History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 41

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559

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About the year 1814 John Taylor taught a school in . the northern part of the township, near where West Florence is now located. The terms were ten dollars a month. An attempt was made to have the teacher paid by subscription, but the requisite number of scholars could not be secured. At last, through the influence of Mr. Paddack, one of the oldest settlers, who showed great zeal in getting the school started, and who himself subscribed largely, the school was organized. Mr. Tay- lor offered to teach it for a year for one hundred and twenty dollars, which sum was raised for him.

In 1816 a school-house was built in the northeastern quarter of Joseph Dixon's land. The first to teach here was John L. Dickey, afterwards sheriff of this county. Nathan Truax succeeded him. This building was soon abandoned, after which another one was built nearer the creek.

In the southeastern quarter of section ten a school was taught for a short time by David Truax.

The first school building of any pretensions was built on Four Mile creek, about a quarter of a mile south of Concord church. The building was of hewn logs, closely fitted together, with a good deal of pains taken with the inside arrangements. This building was used for several years. The terms of subscription were from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars. The charges for the higher branches were from three dollars to five dollars.

Under the present educational system the township is well supplied with schools, there being nine fine brick buildings in the township, placed at the distance of two miles from each other and forming a square having three on a side with one in the center, as near the center of the township as maybe. These buildings are all on well travelled roads, and most of them are at cross roads. The present board of education consists of the follow- ing gentlemen: James Gard, chairman; J. M. Doug- herty William Swisher, Thomas Weir, Stephen Gard, Robert Gray, Charles Borradaile, Allen Wyley, and John French.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.

The first house of worship to be erected in this town- ship was built by the Baptists, in the year 1817. It was built of logs, and was stationed in the northern part of the township. The building has long since disappeared, and the ground is now without any mark to locate the spot. The church was built on Four Mile creek, in the northwestern quarter of section five. The membership at the time was about twenty persons. The church was abandoned long ago, as the congregation grew away from that section, and another house was erected in Jackson township, which was destroyed some time ago. Mr. Ebenezer Paddock, of Jackson township, is the only man now living who was connected with the building of this church. The second church to be organized, and the oldest now in existence in this township, was the Methodist church at Sugar valley, in the southeastern quarter of section twenty-four, very near the center of the section. Quite a number of persons, some living in the Sugar Valley settlement and others farther south, had been discussing the question of organizing and building a church for some time. The persons living in the southern part of the township proposed that they should help the people of Sugar valley build a church on condi- tion that if at any time a church was to be erected in the southern part of the township, the people at Sugar valley should refund the amount received from their neighbors below them. But in or about 1832 a class was formed at Sugar valley by William Sutton, and has always existed since as an established church. The first class was composed of the seven following persons: Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Simonson, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Longnecker, and their two daughters-in-law, Mrs. Eli and David Longnecker, and Mrs. Jacob Auchey. Mr. Simonson was the leader of his class for a great many years, and has always been a prominent member in the church. The first meetings were held at the old Simonson home-

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stead, where Charles B. Simonson now resides. For three or four years houses of the members of the class sufficed for the meeting of this little band, but during the minis- tration of John C. Deems they purchased of Jacob Long- necker, a frame building, twenty by thirty feet, which stood in an old field, and had been built to serve as a pork house. By adding wings of eight feet at each side, they had a building, thirty by thirty-six. This was stationed at Sugar valley near where the present brick church stands. The land where the frame building was placed, was donated by Jacob Longnecker. This was their regular house of worship for a long time. About fifteen years years ago the building was destroyed by fire, and soon after, a new one was erected-the present building. The structure is of. brick, standing on a fine site donated by Mr. Williams, whose wife is still living near the church. The cost of the present building was three thousand dollars. The present membership is about fifty. Soon after the purchase of the old pork house, the Sunday-school was organized. The third and last church to be organized in the township was the one pop- ularly known as the Concord church standing in the northeastern quarter of section sixteen. In November of 1840, this church was formed by the Christian de- · nomination under the pastorship of Rev. Luther Fenton. There were only eight members at first-Moses Dooley, Carey Toney, Jacob Cooper and his two daughters, Lavicy and Elizabeth, Charles Collins and Alexander Rhea. The first building used for a meeting house, was the old Dixon township house. The present church building was erected in 1848, at a cost of one thousand dollars. The dimensions of the present church build- ing are about forty by fifty. The dedication sermon was preached by Isaac N. Walter. Elder Levi Purviance was the first pastor, and had the care of the church for ten or twelve years. In 1850 the Sunday-school was or- ganized, and the same year the present cemetery was laid out. The board of trustees for which were Temple Aydelott, George Parks and Alexander Rhea. The first child to be buried in this graveyard, was a young son of the widow Kindell.

