History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 28

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 28

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).

D. W. McQueen, J. W. Coombs and W. E. Pryor are at present prac- ticing and resident physicians in the village.

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FRATERNAL SOCIETIES.

Camden Lodge No. 159, Free and Accepted Masons, was organized on May 18, 1848, the charter members being Jonathan Crowley, Andrew Weist, Andrew Coffman, Charles C. Bruce, Jacob S. Showalter, Perry Hestle, John C. Campbell, Ebenezer P. Justin, John Brower, Daniel B. Corry, Harrison Perham, Isaac G. Eson, Samuel D. Clayton and Adam C. Dean. The lodge grew and for fifty years rented a number of different rooms in which to hold its meetings, at the end of which time a movement was started among the members to build and own their own lodge room. After keeping up the agitation for some ten years, the agitation won and the lot at the southeast corner of Main and Hendrix streets was purchased. Money was raised to erect a three-story brick building, with modern improvements, for a lodge hall and the building was completed in 1912, the lodge now having one of the finest halls in the county. The lodge numbers one hundred and twelve mem- bers. The total cost of the temple was about twelve thousand dollars.

Western Star Lodge No. 109, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized on June 8, 1848, with nine charter members, the charter being dated April 21, of that year. In 1851 the Odd Fellows built a third story to the building at the northwest corner of Main street and Central avenue, and in 1874 they purchased the whole building, renting the lower story. The lodge numbers about one hundred and twenty-five members.

A Daughters of Rebekah lodge, No. 125, was organized in July, 1880, and has a membership a little less than that of the Odd Fellows lodge, and uses the same building.

The Knights of Pythias lodge, No. 259, was chartered in 1887, with some thirty members, and now numbers about one hundred and twenty mem- bers. This lodge rents a lodge room on the west side of Main street.

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

In 1891 the village purchased a lot just east of the Universalist church on Central avenue and erected thereon a brick town hall, one of the most commodious in the county, at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars. About 1897, an electric light plant was erected and the village is now well lighted, both on the streets and commercially.

In 1890 Pucket & Glenn started a private bank, which soon got a fair share of business, but it really was but a branch of the Hillsboro bank. In 1893 the parent bank became insolvent and took the Camden bank down

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with it. Another bank was started the next year and it is still running. (See chapter on Banking.)

Two newspapers have been started in the village, for which see chapter on the Press.

The business of the town is in the aggregate very considerable: three grain elevators, two coal yards, a lumber yard, five groceries, two dry-goods and grocery stores, three bakeries, one butcher shop, two hotels, one restau- rant, one merchant tailor, one bank, three hardware stores, three blacksmiths, two auto-repair shops, four garages, two shoe stores, two drug stores, two stock-yards, one cement factory, one cannery, one poultry shipper, two tobacco warehouses, two livery barns, two milliners, and last, but not least, one old-fashioned shoe shop, where the sound of the hammer is heard most of the time.

In 1885, W. E. McChristie started the business of taking pictures on a large scale, and enlarging and mounting old family pictures by photography. He later built a large brick building at the northwest corner of Main and Hendrix streets, naming his business and his building "The Nonpariel" For a number of years he did a most extensive business, both by express and through the postoffice, his work being found in nearly every state of the Union, comprising some of the finest work to be found in his line, and the business seemed to be permanent; but the big companies began to cut in on his business and in 1908 he closed his place, sold out and moved to Cincinnati.

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CHAPTER XXI.

GASPER TOWNSHIP.

Gasper township is the smallest one in Preble county, comprising only twenty-four sections, struck off of the south end of township 7, range 3 east, in 1825, on the petition of Gasper Potterf, as stated in the chapter on organization of the county.

It is drained by Seven Mile creek, which flows south across the town- ship about one mile and a half west of the east line thereof. Along each side of the stream are generally small tracts of rich bottom land, and then follows what in this county are called hills, the land sloping up somewhat rapidly to the level or rolling plateau above, but the slopes are mostly cul- tivable. The hills are nearly all confined to a tract of about a half mile on each side of the stream. Then Paint creek drains the western side of the township, flowing across within a mile or less of the western line of the township, and what is said of the hilly land along Seven Mile is also true of the Paint Creek land.

