USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches > Part 34
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way," and rounds of enthusiastic cheers going up from the soldiers of the entire command. Day was just breaking as the young soldier left the fort, and before the sun had gone down he had arrived at Fort Washing- ton and delivered his important dispatch. In those portions of the woods where there was little or no undergrowth, and the danger was supposed not to be so great as elsewhere, he followed the trail or "trace" as it was technically called, by which the army had marched through the wilderness, but in localities more exposed he picked his way through the woods, avoiding the beaten path. The weather was very cold and he suffered much while on his ride-among other discomforts frosting his feet so severely that they troubled him at intervals all of his life. The young man was pro- moted to the rank of corporal for the service he had rendered, and shortly after rejoining the army, on its march from Fort Greenville into the Indian country, he was attached to the dragoons. He acted as a spy, or scout, and was almost constantly in advance of the main body of the army. In the battle of Fallen Timbers, or Mau- mee Rapids, he took a prominent part, and acquitted himself with so much gallantry as to secure the very highest praise of his superiors. Mr. Hendricks was pres- ent at the making of the treaty of Greenville in 1795, and at its conclusion received an honorable discharge from his old and honored commander.
Elsewhere in this volume a full account of Wayne's campaign is given, and considerable space is devoted to the narration of the fall of Lowery and his men in October, 1793, at a spring near where Zion church now stands. When the survivors of this battle reached Fort St. Clair, a party of soldiers were at once detailed to pursue the Indians. The subject of this biography was one of this company. They soon struck the Indian trail, but the wily warriors knowing that they would be pursued, had separated near the headwaters of the White river, and beyond that point the soldiers did not attempt to follow them.
After the treaty of Fort Greenville Mr. Hendricks re- turned to Fort Hamilton, settling there with the intention of making it his permanent home in the fall of 1795. About a year later-September 10, 1796-he married Rossanna Stockhouse, by whom he had a large family of children, several of whom still survive. He built a log cabin in Hamilton, which was one of the first there. Afterwards he bought a farm, and made a clearing on what is now known as Millikin's island. It was while living here, and when one day searching for a horse which had strayed away that he came suddenly upon a party of Indians, encamped just south of the site of Eaton. He was at first much alarmed, but as the Indians had seen him, he went toward them in an unconcerned manner, and the chief whom he afterward found to be the cele- brated Tecumseh, received him kindly, and wholly al- layed his apprehensions. He dined at the camp, and soon after, started out to renew the search for his horse, securing from the Indians some information which as- sisted him. During the afternoon he killed a bear on the land now known as the Silas Dooley farm, from which
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he had a good supper. As darkness came on, he put out his fire, and walking some distance away from it, secreted himself, and went to sleep. The next morning he found the estray horse grazing in a little opening in the woods, and rode it home.
He resided for some years at the Millikin's island loca- tion, intending, as soon as the land was surveyed into sections, to settle in the valley of Seven Mile, about where the village of Camden now is. As soon as this was accomplished, and the lands were put in the market, he bought three quarter sections, including the eastern part of the present town site of Camden, and moved there in 1803. Here he remained until William Bruce laid out the town of Eaton. As soon as laid out, this point began to be talked of as the prospective county- seat for a new county to be erected from Montgomery. On this account chiefly Mr. Hendricks determined to locate there, and did so in the spring of 1806. He built the second house upon the town plan, the one in which S. H. Hubbell now resides, and in it kept the first tavern in Eaton.
In 1812 the subject of this sketch, actuated by his old time patriotism, and true to his early inclinations toward - activity and adventure, raised a company of skilled fron- tiersmen, of which organization he was appointed cap- tain. His company was divided during the war that en- sued, one detachment being stationed at St. Mary's and the other at Lorramie's station, which had years before been a French trading post. The object was to so dis- tribute this company and others as to protect the infant settlements from the apprehended attacks of the preda- tory northern Indians, who adhered to the British. After serving what was called a "full tour of duty" the com- pany returned to Preble county.
The remainder of Captain Hendricks' life was passed quietly in the pursuit of business, most of the time at Eaton. He died at the home of his son, George D. Hendricks, at Eaton, on the eighteenth of September, 1845, and his remains were followed to their last resting place, in Mound Hill cemetery, by a large proportion of the town's population.