There are two other cemeteries in this township-one on the present Huffman farm, in the northwest quarter of section eleven, formerly owned by Eli Dixon, whose young daughter was the first to be buried in it. This was the first burial ground in the township, and Dixon's young daughter who died in 1807, is said to have been the first person who died in the township. Another burial ground is situated in the eastern part of section seven, but is not much used at present.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

COLONEL PAUL LARSH.

The subject of this biography, and one of the pioneers and old-time prominent men of Preble county, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1782. He was of French descent, his grandfather, of whom he was the namesake, having emigrated to this country in 1754, or the following year. The life of this French pioneer . in the new world was a romantic one. As early as 1756 he was a trader among the Indians in Ohio, and located, as nearly as can be determined, about where Xenia now is. He had been there about three years and become quite popular among his savage patrons, when a white woman, with three children (who had been in a raid into Virginia), was brought to the Indian village. This lady, with her children, he rescued from her captors by sacri- ficing his goods and furs; took them in a canoe down the Little Miami to the Ohio, down the Ohio to the Mis- sissippi, and up that stream to the flourishing cantonment of Kaskaskia, where they were married. There was born Charles Larsh, the father of Paul Larsh, and grandfather of Thomas J. Larsh, esq., of Eaton. The family re- mained at Kaskaskia until the settlement was broken up by an incursion of British troops, some time prior to the Revolutionary war, when they were taken by the soldiers to Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh), from which place, after many viscissitudes, they reached the region now known as Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where, as we have stated, Paul Larsh (the second) was born. When young Paul was about four years of age, his father (Charles) de- termined to try his fortune in the new territory of Ken- tucky, and made the journey down the river in a small boat. They landed at Limestone (now Maysville), and settled near Lexington, where the subject of this biogra- phy, with a numerous family of brothers and sisters, was reared, amidst all of the dangers of frontier life. Before attaining his majority Paul located with his father's family at Manchester, Adams county, Ohio, then known as Massie's Station, where he was employed for several years in building flat-boats for the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi. In the summer of 1806 Mr. Larsh, then being in his twenty-fourth year, and not having seen the place of his nativity since his infancy, determined to visit Pennsylvania. He made the trip upon horseback, through the almost unbroken wilderness. It was during this visit that he met at the house of a relative Miss Mercy Minor, daughter of General Minor, of Greene county, Pennsylvania, whom he married on the sixth of November, 1806, and took back to the west with him, shortly after. Some time during the winter following Paul Larsh entered, at the land office in Cincinnati, the southwest quarter of section number ten, in Dixon town- ship, Preble county (then Montgomery), and in the spring of 1807 he moved on to this land. Notwithstanding it was almost the middle of April before he commenced work, and the fact that he had the unbroken green forest to contend with, he prepared six acres of ground and

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RES. OF FELIX LOHRER, DIXON TP. PREBLE CO.0.

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planted it in corn that season. There was literally no breadstuff to be procured nearer to his cabin than some distance below Hamilton. Thither he made several trips that summer, for corn and meal. Meat was more abundant and very easily procured. Deer were very numerous, and the larder of the pioneer's cabin was seldom destitute of the finest venison.

