when he located his home in Harrison. During his early life he was a farmer, but afterward followed the hotel business at the place now owned by Dr. Thomas. At one time, while a river trader between New Orleans and Harrison, he was obliged to sell his boat and walk back with no protection excepting his rifle. He was twice chosen to represent Dearborn county, Indiana, in the State legislature. At different times he held the of- fices of postmaster, justice of the peace, and township trustee. In the Indian war he had a part under General Harrison. In politics he has always been a Democrat.
He married Elizabeth, a native of Kentucky, in 1815, who was born in 1794. Her death occurred at Williams- port, Indiana, in 1875. Her husband died at the same place in 1872. They had ten children: Alvin G., whose wife was Maria Snyder, of Harrison; Francis M., married to Tillie McNelba, and living in Louisiana; Moses, mar- ried and living in Nevada; Loria A., married to James Cloud, and now in Indiana; Louisa, the wife first of Si- mon Smythe and afterward of James Torrence, now a resident of Indiana; Loretta, living in the same State; Lydia, the wife of Doctor Miller, of Indiana; Martha A., married to Isaac Roseberry, and Elizabeth, to Henry Johnson, both living in Indiana; and one child that died in infancy before it had been named.
Alvin G. Tibbs was born in Indiana, in the year 1816. For three years he attended school at Oxford, Ohio, afterward dividing his time between farming and teach- ing school. In Indiana he held the office of justice of peace, and was twice elected to the legislature of that State from Dearborn county. He married Maria Snyder of Pennsylvania in 1838. He was a member of the Christian church; in politics was always a Democrat. He died in 1856, his wife surviving him. They have had seven children-Theodore, who died while an infant; Fannie, now living in Indiana ; Warren, married to Ellma Laymen and residing in the same State; George B., of Indiana, also, married to Maria Gunkle; John H., whose wife is Sarah A. Keen, now of Hamilton county ; Arthur G., now of Lawrenceburgh, Indiana ; and James W., mar- ried to Emma Hillman of the same State.
John F., son of Alvin G. Tibbs, was born in Harrison, in 1845, where he gained a common school education to which he added three years at Oyler's college. In 1859 he learned the miller's trade which he followed for a
time but finally gave it up and engaged as clerk with W. W. Davidson & Co. In 1870 he began the business of "Men's Furnishing Goods" which he still follows under the firm name of Tibbs Brothers, the only store of the kind in Harrison. He is a member of the Christian church; served one term on the board of education of Harrison. He married Sarah A. Keen, a native of Indi- ana, in 1868. They have four children, John, Bertha, James, and Arthur.
William F. Converse was born in Randolph, Orange county, Vermont, June 10, 1812. Attending the Orange County academy, he took the regular course of study. When sixteen years old he went to Rochester to live, where he served an apprenticeship to the gunsmith's trade. In 1836 he came to Hamilton county, and at first settled in Cincinnati. There he entered the employ of Abel Cox in the manufacture of guns, on Elm street. After remaining there three years he came to Harrison and opened an establishment for the manufacture of guns. After a short time, owing to ill health, he sold his inter- est to Henry Minor. He left his trade and followed school teaching for three years; he then engaged as book- keeper and cashier for William Hasson, of Harrison. In 1849 he invented the simultaneous screw cutting machine that came into general use in a short time. In 1861 invented the elastic wire bed bottom, an article generally used throughout the United States. In 1846 he was elected representative from Hamilton county on the Democratic ticket, and afterward reelected. In 1853 he was elected to the State senate, and two years later re- elected. In 1863 he was elected on the Union ticket county commissioner. At one time he also held the office of trustee of Harrison township, and was elected the first mayor of Harrison, He is a member of the Christian church; in politics an independent, always vot- ing for whom he may think the best man. He married Margaret J. Snyder, of Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1847. They have eight children: Augusta and Francis, of Hamilton county ; Oliver, married to Cora Ball and now in Stark county; William, married to Rebecca West and residing also in Stark county; Frederick, living in Har- rison; Annie, living in Harrison county; and Edith and Bertha, both of Harrison. He served as president of the school board of Harrison for many years, was always interested in educational matters, and was the first to organize the present school system in Harrison, writing and putting up the first notice to call a meeting over thirty years ago. He was the prime mover, too, in the organization of a cemetery board, and has been president of the Glenhaven cemetery for the past twenty-five years.
George Arnold was born in Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, in the year 1784, but emigrated from New Jersey to Ohio, and settled in Elizabethtown, Whitewater township. In 1828 he moved into Indiana, where he remained thirty years. While there, he was representative from Dear- born county two successive terms. He was also elected county commissioner for the same county. Later in his life he returned to Ohio, where he remained till his death, which occurred in 1866, at Lawrenceburgh, Indiana. He was killed by a fall from his carriage. He married
MR. STEPHEN BURK
is the second son, and third child, of Ulick and Rachel (Jones) Burk, of Baltimore county, Mary- land, both of them born and raised there. They had nine children, besides Stephen six daughters and three sons-John, Nancy, Elisha, Mary, Sarah (died in infancy), Elizabeth, Rachel, Susan, and Ulick. John, Stephen, and Elisha, the three old- est children, and Mary, now Mrs. George Swales, a widow, residing four to five miles southwest of Harrison, in Indiana, and Rachel (Mrs. Joshua Lemon, widow of a farmer now deceased, of Fayette county, Indi- ana), are still living. The parents removed in 1809 from Maryland to the tract about one mile south of Harrison, on the State line, now own- ed by their son Stephen, where Mrs. Burk's father had already settled. Here they lived the rest of their lives, and both of them died here in a good old age-the father in his eighty-fifth year, January 16, 1864; and the mother in her eighty- third or eighty-fourth year, dying February 22, I 866.
Stephen Burk was two years old when his par- ents came to the Miami country, having been born September 24, 1807, at the old home in Baltimore
county, Maryland. He is somewhat remotely of Irish stock, on the father's side. He was educated to the limited extent attainable in the schools of that day and neighborhood, and has acquitted himself through a long life as a man of intelligence and character. He remained a bachelor at the old home south of Harrison, devoting himself to the care of his parents and the labors of the farm' except one year, when he took a partnership in a country store at Alquina, Fayette coun- ty, Indiana-until both his father and mother had gone to their long home. He staid some years longer upon the paternal estate, during which he was married, June 16, 1875, to Miss Martha Eliza Pruden, of Harrison village. In the February following he removed to the pleasant, elegant resi- dence now occupied by MOSS-ENG TOFFY him on the Cincinnati turnpike, one mile southeast of Harrison, where he is spending a tranquil old age, in quite tolerable health for his years, and with the remembrance of a life well spent to cheer him.
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