History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 23

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985

USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions > Part 23

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).

The headwaters of each of the streams named are tile ditches in Preble county ; Hopewell creek, in section 14, Dixon township: Four Mile creek, in section 10, Jackson township, and Little Four Mile, in section 31, Jackson township.

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CHAPTER XVII.

DIXON TOWNSHIP.

Dixon township is township 7 of range I east. The western half and southern third of the township is very flat and level and was orig- inally swampy and wet. But the farmers have cleared the land and con- structed many miles of main-line ditches, into which the farm ditches con- nect, so that the land is now well drained. In fact, the Fleisch ditch, so named after Michael Fleisch, who filed the petition with the commissioners for the ditch, is the longest and deepest ditch in the county, being at one place, just north of the south line of section 5, about fourteen feet deep. It is some six miles long, and into it flow many tile ditches. It is really the head of Little Four Mile. These ditches, of course, have redeemed the land, and it is today the heart of the corn belt, for Dixon township raises more corn than any other township of the county.

The northeastern and eastern sections of the township may be de- scribed as rolling, but the slopes are so long and easy that the land is very fertile. Four Mile creek crosses the township near the central part, and for a short distance on either side lies the only land that can be called broken.

Paint creek, as a county ditch, flows along the east line of section I for perhaps three-fourths of a mile, then crosses east and does not again touch Dixon township.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

The first white man to settle in Dixon township was Eli Dixon, or Dixson, as he wrote his name as county commissioner. He came in 1804, with three brothers, and settled on the northwest quarter of section II, on the banks of a small creek, which ever since has been called Dixon's branch. In 1809 he was elected county commissioner and served one term; was presi- dent of the board, and was, of course, instrumental in having the township formed in 1812, after which he was elected justice of the peace and was a captain of the militia. In 1818 Eli Dixon moved to Indiana and his further history is lost to our people, but he had written his name indelibly into our history.

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Benjamin Kercheval came from Kentucky in 1804 and settled on Four Mile creek, in section 28. At his house the first election was held in 1808, when Israel township comprised the whole west tier of townships, and again in 1811, when Dixon township was set off as it now exists, the first election was held at his house. He erected the first mill ever built in the township and it existed as a mill longer than any other here, being later known and now remembered as the Niccum mill at Stony Point, on Four Mile. He later sold the mill and is said to have moved on west to In- diana.

Benjamin Harris came early in 1806 and settled on a farm bordering on a small stream that is yet called Harris run. Smith Charles came about 1807 and settled on Four Mile. In 1807 Paul Larsh came from Pennsyl- vania and settled on Four Mile land. He is said to have spent several months living in a camp before he got his house built, in section 10, and during the first year deadened the large timber, cut out the small timber and planted six acres of corn. Before his own crop grew he had to make three or four trips to a mill on the Miami river, south of Hamilton some two or three miles, taking two days to make the round trip, to get meal and flour for family use. He was elected sheriff of the county in 1812, 1818 and 1820, serving three terms, was captain of the militia company, and later was elected colonel of the regiment. He served six months as quar- ter-master during the War of 1812.

Paul Larsh had a family of eleven children, one of whom, Thomas J. Larsh, was later for years one of the most prominent men of the. county, and C. B. Unger, the present owner and publisher of the Eaton Herald, is a great-grandson. Paul Larsh, about 1829, removed to Wayne county, In- diana, and in 1867 went to Kaskaskia, Illinois, on business and died of the cholera while there, and is there buried, being about eighty-five years old at the time of his death.

In 1808 the Truaxes settled in the western part of the township, fol- lowed later by Carey Toney and others. The land was then swampy, but Is now the most fertile land in the township. Robert Runyon settled near Sugar Valley in 1808, and shortly afterwards he had Josiah Simonson for a neighbor. From 1808 to 1815 came Simeon Gard, Samuel Gordon, Samuel Parks, Josiah Conger. Jacob Marshall, William Gray, Samuel Bell and the Lybrooks, followed closely by the Rheas, Woodwards, Swishers, Bristows and many others. The township settled up thereafter very rapidly, for the census report of 1830 gave the township one thousand three hun- dred and sixty-six inhabitants.