At the October election, in the year 1812, Mr. Larsh was chosen sheriff of Preble county, being the successor in office of Jacob Fudge, who was the first sheriff of the county. He served two years and was succeeded by Samuel Ward, who continued in the office four years. In 1818 Mr. Larsh was again elected to the office, and was re-elected in 1820, thus serving in all six years. On the first of January, 1819, Sheriff Larsh removed to Eaton, where he remained three years to a day, returning to his farm in Dixon township on the first day of Janu- ary, 1822. In the spring of 1829 he removed to a farm in Wayne county, Indiana, four miles east of Richmond, at which place he remained until 1833, when he re- moved to a mill property, on Whitewater, five miles below Richmond. Previous to his removal to Eaton he had been elected justice of the peace for this township, and captain of militia, and shortly after removed to Eaton was elected colonel of his regiment, which office he con- tinued to hold until after his return to his farm. During the War of 1812 he served a tour of duty as quarter- master, having charge of the supplies for Fort Nesbit, Fort Black, and Fort Greenville.

In the year 1867 Colonel Larsh, then verging upon eighty-five years of age, took a trip to the State of Illinois for the purpose of disposing of a tract of land which he owned in Randolph county of that State, and also to make arrangements to regain possession of a large tract in the American bottom, near Kaskaskia, once owned by his grandfather. Whilst there, and before accomplishing the object of his journey, he was attacked with a disease of choleraic type and died on the thirteenth of August of that year (1867), and was buried near the early residence of his grandfather, and birthplace of his father.

Colonel Larsh was the oldest of a family of eleven children, all of whorr (except one) raised large families. His own family consisted of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, besides one son who died in infancy. Brought up in the wilderness, where schools and the means of education were very limited, Colonel Larsh attained manhood almost destitute of learning, never having attended school but three months in his life. His quick perceptive powers and remarkably retentive mem- ory, however, enabled him to master, as if by intuition, all of the details and incidents of any business with which he had anything to do. He was notable for strong, sound, common sense, quick comprehension, and logical facility in making deductions. He was very social in disposition, fond of society and conversation, and shrewd in his estimates of men. Physically he was very hardy and strong, could endure almost any amount of fatigue, and was always . first choice at log rollings. He was about five feet ten inches in height, compactly built and weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds. His

complexion was fair, hair light, and he had uncommonly bright blue eyes.

FELIX LOHRER.

The life of the subject of this brief biography illus- trates the success which attends the man who, from his youth up, has been honest, industrious and careful. Felix Lohrer was born in Bischofzell, Thurgau county, Switzerland, on the eighth day of May, 1832. He is the youngest child of Jacob and Katrina Lohrer.

When about eighteen years of age he emigrated to America and in due time landed at New York city. His eighteenth birthday was spent on shipboard. He stopped for about a year near Sagg harbor, Long Island, and engaged in farming. In 1851 he came to Ohio and stopped at Hamilton, Butler county, where he found work in a dairy. He soon accumulated enough money to enable him to go into partnership with his brother in the dairy business. This took place in 1856, and two years later he became sole proprietor of a dairy of about fifty cows.

In 1858 he married Sarah Gabelman, who was born in Lahr, Baden, in 1834, and came to Ohio and stopped at Hamilton, when she was twenty-two years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Lohrer have been born eight children, six of whom are living. Jacob, born November 27, 1859, died in 1878; Katharine was born January 30, 1861; John was born July 28, 1862; Felix, born February 19, 1864; Charles, born July 8, 1867, and Mary was born December 8, 1870. Frederick, who was born August 12, 1874, died in 1875. The youngest child, Sallie, was born August 23, 1876.

In 1864 Mr. Lohrer sold his interest in the dairy, and devoted his entire attention to the cultivation of his farm of one hundred and five acres of land, located just northeast of Hamilton. He sold his farm that same year, and in the spring of 1865 removed to his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the southwest quarter of section thirty, of Dixon township. Since Mr. Lohrer's removal to this farm he has improved it greatly. He has cleared considerable land, and by a thorough system of ditching, has greatly improved the quality and produc- tiveness of the soil. He raises stock of the best quality, although he does not make stock-raising a specialty. In 1879 he erected his present fine residence and barn. His buildings are undoubtedly among the neatest in Dixon township. He never ceases making improve- ments.