Paint creek leaves the township in and near the southwest corner of section 32, near Muttonville, and flows into Seven Mile about a half mile south of Camden. After reaching the upland on each side of the streams, the country is level or slightly rolling. The drainage is good and the town- ship has always had the reputation of being a healthy location, although there are tracts which have been drained by large tile ditches. Some of the most abrupt creek bluffs of the county are to be found along the lower course of Paint creek, rivalling those along Little Four Mile. These two streams, while among our small streams, seem like some small calibre peo- ple, to be able to do the most unexpected things so as to make themselves noticed, and they generally succeed.

NATURE'S GIFT TO THE FARMER.

The land is loam and clay or clay subsoil, and very productive, some of our finest farms being in this township. The markets for the township are Eaton and Camden. The Cincinnati and Richmond division of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis railroad practically follows the

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course of Seven Mile across the township, but there are no stations in the township; although originally there was one at the Four Mile Valley house, four miles south of Eaton, but it was abandoned many years ago, and is now only a long siding for the passing of freight trains. Wayne's Old Trace road crosses the township about a mile west of its east line.

The township originally was heavily timbered, but the area of wood- land is today very restricted. In the days of the early settlers the town- ship was reputed as one of the best hunting grounds of the county, but to- day the few thin forest areas afford so little protection that even squirrels are a scarce game.

A FEW NOTABLE NAMES.

The first settler of the county was Silas Dooley, Sr., who, with his father, Moses Dooley, settled on upper Paint creek in 1805, and the first house had three sides, with a fire in front of the open end of the house. Silas worked at chopping and clearing for parties at Springdale and Seven Mile while his father went back to Kentucky for the family. Silas was then only twenty-one years of age. In 1806, he worked for David E. Hen- drix, clearing land in Eaton, and in 1807 entered a quarter section of land for himself in section 17, part of which is yet owned by his descendants. In May, 1808, he married Johannah Westerfield, and a day or so after the wedding, they began planting corn, his wife doing the dropping while he followed with a hoe. Lieut. Silas Dooley, so well known to the people of the township and Eaton, who died only a few years ago, was a son of the pioneer. The marriage license for the marriage of this couple is claimed to be the first marriage license issued in the county.

Gasper Potterf, born in 1754, in Virginia, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary army, and married Susannah Ridenour in 1784. He moved into Gasper township in 1806, and settled in section 26. Of German extraction, he inherited the German thrift and soon saw there was a demand for mill product, and in 1808 he built a mill on Seven Mile creek, and for some years the bolting was done by hand. He soon erected a distillery in con- nection with the mill and the war of 1812 made the demand for both mill products and whisky very considerable. He made money rapidly, which he saved and invested in land, built a saw-mill and carried on farming extensively for his day. He was married twice and had a family of sixteen children. He died in 1836 and was buried on the farm, but some years since his remains were removed to the Eaton cemetery.

John Railsback came into the township hunting land with Moses Dooley in 1805, and is said to have made his selection, but he did not move from

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Kentucky until 1806, after Potterf, when he settled in section 18 and built a cabin.

Robert Runyon, born in Kentucky, 1785, settled in the township in · 1810.

Stephen Allbaugh, born in 1791, came from Maryland and settled in Gasper township in 1812. He accumulated considerable property, left a large family and lived to within a few years of the century mark.

There were a number of other early settlers at about the same times as those given, but some of them later sold out and moved away, and of the others it may be said that their history can not now be gathered to a certainty.

Armistead Huffman came very early and settled on section 21, and died there about 1859, leaving nine children.

Christian Sayler, born in Maryland, 1785, came to Preble county in 1806 and moved to Gasper township in 1814, dying on his farm in 1852. He had a family of nine children, and his farm is yet owned by his grandson. Martin Sayler.