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Newton Larsh has always been regarded as the first white child born in the township. He was a son of Paul Larsh and was born while the family were living in camp the first year of their arrival. There were three mills, a carding-mill and three or four distilleries built in the early days, but all are gone. In fact, there are only the remains of the Kercheval mill, while all that remains of the others is memory. A child of Eli Dixon died in 1807, the first death in the township, and was buried in the little grave- yard in the northwest quarter of section II, on the farm now owned by Col. A. L. Harris.

About 1820 a man named Stratton bought the old Kercheval mill and for a number of years ran a store and grocery near the mill, and, about 1841, on the hill east of the mill, Stony Point postoffice was started, the first one in the township. Then, some years later, a grocery store was started at Sugar Valley and there is one there now. Afterwards a postoffice was established at Sugar Valley, and, still later, one at Concord church, called Ernest. They received their mail two or three times per week from Eaton, but in these days of rural free delivery of mail the whole township is served daily from Eaton and all postoffices have been discontinued.

There are no industries in the township but a couple of small saw- mills, the whole attention of the people being turned to agricultural pur- suits, in which they stand in the first rank. It is claimed, with much reason, that Alexander Hart, in the southern part of the township, built and operated the first tile-mill in the county.

SCHOOLS.

The first school house was built on the southeast quarter of section 24, about one hundred rods from Sugar Valley, the school being taught by John A. Daily, who was famous as a teacher in that early day. The school was probably built about 1812. About 1814 John Taylor started a school near West Florence. The township was later divided into nine sub-districts and a good building erected in each, supplied by excellent teachers.

In 1914 there was a vote of the electors on a central school plan and the issuance of bonds for thirty-eight thousand dollars to purchase land and carry the plan into execution, and it was carried by a large majority. A site of six acres for the building was selected in the southeast quarter of section 16, and they propose to have the plan fully in execution by October 1, 1915. The board of education now consists of five members, elected by

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the township, instead of one from each sub-district, as was the case a few years ago.

CHURCHES.

The first church of the township was a Baptist church, and Ebenezer Paddack informed the writer that, as a boy, some two or three years after the War of 1812, he helped haul the logs to build the church on section 5, known as the Michael Fleisch land. The church has long since disappeared.

The oldest existing church is the Methodist Episcopal church at Sugar Valley. About 1830, or shortly after, a class was formed of that church, from the members near Sugar Valley, and for some four or five years they met at private houses. Then John C. Deem became pastor and started a movement for a church. An old building was bought, moved, remodeled and located at the northwest corner of the southeast quarter of section 24, where it was used until about 1865, when it was burned. Then they erected the present brick building, alongside the old site, at a cost of about three thousand dollars, and the church now is in a prosperous condition. It has about ninety members, with a Sunday school that probably enrolls a greater number than the church.

The Concord Christian church was formed in November, 1840, under the pastorship of Rev. Luther Fenton. The organization at that time con- sisted of only eight members, of whom only seven can now be named, the early church records being probably lost. Their names are Moses Dooley, Carey Toney, Jacob Cooper and his two daughters, Lavicey and Elizabeth, Charles Collins and Alexander Rhea. They used the old township house for a meeting house for several years, and in 1848 they erected a frame church on the northeast quarter of section 16, costing about one thousand dollars. Elder Levi Purviance was the pastor for some dozen years there- after. In 1850 they organized a Sunday school and, the same year, laid out the present cemetery alongside the church. As the years went by the church became inadequate for their needs. A subscription for a new church was started and land therefor purchased just across the road in the north- west quarter of section 16. A substantial brick church, forty by sixty feet, built at a cost of something over four thousand dollars, was dedicated April 30, 1882, by Rev. Asa W. Coan. It stands on high land and adds to the beauty of the country. The present membership is one hundred and thirty- nine, and Rev. O. W. Powers is the pastor. They have the finest country church building in the county and are justly proud of it. In the fine weather of spring and summer many Sunday visitors from the villages visit the

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church, for it is favorably known over a wide area. The above informa- tion was furnished by W. O. Ross, secretary.

NOTABLE CITIZENS.

Dixon township has furnished a number of our most prominent men in the past century. John P. Charles, so well known to the people of the county as a newspaper man, was born in the township in 1815, and was the clerk of the first Legislature of Minnesota.