He is a member of the German Baptist, or Dunker church, and has always voted the straight Democratic ticket. Mr. Lohrer is a good example of a self-made man. All of his fine property has been accumulated since he came to this country.

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

LEWIS LARSH

was one of the early pioneers of Preble county. He was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1784. When four years of age his parents removed to Fayette county, Kentucky, and when yet quite a lad he made a trip down the river to New Orleans on a flat-boat, and rode all the way home on a mule. In 1806 he married Anna Bilbec, who was born in New Jersey, in 1789. In 1811 with his wife and only child he emigrated to this county, and settled on Four Mile creek, near Concord. He rolled up a log cabin in the thick woods, and began the work of clearing the land. The family had to work hard and live frugally "to keep the wolf from the door," but like most of the pioneers of that day, they possessed brave

hearts and strong hands with which to do it. In 1812 he joined a company of volunteers, and went to St. Mary's, where he was drafted to go to Fort Meigs. He returned home, however, before the expiration of his term of service, on account of sickness in his family. He was a great sufferer from rheumatism, and for twenty- five years was compelled to walk with two canes. He was an active member of the order of Free Masons until his rheumatic troubles prevented him from attend- ing its meetings, and he finally severed his connection with it. He died on the thirty-first day of August, 1878, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. He retained the use of his intellectual faculties until near the close of his life.

GASPER .*

This is a fractional township, and prior to 18- was embraced in Washington township, which was at first twelve miles long and six broad. Eaton was the official center of the township, and it was not long before there was a demand for a division of the territory and the es- tablishment of a new township. This demand became popular and resulted in the shape of a petition urging that of the southern part of Washington township a new township be established. But the county commissioners were inclined to be conservative and the petitioners did not receive a favorable answer. Though for a time the project was an apparent failure, the cause survived. The people of the little township owe their independence to their importunity of one of the first settlers.

Gasper Potterf, living in the southern part of the long township, felt the necessity of a division. In addition to the argument that a new township would be a great convenience to the people, he urged that it would be a great saving of money to them, inasmuch as the growing wickedness and the consequent increase of illegitimate children, who would have to be supported at public ex- pense, would greatly increase the township taxation. This master stroke of logic cut off twenty-four sections from the southern half of Washington township, and the commissioners immortalized the name of the persistent advovate by naming the new township Gasper, after the Christian name of Mr. Potterf.

The township as it now stands is six miles from east to west, by four miles from north to south. It is bounded on the north by Washington township, on the east by Lanier, on the south by Somers and on the west by Dixon.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

The surface of the township is, in the main, level, the exceptions being the valleys of Seven Mile and Paint creeks, both of which streams flow from north to south through the township, the former through the eastern, and the the latter through the western part. A portion of the land adjacent to the streams is somewhat broken. Besides the streams named there are numerous tributary streams fed by springs, affording an abundance of water for stock.

SOIL.

This township has a variety of soil. The watercourses are bordered with rich bottom land. The rolling land extending on either side is covered with a reddish clay limestone soil, while the level portions of the township are supplied with a black loam interspersed with a good clay soil.

The soil of the township produces bountiful crops of corn, wheat, oats, barley, flax, and grasses of every. de- scription. The productive capacity of the land has of late years been much increased by a judicious rotation of crops, and the growing of clover as a fertilizer. .. The fact is well remembered by the writer, that when the vir- gin soil first began to fail to produce remunerative crops under the old system of farming, a large number of farmers became discouraged, and believing that their land was about worn out, and that it would soon become worthless and sterile, many sold at a nominal price and went west in search of better land. Much of the land thus deserted produces better crops to-day than it did a quarter of a century ago, and no doubt the productive- ness will increase if the system of cultivation continues to improve.