There are two churches in the township, one in section 17, called Friendship church, and one at Muttonville, originally built about 1840, and burning down some thirty years later, it was afterwards rebuilt.

A NEW USE FOR MUTTON.

The writer was informed many years ago, that about 1830 to 1840, the neighboring farmers of the vicinity of Muttonville raised many sheep, which did well, and three or four houses were built on small tracts of land, near together. The young men of the surrounding country nicknamed the cluster of houses "Muttonville," for want of a name, and as time passed it came into general use and stuck. There is a small grocery at Mutton- ville, and there was a post office, but the rural routes did away with it. There was also a church at what is called Antioch, and also one in the northeast corner of section 18, but both have long since gone, the members now coming to Eaton churches.

While there are no towns in the township, it has furnished a number of our public men. Peter Shideler was one of our associate judges; Hay- den Dooley, a state representative; Henry Shideler. state senator, three terms ; Martin F. Stephens, representative, and treasurer, two terms; Josiah Flora, county commissioner for seven years, and John B. Campbell, county commissioner, two terms.

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There are six school houses in the township, evenly distributed, well built and furnished and are a good grade of country schools.

The lands are generally fertile clay soil, with limestone subsoil, well improved, and the houses are good farm residences, many of them containing many modern improvements; the barns are large and commodious, all of which tell their own story of a thrifty, prosperous and contented community of farmers.

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CHAPTER XXII.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

Washington township is the central township of the county, as well as the largest township, being composed of all of township 8, range 2 east, and the north two miles of township 7, range 2 east, and containing forty-eight sections.

It is drained by Seven Mile creek, and Banta's fork and their tributaries, except the southwestern part, which is drained by Paint creek, which has its headwaters in section 36 of Jackson township. The land is generally level or slightly rolling, except along the immediate lower courses of Seven Mile creek and Banta's fork, where the land becomes broken, though not rough and bluffy. Much of the land is so level that in an early day it was swampy. After being cleared, this land was drained with open ditches, which later were supplanted by tile drains, until now the whole township is well drained and the land that was swamp is the most fertile.

Garrison branch, and Periwinkle creek, from the west, and Rocky run, from the east, are the chief tributaries of Seven Mile creek, while Lowry's run and Goose creek, whose waters flow into Banta's fork, complete the drainage of the township.

The history of the formation of the township is given in the article on County Organization, and need not be repeated.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

There had been entries of land made in 1804, but no settlement. The entryman seems to have located to suit himself ; then filed his entry in the land office, returning east or south to his old home to bring his family and goods to the new home.

William Bruce is believed to have been the first settler to build a house in the township, he having built there in 1805. In the same year John Gold- smith came to the northwest quarter of section 4, township 7, range 2 east.

In 1806 there seem to have been a number of settlers crowding into the township, among them John Meroney, George Dooley, Andrew Dooley, (20)

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Joseph and Nathan Sellers, John Ward and Samuel Ward, later elected sheriff ; John Aukerman, John J. Sherer, David Bloomfield, Benjamin Neal, Henry Young and others. Within the next two or three years others came so fast that it could be seen the township was becoming settled. It is claimed that some two dozen cabins were built in the township in 1806.

At the election of 1814, over one hundred years ago, there were but forty votes cast in the township. I have looked over the list and of the names now in the township I only recognize a few, Ramsay, Spacht, Mitchell, Har- ris, Stevens, White, Crous and Dooley, which would indicate that most of the pioneer males had emigrated, or that eighty per cent. of the descend- ants were females who had changed their names.

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

In the township at present there are twelve country school houses, so located that all the children of each sub-district may easily reach the school.

In the earlier days there were quite a number of country churches scat- tered over the county, of which but few survive. As the roads improved and methods of travel became speedier, the church people gravitated to the village churches. Within Washington township there yet exist three coun- try churches. Zion Evangelical Lutheran church, some four miles north of Eaton, on the North road, was founded in 1819, by Rev. Lewis Morgan, the first house of worship being a log cabin church, though the services often were held in private houses, and, when the weather permitted, were held in a barn.