Captain Hendricks was a hero of two wars, a pioneer who passed through the most rigid trials that beset the rugged pathway of life. All honor to him and to the noble class of which he was so high a type!
In his personal character our subject was blameless so far as integrity of action and conscientious devotion to principle was concerned, and he was a man of the utmost kindness of heart. But, withal, it must be said that he was as bitter an enemy in some cases as he was a warm friend in others. He was very positive in his likes and dislikes, was fearless, independent and outspoken. Phys- ically he was of medium height, compactly built, very strong, as straight as an arrow, and of fine and dignified bearing.
COLONEL GEORGE D. HENDRICKS,
son of David E. Hendricks, was for many years promi- nently identified with the interests of Preble county, both as a public man and in a private business capacity. He was born within the present town site of Camden, on the third of October, 1805, and came with his father to Eaton as a babe in arms. As he grew up he acquired, for the time, a good education, which he constantly im- proved by reading and observation, until he was, without doubt, as well an informed man as there was in the county. During the early years of his manhood he taught school, lectured on English grammar, gave in- struction in writing and, at the same time, kept up a dili- gent course of self-improvement. By a process of natu- ral selection he entered the field of politics, for which he was well fitted by the variety of his knowledge, his un- limited understanding of human nature, and the posses- sion of nearly all of those qualities which combine to render a man popular. He was first elected auditor of the county, then representative, and finally State senator. He was also chosen as sheriff of the county, and after he had in a measure retired from public life, he was ap- pointed postmaster, and once elected justice of the peace. His military title was gained in the service of the United States, while he was assisting in dissevering Texas from Mexico. He fought side by side with General Samuel Houston, and Colonel Sidney Johnson, and gained the highest credit for bravery and good judg- ment. When not engaged in politics Colonel Hendricks followed agriculture and dealing in lands. He seemed to have remarkable foresight in conducting the latter business, and had at one time acquired a large property, and was, in fact, considered as quite wealthy. But through the unsuspecting qualities of his nature, and his desire to constantly assist others, he was financially ruined. The payment of security debts reduced his large means to a mere pittance, and in his old age he was obliged, or, at least, considered it neces- sary, to begin anew, and did so, opening a land agency in the west, which he has conducted with much of the energy and activity which were characteristic of him in his earlier years. He has succeeded, we learn, in estab- lishing a good business.
Colonel Hendricks is in many ways a very remarkable and admirable man. He has always been noted for his strong will and the cheery elasticity of nature with which he recovers from misfortune and bears up under adverse circumstances which would make most men despondent. He is naturally of a fine disposition, inclined to look upon the bright side of life, and is noted for the encour- agement which he has lent others by the sturdy health- fulness of his own nature. He has always been noted for his practical benevolence and has done a vast deal of good by bestowing such gifts as were within his power upon the worthy poor, as well as by encouraging the im- provement and progress of individuals by his words. Socially he has been looked upon as a model of genial- ity and good humor, and being a fine conversationalist, has ever been a favorite and one of the leading spirits in whatever circle he mingled.
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Colonel Hendricks was married September 4, 1839, to Miss Almira Harbaugh. The offspring of this union were ten children, six of whom, with the parents, are now living.
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CORNELIUS VAN AUSDAL,
the pioneer merchant of Eaton. The subject of this biography was the first merchant in Eaton, and his ca- reer as a business man extended through the period from 1806 to the time of his death in 1870. Beginning with a small stock of goods in a cabin situated in the woods, with the scattered pioneers of a large section of country, and roaming Indians for his patrons, he continued his mercantile career, through all of the varying conditions of development, down to the present era of multiplied advantages and enlarged scope. His long life linked the era of western beginnings with that in which the full and grand results of pioneer labors were flourishing in frui- tion.