Andrew L. Harris was brought into the township by his parents while a babe in arms, and grew to manhood there. He went into the army in 1861 as a private and came home at the close of the Civil War a general. Since then he has held several offices and is the only man from this county who became lieutenant-governor and governor of the state.

Thomas J. Larsh was native born. John Pinkerton, Newton Larsh, Philip Lybrook and A. L. Harris, from this township, have served as repre- sentatives.

Some of the finest residences and farms of the county are within Dixon township. Its citizens are generous and hospitable, and the people of the township are more tolerant towards the religious bias of their neigh- bors than those of any other township of the county. They have just as much respect for moral and religious duties as any, but they seem ever ready to grant all the same rights demanded by themselves.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP. )

By R. E. Morrow.

Jackson township is township 8 on the United States government sur- vey, range I east, being the eighth township north of the Ohio river, and in the first row of townships east of the Ohio-Indiana line. The intention of the government surveyors was to make the surveyed townships exactly six miles square, with an area of twenty-three thousand forty acres. But, ow- ing to the difficulty of running accurate lines in the dense forest which cov- ered the land at the time the survey was made, and owing also, perhaps, to some lack of skill on the part of the early surveyors, Jackson township lacked something of being the standard size, and contains about twenty-one thousand seven hundred acres of land.

NATURAL FEATURES.

The surface of the township is gently rolling, with sufficient slope of the land in different directions to admit of very thorough drainage without any very great trouble or expense in securing outlets. About one-third of the township on the east side is drained by various small streams, which flow eastward and empty into Seven Mile creek above Eaton. Another one-third in the southwestern part of the township is drained by three or four differ- ent branches of Four Mile creek, which heads near Campbellstown in the center of the township. Four Mile creek empties into the Miami river at Hamilton, Ohio, and is joined a few miles above its mouth by Seven Mile, which also takes its rise in Preble county.

A narrow strip of land along the northwest border drains into Adams creek in Jefferson township. Adams creek empties into the east fork of Whitewater, a short distance above Richmond, Indiana. With this excep- tion, the northwest one-third of the township is drained by Elkhorn creek, which rises in section 4 and flows in a southwesterly direction, emptying into Whitewater river near Abington, Indiana.

While the greater part of the township is naturally well drained, yet some parts are flat, with poor natural drainage, and in early times, in the rainy seasons of the year, were covered to a large extent with ponds of

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water. One of these level sections extends from the northern part of sec- tion 15 in a northeasterly direction across section 2 into Jefferson township. Another is located in the southeast corner of the township in sections 25 and 36, and was known at one time as the "Rich Woods." Still another one is in the southwest quarter of the township and takes in the greater part of sections 19, 30 and 31 and a part of section 32.

To get rid of the surplus water in these level sections, the owners of the land resorted to surface and under-drains, using for the latter whatever material they could get, but chiefly wood in some form. The first tile drains were put down as early as 1862, possibly a little earlier, one of the first being laid in April of that year in section 9. Since that time the work has gone on continuously in all parts of the township and many thousands of rods of tile have been put in the ground, to the very great improvement of the land.

While the surface of the land has plenty of fall for drainage require- ments, there is no hilly or broken land and all parts of the township can be readily and easily cultivated. The soil for the most part is a clay loam, interspersed with areas of black or mulatto soil. All kinds have a consid- erable admixture of sand and gravel, making them friable and easily culti- vated. The land is fertile and productive and, under the careful and intel- ligent management of the farmers at the present time, the yield per acre of the crops grown in the township is gradually increasing.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

Below is given the average number of acres of the principal crops grown in the township for the ten years. 1904-1913, also the highest and lowest acreage and the year, as returned to the township assessors :

Average.

Highest

Lowest.

Corn

.4,810

1913-5.255

1908-4,353

Wheat

3.364

1907-3.970

1905-2,885

Oats

764

1912-1.583 1910- 233

Tobacco

171

1907- 260

1911- 123

The following are the assessors' returns for the yield per acre :

Average.

Highest.

Lowest.

Corn

45 bu.

1913- 5216 bu.

1904- 39 bu.

Wheat

16 bu.

1906- 2212 bu.