A brick church was built about 1840, and about 1876-7, the old church not being large enough, the present brick church was built. John Kaylor and Henry Kesling were the first trustees. Among the pastors have been Jacob Gruber. George W. Busby, George Baughman and George Weber, the latter of whom is the present pastor. The Reverend Baughman was the pastor for more than thirty years. The church and Sunday school each num- ber about eighty. Zion cemetery, immediately adjoining the church, is un- der the control and management of that church. This church, in the last fifty years, has had five pastors, who bore the Christian name of George. The pastor called in the spring of 1915 is named George Sixth, which name just fits his pastorate.

In 1868 the German Baptist church (Old Order) erected a church just east of the Richmond pike. in the southeast quarter of section 29, commonly called Beech Grove church, in which services are now held only occasionally.

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Another branch of the German Baptists, now called the Church of the Brethren, about the year 1893 erected a church in the northeast quarter of the same section, which is now the chief place of worship for the people of that communion for some distance around it.

The Sherer cemetery, in section 7, and Bonebrake cemetery, in sections 17 and 20, are now township cemeteries, but are little used except by the descendants of some of the pioneers who are buried therein. The Halder- man cemetery, in the south half of section 11, township 7, range 2 east, just east of the Eaton and Hamilton pike, was begun by the settlers at an early day, and in it are found some very fine works of the monument builder, but, being regarded as a family cemetery, it is now but little used.

THE COUNTY SEAT.

Eaton, the county seat, is the only village within Washington township, and since, for a hundred years, nearly all the people of the township have gone to church, sold the produce of their farms, transacted most of their business and held their conventions and elections in Eaton, its history is, in reality, the history of the township.

William Bruce, early in 1805, was prospecting for a location for a home and visited this county. Discovering the natural dam in Seven Mile creek, near what is now the west end of Wadsworth street, he is said to have exam- ined carefully the possibilities of the stream and the country around it, and so well pleased was he that he purchased three sections of land. Near a spring about a half mile south of where the court house now stands he built his cabin, the first in the township. His mind evidently had been busy trying to see into the future, for he at once set to work to make that future produce the mental picture he had drawn. During the winter of 1805-6 William Bruce had the town of Eaton surveyed and platted, and on February 20, 1806, recorded his plat in Dayton.

Eaton was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, January 31, 1836, and Jesse Paramore was the first mayor of the village.

The town of Eaton, as originally laid out, consisted of that part of the town between Israel street on the south, Decatur street on the north, Maple street on the east and Seven Mile creek on the west. All lots were laid out fronting on the streets that ran east and west, and were all one hundred and ninety-eight feet deep by forty-nine and one-half feet wide, with one-rod alleys, east and west, midway between the east and west streets, with no al- leys running north and south, except the lots west of South Beech

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street and west of Walnut street, which usually were not full lots, being limited by the slanting direction of Water street, which was laid out along the bank of Seven Mile creek. Barron and Main streets were each ninety- nine feet wide, while all other streets were sixty-six feet wide. All east and west streets extended from Maple street to the bank of Seven Mile creek. The lots along Water street that are not full lots are called fractional. Many of the houses, as now built, front on the streets that run north and south, but they are situated on parts of two or more lots that faced north or south, and the original numbers, as laid out, are still retained.

PUBLIC LOTS PROVIDED.

William Bruce, at the same time, laid out four lots, each twelve rods square, one at each of the four corners of the intersection of Main and Bar- ron streets, and labeled them A, for a court house square, and ever since so used : B, at the northeast corner for an academy and school house; C, at the northwest corner, and D, at the southwest corner for churches, each to have one lot, but not to be used for burial purposes, and E, east of Maple street and about midway between Bruce street and the Lexington road, and twelve rods wide, east and west. to be used for six burial grounds, five for churches and one for those who belonged to no "regular congregation," the latter to be the farthest north.