Cornelius Van Ausdal was born in Berkeley county, Vir- ginia, on the second day of October, 1783. About the time that he attained his majority he came west and spent the winter with his brother Peter, who had shortly before settled in the wilderness, within the present limits of La- nier township. The young man was fascinated with the wildness and independence of western life, and saw an opportunity to make a successful start in this region. The severity of the labor necessary to establish oneself in the new country, the danger to be encountered, and the difficulties which must be overcome, did not deter him from deciding to return to Ohio and make it his perma- nent home. With this object in view he returned east in the spring of 1805, and brought into exercise, probably for the first time in his life, that business tact which was to ensure his success. He bought a quantity of furs and skins, and packing them upon horses, through the sparsely settled region of southern Ohio, and across the mountains, sold them in Baltimore. Returning to his home in Virginia he obtained his father's sanction of his plans, and taking a load of wheat sold that too in Balti- more, and so increased his means to such a sum as was necessary to carry out his plans. He bought with his money a wagon load of plain, substantial goods, the few homely staples of pioneer life, and slowly made his way west again. This was in the early summer of 1806. The town of Eaton was then being laid out by William Bruce, and was already talked of as the prospective seat of the county, which must some day be erected from the western portion of Montgomery. Young Van Ausdal had customers before he could open a store, and sold them goods, directly from the Canastoga wagon in which they were transported from the seaboard.
He opened the first store in the town in a small log cabin which stood on the ground now occupied by the Reichel house, and about a year later removed to the south side of East Main street and located upon a lot which is now included in the court house grounds, and which was purchased by the county commissioners some years ago from Daniel Stetler. The second load of
goods for the store was hauled from Cincinnati, then a small village, by John Goldsmith, who was gone upon the trip from eight to ten days. This second stock of goods, about all that could be drawn over the primitive road through the woods by a four-horse team, cost not far from one thousand dollars. Van Ausdal was energetic and industrious as well as shrewd. He made a reputa- tion for strict integrity, and soon became very prosper- ous. He adopted his method of doing business to the needs of his patrons. There was very little money in the county, and he was accustomed to receive in ex- change, and on account, the various products of the county, such as surs, skins, beeswax, maple sugar, gen- sing and pearlash. With these articles, or the money which they brought, he purchased more goods, and as the settlement of the county increased, he enlarged his trade, until within a few years he was considered one of the heaviest business men in southwestern Ohio. His reputation won for him more than a mere local business, and for many years he carried on a wholesale as well as retail trade. During the early part of his career as a merchant, Mr. Van Ausdal dealt largely with the Indians who dwelt in or roamed around southwestern Ohio, and that part of Indiana adjoining. Among them was Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee war chief, with whom the store-keeper was as intimately acquainted as any white man in the county. In his old age he frequently related anecdotes of this character more famous than any other among the redmen. In 1810 Mr. Van Ausdal was ap- pointed United States deputy marshal, and in that capacity took the first census of Preble county. In the War of 1812 he was a paymaster of the army and a large amount of public money was disbursed by him. He faithfully discharged his duty, and upon the close of the war when his accounts were examined at Washington, they were allowed without delay or expense. In the year 1819 he was elected to the legislature, and represented his county to the utmost satisfaction of his constituents. About this time Mr. Van Ausdal owned The Western Tel- egraph, a weekly paper published at Eaton, which he afterward sold to William Tizzard, with whom he became acquainted at Columbus, and induced to settle in Eaton, and purchased the paper. A strong, personal friendship sprang up between these men, which was only severed by death. In 1822 the pioneer marchant erected the large brick building on the northwest corner of Main and Bar- ron streets, which he occupied up to the time of his death, and which is now the home and business place of his son.