1912- 8 1-3 bu.

Oats

31 bu.

1912- 46 bu. 1908- 12 bu.

Tobacco 841 lbs.

1906-1,021 1bs. 1904-700 lbs.

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In 1913 there were one thousand nine hundred and eighty-three acres in timber. A small acreage of rye is grown, somewhat variable in amount. A sufficient amount of garden crops and the different kinds of fruit are grown to supply the home demand. The only fruit growing on a considerable com- mercial scale is done by J. S. Kuth, in section 6.

The newly sown crop of wheat was attacked by Hessian fly in the fall of 1899, and again in the spring of 1900, and totally destroyed. Not a bushel of wheat was harvested in the township that year.

The farmers of the township early learned the use and need of rota- tion of crops. The rotation followed has varied somewhat from time to time, the rotation at the present time being chiefly corn, wheat and clover. About the year 1883, or a little later, the use of commercial or chemical fertilizers was introduced into the agriculture of the township, being used first with wheat almost exclusively. Its use has gradually extended to other crops, but it is still used very largely for wheat. Acid phosphate is in most common use, generally the fourteen per cent. or sixteen per cent. grade. Some experiments in the use of lime are being made and its use is likely to be extended in the future.

Between twelve thousand and thirteen thousand bushels of wheat are consumed in the township each year. The balance is sold to be shipped away. In a general way, about ninety per cent. of the corn produced is con- sumed in the township, being fed to farm animals, to some extent to beef cattle for market, but to a much larger extent to hogs.

According to the assessor's returns there were 880 horses in the town- ship in February, 1914; 642 milch cows and 848 other cattle: 491 sheep, and 7,495 hogs. Farmers of the township have suffered considerable loss at different times because of the ravages of hog cholera. In 1913 the loss from this cause amounted to something over eleven hundred head, valued at more than nine thousand dollars. It seems probable that the loss from this source will be greatly reduced, if not entirely prevented, in the future by the use of hog cholera serum.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIP.

The history of Jackson township begins, for our purpose, with the coming of the white man. The Indian occupied the land before the white man came. The Mound Builder was here before the Indian, and no doubt some race, or possibly many races, lived here before the Mound Builder. It was, and is, a goodly land and one which, we can well believe, has at-

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tracted man and beast through many ages. The Indian had gone, or was going, as the white man came in. All the others had gone, and had left but little in the way of record behind them, less in Jackson township than in some other sections.

Probably the first settlement in Jackson township was made in the year 1805 by Ayres Taylor, near Four Mile creek, in section 29. He entered a quarter section of land and settled on it, but, being discouraged by the hard life of a lone pioneer in the wilderness and despairing also of being able to make the back payment on his land, he sold out the next year, 1806, to Henry Paddack and went back to Kentucky. The United States govern- ment was selling land at that time on the following terms: Two dollars per acre, either cash or in payments, one-fourth down, one-fourth in two years, one-fourth in three years and one-fourth in four years. As the early settlers had but little to sell and little or no market, it can be readily under- stood that making payments for land, even at two dollars an acre, was no easy undertaking. Henry Paddack, who came from Kentucky, was more fortunate than Taylor, or perhaps made of sterner stuff, and he stayed on. He raised the first crop in the township and planted the first orchard. He lived to see his family grow up around him, and died at an advanced age. Many of his descendants are still living in the township.

In this same year, 1806, John McCormick settled about a half mile north of Henry Paddack, and Robert McCormick built a log cabin in section 34, but rented it to Rice Price, who became a permanent resident of the town- ship. McCormick went back to Kentucky.

In March, 1807, Andrew Morrow settled in section 9, on Elkhorn creek, coming from North Carolina. The same year, or the next, John- Hardin came from Germantown, Montgomery county, and settled lower down on Elkhorn creek, near the state line.