The lots B, C and D subsequently were divided into much their present shapes and sold by a committee of three. appointed by and acting under a statute of the Legislature, and the proceeds applied for the benefit of the schools of the town. The constitutionality of such a statute would probably be strongly contested now, but time has long since cured all defects.

The greater part of the town that has since been laid out and added has not been made comformable to the original plat. except that the streets run- ning north have been continued as before, save Barron street, which, north of the railroad, is only sixty-six feet wide.

The first house built in Eaton was erected by John Mills, who arrived on April 1. 1806, and built. at the northwest corner of Main and Beech streets, a small log cabin, and in that cabin, on May 1. 1806, Polly Mills was born, being the first baby born in Eaton, but Mills soon moved away and was forgotten.

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THE FIRST REAL SETTLER.

David E. Hendrix reached the town from Camden on April 2, 1806, and built a cabin on what is now the brewery lot. Soon thereafter he built a substantial two-story log house at the southeast corner of Main and Beech streets, in which he conducted the first tavern in the town. He continued to be a resident and citizen until his death, in 1845, and it really may be claimed that he was the original pioneer, the first real settler of the town. Some of his descendants reside in and near the town to this day. It is claimed that David E. Hendrix dug the first well in the town, and that the first religious meeting was held at his home, the services being conducted by a preacher of the New Christian church.

During 1806 David and Abram Eaton (Heaton), Samuel Hawkins and his five sons, Samuel Watts, Samuel Carr, Henry Whitesell, John Ban- fill and two sons, with a number of others, moved to the town, attracted by the probability that it would be the county seat of a new county, as well as by the fertility of the lands, so that during the year there were some fifteen or twenty cabins erected, chiefly along Main street. Alexander Mitchell and Alexander C. Lanier, whose names later were so prominent in the organiza- tion of the county government, arrived in 1807, and Mitchell continued to live there until his death. during the cholera epidemic of 1849. Cornelius Vanausdal, with his brother, Isaac, probably came to the town in the fall of 1807, but did not open and establish his store until 1808. Isaac Stephens and Isaac Banta came about the outbreak of the War of 1812. and many of their descendants are now residents of the city and county. . After the war there were many accessions to the town, some of whom remained and some of whom, after a residence of a few years, moved on west, all emigration going in that direction.

The first marriage in the town is said to have been performed on Decem- ber 1. 1807, solemnizing the union of John Harbison and Mary Brown, who set up housekeeping on the northeast corner of Barron and Israel streets.

For the first twenty-five years after the town was settled the buildings were constructed chiefly south of Main street. a very few scattering ones being located north of Somers street. In fact, it is claimed that in 1830 forest trees still stood on the lots west of the town hall on Somers street.

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EARLY INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES.

The first manufacturing establishment was the mill of William Bruce, built in 1806 and rebuilt in 1810. Bruce later added a woolen-mill for carding wool, which the good wives of the county spun into yarn and then wove it into cloth for family use. The next was a wagon-maker's shop, built by John Harbison in 1811, at the northwest corner of Main and Maple streets, which he continued to operate for a number of years.

Richard Leeson started a tannery soon after the War of 1812, which continued in operation under different owners until a few years ago, the last owner, Martin Rehfuss, closing it on account of his age and because the fierce competition of the large companies had so cheapened the output that it was no longer a paying proposition to tan by the old process.

A plow factory was started during the Civil War, and carriage making was carried on by two or three firms until about thirty years ago. A flax- mill was started in 1856 and continued for some years. Cigar-making began in 1845, and other cigar manufacturers followed, some operating on quite a large scale-J. S. Quinn, Ayres & Filbert, Coovert & Jones and others, until it is said that about 1880, there were some two hundred cigarmakers in Eaton, all of whom now are gone save F. P. Filbert, who still maintains a few hands.

The Excelsior School Seat Company was established by the Brooke Brothers about the year 1873, and for two or three years this company did the largest business ever done in the town, but it finally suspended and moved to Richmond, later to Indianapolis and thence to Cincinnati.

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History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, Part 28

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

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