*Written mainly by Henry Shideler, esq.

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Owing to the good natural drainage, this township is peculiarly free from the more malignant types of fever. Malarial and bilious diseases seldom occur, and the township has a reputation for the general good health of its citizens.

TIMBER.

Originally the township was heavily timbered with poplar, oak, walnut, ash, hard maple, beach, and a great variety of other trees. Although these heavy forests have fallen victims to the woodman's axe, there are still considerable areas of woodland and many majestic pop- lars are still standing.

In earlier days there was a heavy undergrowth of spice wood, prickly ash, Indian arrow, and leather wood. All of these shrubs were useful to the pioneers, although the grubbing and picking of them required about one- third of the labor of clearing the forests. The prickly ash was a medicine for bilious attacks; the spicewood was in universal use for the making of tea; Indian arrow- wood was extensively used by the settlers, as well as by Indian bowmen, and the leatherwood was extensively used in the manufacture of primitive harness. The primeval forest teemed with game of all kinds, especially bear, deer, and wild turkeys. These furnished the sup- plies of meat, and the skin of the bear and deer fur- nished excellent material for wearing apparel.

THE PIONEERS OF GASPER. -

It has generally been thought that the first settler in this township was Gasper Potterf, after whom the town- ship was named, but after a careful investigation the writer finds that Silas Dooley, sr., settled on Paint creek, in the western part of the township, in 1805, while Potterf located on Seven Mile creek, in the eastern part, in 1806. We will, therefore, begin with Silas Dooley, sr. The writer gleans most of his facts respect- ing the settlement of Mr. Dooley from an interview held with a friend a few years prior to the death of the aged pioneer, and published at the time in the Eaton Register, February 20, 1873.

Silas Dooley, sr., was born in a blockhouse in Madi- son county, Kentucky, March 8, 1786. He was the seventh child of Moses Dooley, who emigrated with his family-a wife and five children-in 1781, from Bedford county, Virginia, a distance of five hundred miles, the mother carrying her youngest child in her arms and walking most of the way, having no other way of travel- ling, except on pack horses. The route led through mountainous country, and numerous dangers lurked in their pathway, but despite the hardships endured they arrived safely in Kentucky. The savage barbarities of the Indians compelled the settlers to live in forts strongly garrisoned. The Indian massacres of 1782-3 disheart- ened the settlers very much, and they longed for liberty from their enforced imprisonment. Moses Dooley, chafing under the long confinement and apprehensive of the safety of the morals of his children, who were often thrown into bad company, concluded at all hazards to move to a farm.

Accordingly, with several others he settled in the midst

of a canebrake in Madison county, Kentucky. There they erected a school-house and educated their children.

In 1805 Moses Dooley, with his son, Silas, accompan- ied by Jacob Railsback, started for Ohio in search of land. They came to Springfield, now Springdale, Hamilton county, Ohio, and spent the first night with Elder Thomp- son, a Presbyterian minister. As Mr. Thompson was at that time in need of a hand Silas was hired for one month.

On Monday morning the company started for Seven Mile, arriving on the next Sunday at the house of John Pottenger, which was located about a mile and a half north of the present site of Camden. They made his home their headquarters during the three or four days they were prospecting for suitable locations for settlement. Mr. Dooley chose one hundred and sixty acres of land on Paint creek, now owned principally by John Overholser. Jacob Railsback selected a quarter section on Seven Mile, in Gasper township, which land is now owned by the Huffmans. The party then turned their faces homeward, Silas stopping at Springfield to fulfil his engagement with Elder Thompson. His work was rail splitting, at ten dollars per month. With a part of the first money received he paid for his axe.

Moses Dooley and Jacob Railsback went on to Cincin- nati, and then entered the land they had selected. The price was two dollars per acre, to be paid in specie, one fourth in hand and the residue in three annual instal- ments. The payment of sixteen dollars gave the settlers the refusal of the land for forty days, and a second pay- ment of eighty dollars secured it for two years.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 41

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 559

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559