During the next two or three years Michael Browell, David Sidwell, John Bosworth, Amos Higgins, William Neal, and the three Wade brothers, Joseph, John and William, settled near Hardin, and, together with others who came later, formed what was known as the Elkhorn settlement. Set- tlers were coming in on the Indiana side at the same time, and as many of them on both sides of the line came from Kentucky, the whole section of country came to be known as "Kaintuck." John and James Melling, and probably others, came in about the same time in the eastern part of the township. John Wolf settled in 1811 in section 10, John McCord about the same time in section 4, William Cooper in section 34 and the same year, Jacob Neff in section 36. Between 1812 and 1820 came Thomas Mc-

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Whinney and his family, including his three married sons, John, William and Matthew, John Campbell, Jacob Cline, Jacob Swain, Jeremiah Frame, Archibald Stark, John and George Morrow, brothers of Andrew Morrow, John C. McManus, Jesse Stamback, James McCowen and family, including his sons, John, William and James, and many others.

By this time the extreme pioneer conditions were passing away. Some of these early pioneers remained but a few years and then moved on. Others became permanent residents and the descendants of many of them are still numbered among the people of the township. The census of 1820 showed there were 615 people living in the township. Immigration continued" and the population increased until in 1840 it reached 1,260. The population in 1860 was 1,578; in 1880, 1,296; in 1900, 1,255, and in 1910, 1, 157.

IMPROVED CONDITIONS.

With the passing of the years and the increase of population came im- proved living conditions. The one-room log cabin gave wave to the frame dwelling, a little larger and more commodious. These, in turn, later on were replaced by other dwellings, still larger and better arranged and more per- manent. The log stable has been succeeded by large and well-appointed barns and other necessary buildings, until today the improvements on the average Jackson township farm have cost thousands of dollars.

The value of land has gone up from two dollars an acre in 1805 to one hundred dollars or more at the present time. The assessed valuation of real estate in the township for taxation purposes in 1914 was $1,913,600.00; of personal property, $504,620, and of the public utilities, $572,310, or a total valuation of $3,014,460.00. The tax rate for all purposes is 8.9 mills, di- vided as follows: School levy, 4 mills : road, 1.65 mills; total township, 1.9 mills ; county levy, 2.55 mills ; state, .45 mills, form the total taxes levied and collected.

PIONEER LIFE.

It is difficult for us to realize or appreciate what the pioneer life meant to the early settlers. Life was reduced to its simplest and lowest terms. The father of the family was at once a farmer, a carpenter, often a black- smith, a hunter, a tanner and a shoemaker. He might, on occasion, be forced to turn his hand to some other trade, or even profession, and to fail would mean hardship and suffering, or even death.

The mother was not only a mother and homekeeper, but she spun the

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thread, wove the cloth, and made the garments which clothed her children. She helped with the necessary preparation of the raw material before it was ready to spin, and in the hour of need she was the family doctor. Of necessity, every family had to prove sufficient unto itself, and no better proof could be offered of the wisdom and hard sense of the men and women of that day than the fact that so often they proved equal to the occasion. All honor to the courage, resolution and persistency of the pioneers who made the present Jackson township possible.

ORGANIZATION OF JACKSON TOWNSHIP.

Jackson township became a separate township by act of the county commissioners on December 18, 1816, being formed out of portions of Jef- ferson and Dixon townships. The first election was held at the house of Adam Starr. John Starr and John McCord were elected justices of the peace. William Stevens, who emigrated to Louisiana soon afterward, was elected township clerk. It is not known who the other officers were. The township house and township offices are located at Campbellstown, in the center of the township. The township trustees at the present time are H. E. Ashinger, John Barr and S. S. Hart. Frank G. Thompson is town- ship clerk and James Shumate treasurer.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.

The first meetings of a religious nature were held at homes of the early settlers. About 1810 a congregation of the Christian, or "New Light" denomination was organized under the leadership of Elder David Pur- viance, who had come out from Kentucky a few years before and settled in the southwest corner of what is now Jefferson township. Shortly after- ward, probably about 1815, a frame church building was erected on the Indiana side of the state line, opposite section 7 of this township. The church and congregation adopted or received the name of Shiloh and be- came the religious center for miles around. The membership lived in both states, but the greater part of it on the Ohio side. A graveyard was estab- lished nearby and many of the early settlers found a last resting place there. Later on, the congregation declined in numbers and became extinct, and the church building was removed many years ago. About the time the Shiloh congregation became extinct-1840-a new congregation of the same denomination was organized in the neighborhood around New West

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History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 23

Author: R. E. Lowry Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 985

Author: R. E. Lowry
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 985