History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 43

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

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Shortly after these pioneers came, the township was rapidly settled, among whom may be named the Jones family, the Kincaid family, the Peters and Wilkinson fam- ilies in the western part of the township, also the Baily family. In the central part may be named the Huffman family, the Stephens family, and the Shideler family. In the eastern part of the township may be named the Sayler family, who came in 1814 (Abraham Sayler now lives on the tract of land npon which his father settled in 1814), the Burns family, the Shewman family, the Barn- hart family, the Brower family, the Young family, and the Yost family. Some of them are further mentioned.

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The principal part of these families settled on govern- ment land, and are properly classed among the original settlers. There might be many other families named of original settlers, who, with their posterity, left the town- ship many years since, who sold their lands to a second class of settlers, among whom may be named the Camp- bells, the Manns, the Floras, and the Webbs.

Armstead Huffman was one of the early settlers of Gas- per township, and a prominent, useful man. He was born in Virginia in 1788, and was an early emigrant to Kentucky, from Byron county, from which State, he came to Preble county after marrying Nancy Burton. He located on the farm in Gasper, now owned by Porter Webb, when all around was still forest and game plenty. He died in 1859, surviving his wife a quarter of a cen- tury. Their children were Ambrose, Thomas M., Sally (Mattox), Overton, Morgan, Nathan, Nancy (White), Mary (Stephens), Alzina (Campbell), and James. Of these, Ambrose, Sally, Overton, Mary, and James are de- ceased. Morgan and Nancy reside in Eaton, Nathan in Dixon township, Alzina in Gasper township, and Thomas M., the oldest of the family, living in Camden. He was born in 1808, and was consequently seven years of age when his parents settled in Gasper, and saw much of the manners of pioneer life. He resided upon the old home farm until 1866, when he removed to his present residence. Mr. Huffman was married in 1831 to Annie Conger, who died in 1877. J. A. Huffman, a prominent citizen of Camden, was their only son, and was born in 1835.

Mary Taylor was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1810, and in 1813 came with her parents to Preble county, and settled in Gasper township, on the land now owned by Job Shinn. Samuel Stephens and Rebecca Bailey were her parents. Mrs. Stephens emigrated from Penn- sylvania to Cincinnati, Ohio and at an early day came to Butler county. Mr. Stephens served six months in the War of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were the parents of eleven children. Their daughter, Mary, married James B. Taylor in 1842, who was born in 1809, and died in 1854. They had three children, two daughters and one son. Margaret Elizabeth lives in Eaton, and Bailey L. Taylor resides at home. Mrs. Taylor owns fifty-five acres of land in section sixteen.

Christian Sayler was born in Frederick county, Mary- land, June 5, 1785, and subsequently removed with his brothers, Daniel, Martin, and John, to Franklin county, Virginia. In 1806, he and his brothers, and their wid- owed mother, emigrated to Preble (then Montgomery) county, Ohio. In 1811 he was married to Mary, daugh- ter of Samuel Teal, also of Franklin county, Virginia, He settled in 1814 in what is now Gasper township (then Washington), in section thirty-six, where his son, Abra- ham T. now lives. At that time the region round about him was an unbroken forest. He continued to live there until the day of his death, which occurred on his sixty- seventh birthday, June 5, 1852. His widow is still living with her son, Abraham, on the old homestead, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-one. She was born in Frederick county, Maryland, September 11, 1789. They had a

family of nine children, four of whom are now living, as follows: Abraham T., on the old homestead; Eliza- beth, wife of Jacob Shewman; Joseph, and Maria, wife of John W. Allen, all in Monroe township.

Abraham was born in Lanier township, March 5, 1812, and was married to Elizabeth Rinehard in 1838. He has three children living and six deceased.

In 1815, Abraham Overholser settled in this township, having emigrated from Virginia, where he was born in 1805. He resided in Gasper until his death in 1877, and was a worthy citizen. He served as township trus- tee two terms. His widow, who is still living, was, be- fore her marrirge, Lydia Brower, and was born in 1813. Her family at present consists of the following named children: Sarah, widow of George Runyon, residing in Monroe township; Barbara, wife of Robert Harris, in this township; Lovina, widow of John W. Blair, living with her mother; John H., who married Mary A. Ben- nett, daughter of Elijah and Lucinda Bennett, and is a farmer of Dixon township. To them were born three children, two of whom are living.

Charles and Elizabeth Wilkinson emigrated to Preble county from Kentucky, at an early day. Their young- est son, Curtis H., was born in 1827, and in 1852 was married to Sarah Jane, daughter of Christopher and Cath- arine Wysong, of Gasper township. She was born in 1831. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have been born eleven children, of whom six are living, viz .: Redmon E., Alice E., wife of Jacob H. Shideler, of Washington township; Catharine Eleanor, Ida B., and Minnie M.

There are four hundred and sixty-six acres of land at Mr. Wilkinson's. residence, and one hundred and forty- seven acres in Gratis; all under a good state of cultivation.