Mr. Van Ausdal's energy was not confined to one branch of business, large though that branch was made. He was engaged in various enterprises and was a broad, public-spirited man who was constantly seeking to benefit the community as well as himself. Benevolence was a very large component part in his composition. In. the early years of the settlement he often used his means to save a poor man's home, advancing money to meet pay- ments due the Government, and which if not met would imperil possession. He usually allowed the beneficiary to repay him in produce of some kind, and always gave
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ample time for the satisfaction of the claim. In such cases he never exacted a mortgage upon the property, and so correct was his knowledge of human nature that he was seldom ever deceived by extending his generosity in that way to one unworthy. In the sale of goods he credited largely, and, undoubtedly, lost thousands of dol- lars by his generous impulses, but still he made money all of the time, and doubtless solaced himself with the reflection that he could afford an occasional loss for the sake of assisting the needy. To a young man in whom he had confidence, struggling in a laudable pursuit, he would often extend aid, when the only channel through which he could possibly be reimbursed was the success of the enterprise which he assisted, at some uncertain time in the future. It has been said of him by one who has had ample means of knowing whereof he affirms, that Mr. Van Ausdal forced fewer collections by distress than any merchant in the west in proportion to the magnitude of his business. His reputation for honesty and fair- dealing was unexcelled. It was this reputation, constant- ly extending as the country filled up with settlers, which drew to him the enormous business from which he accu- mulated an independence, and which made him the first merchant of the county, and of an even wider section of country. His character in a general way was admirable, as it was in a business sense. He was rigidly moral in all the relations of life and thoroughly and conscientiously religious. He was very familiar with the Bible and with the tenets of Christianity, and frequently discussed ques- tions of doctrinal theology with great clearness, aptly ap- lying them to the practical affairs of life. He was well informed, though uneducated in the collegiate sense of the word, and a remarkably easy conversationalist. Fond of association with his fellow men and full of genial, kindly humor, he was bright, sunny, and hopeful to a de- gree that was refreshing to his acquaintances and very beneficial, doubtless, to himself. His mental faculties remained almost absolutely free from impair even in the last few years of his life, when physical decay became the premonition of death. He died August 10, 1870, loved and revered by all, and leaving to his aged help- meet and children the priceless legacy of an untarnished name.
Martha (Bilba) Van Ausdal, wife of Cornelius Van Ausdal, who is still living, was born in Virginia, Novem- ber 12, 1793, and removed with her parents to Kentucky at an early date. She was married to Mr. Van Ausdal on the twenty-fourth of July, 1812, and was the partner of his joys and sorrows for fifty-eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Ausdal were the parents of ten chil- dren, of whom one died in infancy, unnamed. John, the first, born October 16, 1814, and Sarah, born Janu- ary 27, 1817, are deceased, as are also Julian, born June 29, 1824, and Rufus Leavitt, twin brother of Harvey Buell, born June 1, 1830. The children now living are Lucinda (Donohoe), born September 3, 1818; Isaac, born February 13, 1821; Harvey Buell, Emily (Gould), born February 17, 1835; and Sarah Ann (Nelson), born May 29, 1840.
COLONEL SAMUEL HAWKINS.
Colonel Samuel Hawkins, soldier in the Indian wars and in the War of 1812, and one of the foremost pio- neers of Preble county, was born in the year 1762, in Botetourt county, Virginia. At the age of sixteen years he enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and contin- ued in the service until the close of the war. He mar- ried Christian Worthington, the sister of a companion- at-arms, and without returning to his home joined a company of emigrants, and removed to the territory of Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon county. There he lived the life of a pioneer, toiling hard amidst all of the discomforts and dangers of the frontier; hunting occa- sionally, and sometimes fighting Indians. He was with Colonel Logan's detachment on the way to the Blue Licks to cooperate with Todd, Triggs and McGary, but unfortunately the battle was precipitated before the arrival of Logan's command, and theirs was the melan- choly duty to bury the dead who fell in that hard-fought encounter. He was also engaged in several Indian cam- paigns in the territory now included in Ohio, and assisted in the destruction of the Piqua towns, where he narrowly escaped with his life. An Indian jumping up from his place of concealment in some high grass, leveled his gun at him, and at such close quarters that its muzzle almost touched Hawkins' face. The soldier saw his enemy, however, and in time to drive the rowels into his horse's side. The animal sprang forward just as the powder flashed in the leveled gun, bearing his rider out of range. His life was saved, but the comrade upon the opposite side of him, a captain Irwin, was unfortunately killed by the discharge. Soon after Wayne's treaty was made, Colonel Hawkins removed to the Ohio territory and settled on the Miami river, in Butler county. In 1799 he removed from that locality and became a resident of the spot on which Germantown, Montgomery county, was built. He was the first settler in that neighborhood. In 1806 he sold out and moved to Eaton. He built here a tavern or hotel on the lot adjoining the public ground on the east, and was "mine host" there until the War of 1812 broke out. After the surrender of Detroit, the Indians under Tecumseh, besieged Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison, and an express being sent to General Harrison. informing him of the danger that menaced these posts, he called for volunteers to join him on his way to relieve the siege. On the eighth of September he was joined by Colonel R. M. Johnson with two hundred men from Kentucky, and on the ninth at Shawnee crossing of the St. Mary's river, was joined by Colonels Hawkins and Adams with eight hundred men from Ohio. From this point they made their way as fast as was possible toward the unprotected forts. Colonel Hawkins was in the advance, and when he had reached a creek about nine miles from their destination, ·he called a halt for the purpose of feeding and watering the horses. Just as he was stooping to pour out some oats for the fine animal which he rode, the head of the Kentucky battalion arrived in view, and a soldier in the front ranks, unaware that the other troops had
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halted, catching sight of the colonel through the brush, supposed him to be an Indian, and fired upon him. The rifle ball was true to its mark; it struck Colonel Hawkins upon the right shoulder, and inflicted a terrible wound, from the effects of which he died two years afterward (1814) at the house of his second son, John J. Hawkins. His wife's death occurred about a year before the colonel's. And so at an early day passed away this pair of brave, true pioneers. Their deaths were untimely. Had they lived to the age which their robust constitu- tions indicated that they might, they would have gained some reward, perhaps, in quiet years towards life's nat- ural close, for the pains and privations through which they passed in helping to redeem the wilderness and make it a safe planting ground for peaceful, prosperous, happy homes. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, who grew to manhood and womanhood.
A beautifully, clear, concise manuscript, admirable alike in composition and chirography, has afforded the facts we have presented in regard to Colonel Samuel Hawkins. It was from the pen of Joseph C. Hawkins, now, and at the time he wrote it, in his ninety-seventh year. He was born in the year 1784, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and came to Ohio with his father's family. He married near Germantown, Montgomery county, and in the year 1806 came to Eaton, where his oldest child, the late Mary Gray, was born, the same year, one of the earliest births in the town. Mr. Haw- kins' wife, Isabella Pouge, died about the year 1820.
John J. Hawkins was born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, in 1789, and was seventeen years of age when he came with his father to Eaton. He was married to Nancy Sellers, July 10, 1810. In 1830 he removed to Jay county, Indiana, in which he was the second perma- nent settler. He died there in 1832.
Benjamin W. Hawkins was born in 1792 in Ken- tucky. He moved from Eaton to Putnam county, In- diana, about 1833, and died there when about seventy- five years of age. He married Ruth Sellers.
Samuel, also born in Kentucky, married Elizabeth Calvin. He died in St. Louis in 1871.
Byrd Hawkins, born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1802, died in Eaton in 1853. His wife was Diana Heath. The daughters' names were Sarah, Rebecca and Eleanor. The first mentioned was the wife of Andrew Fouts. She died in Terre Haute, Indiana, aged abont eighty. Rebecca married Andrew Tharp. She died in Henry county, Indiana, aged forty-three years. Eleanor, wife of William Smith, died in Eaton in 1869.
JUDGE SAMUEL TIZZARD-WILLIAM B. TIZZARD.
Samuel Tizzard was born in England, in the village of West Clinnock, upon the sixteenth of September, 1787. In 1801 he came with his father and other members of the family to America, and located at Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania.
About two years after his arrival in this country, young
Tizzard, then about sixteen years of age, was apprenticed to the printing trade, in the office of the Carlisle Herald. He faithfully served his time; obtained a thorough and practical knowledge of the " art preservative," and soon after he had attained his majority went to Philadelphia. He at first obtained a position as pressman in the large printing establishment of Matthew Carey, then, and for many years after, the leading book publisher of the United States. About six years of Mr. Tizzard's life were spent in the Quaker city, either in the employ of Matthew Carey or another publisher. In 1814, he joined in the pupular western emigration and came to Ohio. In the meantime he had become a naturalized American citizen and had been married. His wife was Miss Eliza- beth Brackin, who resided where Mr. Tizzard first be- came acquainted with her, at Wilmington, Delaware.
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