William Campbell was born in the State of Delaware, in 1793. In 1815 he married Lavina McCabe, who was born in 1795. In 1827 Mr. and Mrs. Campbell emi- grated from Delaware, intending to go to Illinois. Their settlement in Gasper township was an accident. When they arrived at Eaton Mr. Campbell learned that he was in Preble, and thereupon determined to visit an old friend of his who lived two miles south of Eaton, near where the old seven mile bridge now stands. While en- joying the hospitality of his friend he was delayed by a spell of sickness, and by the time he recovered he had decided to settle in the neighborhood, and thus Preble county gained one of its most substantial citizens. He settled on the farm in section fourteen, where Jehu B. Campbell has resided ever since his father's settlement. William Campbell died in 1860, and his wife died in 1879. Five of their children lived to maturity, three of whom are still living. Jehu B., the only one living in this county, was born in Delaware in 1823, and was mar- ried in 1847 to Alzina Huffman, daughter of Armstead Huffman. She was born in Gasper township in 1827. Five of their seven children are living, viz .: Zippora, Nancy L., wife of Dr. Porter Webb; Sallie C., wife of Isaac Young; Dr. William A., married Minnie Surface, and practices in Eaton; and Thomas H. Mr. Campbell has filled all the township offices, and from 1852 to 1868 was justice of the peace. In the year 1873 he was elected

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county commissioner, which office he held for six years.

Jonathan Flora settled in Gasper township in the year 1831, having emigrated from Franklin county, Virginia. He was born in 1792, and died in 1863. His widow, whose maiden name was Mary Bowman, is still living in Dixon township. She was born in Franklin county, Virginia, in 1796. They had a family of ten children, namely: Hannah, deceased, was the wife of David Spit- ler; Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of Ahraham Coop- er; Susan, wife of Benjamin Cooper, of Dixon township; Catharine, wife of John Studebaker; Nancy, who died young; Peter, who died in 1865; John, living in Dixon township, who married Mary Pottert; Mary, wife of Thomas Charles, in Dixon township; Jonathan F., resid- ing in Eaton; Christian, born in 1824, in Franklin county, Virginia, now living in this township, married (1848) Sa- rah Potterf, granddaughter of the pioneer, Gasper Potterf. She was born in 1830, in Gasper township.

Levi Mann was born in Gasper township in 1830, and in 1873 married Catharine Rogan, who was born in Eng- land in 1855, and came to this country in 1871. To them have been born four children, all of whom are liv- ing. Mr. and Mrs. Rogan reside in Gasper township. Mr. Mann owns one hundred and sixty acres of land.

John F. Huffman was born in 1831. His people em- igrated from Virginia to Kentucky, and thence to Ohio at anjearly day. Allen Huffman's wife was Nancy Mc- Campbell. John F. Huffman was married to Susan, daughter of Alfred Bell, of Somers township. They have five children-Henry R., Charles F., Mary J., James, and Jennie, the two latter being twins. Mr. Huffman owns a well-improved farm of two hundred and sixty acres of land.

T. F. McClanahan came to Preble county from Cham- paign county, Ohio. In 1869 he was married to Mrs. Juliet L. Hugget, widow of James E. Hugget, by whom she had two children-Vestilla and Georgie E. Mrs. McClanahan is the daughter of John and Hannah (Con- ger) Railsback, who were both born in Kentucky, the former in 1783 and the latter in 1787. They were mar- ried in 1805, and in the fall of the following year came to Preble county and settled on the farm of one hundred and eighty acres now occupied by Mr. McClanahan. Mr. Railsback died in the spring of 1873, and his wife sur- vived him five years, dying in 1878.

John B. Williams emigrated from New Jersey to But- ler county, Ohio, as early as 1814. He died in 1851, aged sixty-three years. His son, John S., the youngest of nine children, born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1829, married in 1852 Susan Litehiser, who was born in 1831, and moved to Preble county in 1863, settling in Gasper township. He has five children-Joseph E., William H. S., Charles B., Mary A., and Rosella. Joseph E. mar- ried Mary Aukerman in 1876, and has one child, John A. Miss Alice is by profession a school teacher, having com- menced in Washington township when only sixteen. She taught the New Lexington school in the spring of 1879, and afterwards in Gasper township, where she is now teaching.

Joseph and Sarah (Sayler) Early, natives of Virginia,

emigrated from that State to Ohio many years ago, and settled near West Alexandria. The former died in 1852 and the latter is still living in Camden. They had ten children; eight are living, six in this county. Henry, their first born, was born near West Alexandria in 1832, and in 1861 was married to Ellen Cosbey, the youngest daughter of Thomas and Anna Cosbey, who were old pioneers of Gasper township. To Mr. and Mrs. Early have been born three children-Eva May, Clarence B., and a child that died in infancy. Mr. Early is the miller at Barnet's mill, where he has been for nine years. He is a miller by trade, and has always been engaged in the milling business. He has lived on his present farm, in section twenty-six, for twelve years.

John D. Campbell was born in Gasper township in 1846. In 1865 he married Miss Nancy M. Kelley, who was born in Washington township in 1845, on the farm now owned by J. C. Kelley. To them was one child born, in 1866-Nancy A. Campbell-who died in 1867. Mr. Campbell owns ninety-one acres of land in section twenty-one of Gasper township.

SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL HABITS OF THE PIONEERS.

The dependence of the pioneers on each other for as- sistance in raising houses, barns, rolling logs and har- vesting crops of small grain, when it had to be cut with a sickle, was such as to produce the finest social rela- tions, and the man who would have refused his neighbor assistance when needed would have been looked upon as entirely unworthy of respect, and would have re- ceived the contempt of the entire community. It was not an uncommon occurrence for fifty, and sometimes one hundred men to meet for the purpose of raising those large log barns that were then in use, but have now passed away.

When clearing up a farm it was customary for the owner to cut or burn the trees into convenient length for rolling, then invite his neighbors to assist in rolling them into log heaps for burning. Sometimes when the company of men was large enough to divide into two companies, two of the most energetic men of the crowd would be selected and entitled captains, who would pro- ceed to divide the crowd into two companies, and divide the territory to be rolled into equal parts, and then the rush to work would commence, one division striving to outwork the other.

When harvest came on a counsel was held to learn whose grain needed cutting first. That question settled, all hands met and cut it, and continued in this way un- til all was cut in the neighborhood, and frequently from twenty to twenty-five men could be seen in a wheat field. When grain was sown in corn ground the space between the rows of corn was termed "a land" and constituted "a through" to be cut by each man, and sometimes an expert reaper could, by the assistance of a boy, who was called a gouger, cut two of these "throughs," and was, therefore, entitled to double wages. The writer often acted in the capacity of gouger on a "land" with his father.

Harvest season, instead of being considered a hard-

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STEPHEN ALLBAUGH, SR.

This venerable gentleman, now aged nearly ninety years, is one of the oldest citizens and pioneers of the county. He was born in the town of Liberty, Frederick county, Maryland, on the tenth day of March, 1791. He was the third child and second son in a family of thirteen children. When about fourteen years of age he removed with his parents to Blair county, Pennsylvania. He enjoyed but meagre educational advantages, attending but a few weeks in the winter such schools as existed in those early days. In the spring of 1812, accom- panied by another young man, he started out to seek his fortune in the "far west," as Ohio was then regarded. He came on foot to Pitts- burgh, thence down the Ohio on a flat-boat to the mouth of the Scioto, thence on foot to Dayton. Soon after his arrival there he found his way to an uncle near Winchester, Preble county, where for some time he made his home. While living there he erected for Henry Young the first two story log house in that vicinity. In the spring of 1814 he was engaged by Gasper Potterf, of Gasper township, to build him a barn. This was a large log structure, requiring the entire summer to com- plete it. He received for this job two hundred dollars, making day's wages of about one dollar per day. While employed at this work he formed the acquaintance of his employer's daughter, Nancy Jane, to whom he was married in September, 1814. He built him a log cabin on one hundred and sixty acres, just east of where he now lives, and moved into it on Christmas day. He resided there until 1827, when he erected the brick dwelling in which he now lives. Mr. Allbaugh has lived a quiet, uneventful but industrious life. He experienced the various hardships which fell to the lot of the pioneers, but his memory. which is uncommouly clear, reverts to those times with a lively interest,

and even pleasure. He is a man of large frame and remarkable vital power. Although nearly four score and ten years his faculties, mental and physical, are in a good state of preservation. He is descended on both sides from an ancestry remarkable for longevity. His maternal grandfather lived to be one hundred and one years old, and his mater- nal great-grandfather was one hundred and six or seven at the time of his death. His paternal grandfather died at ninety years of age, and a brother of his father, Samuel Allbaugh, died some years since near Springfield, Ohio, at the great age of one hundred and nine years ; he was a school teacher and continued in his profession until one hundred years old. The wife of the subject of this sketch died September, 1874, at the age of nearly eighty years, having been born November 9, 1794. He has raised a family of eight children, two having died when young, as follows: Mrs. Polly McLean, born July 30, 1816; Allery, born February 20, 1818; Samuel, born September 20, 1819; Mrs. Julia Ann Bloom, born June 21, 1824; Stephen, born March 9, 1827; Mrs. Susannah Smiley, born February 21, 1829; Nancy Jane, born May 6, 1834; Mrs. Sarah Ann Glunt, born March 18, 1837.

In March, 1880, Mr. Allbaugh became a member of the Dun- ker church. His wife was a member of the Christian denomination. Mr. Allbaugh lives with his grandson, Frederick A. Bloom, whom he has raised since he was eight years of age. Mr. Bloom received from his grandfather forty acres of land in consideration of remaining with him until twenty-one years of age. Some four years ago he assumed charge of the home place. He was born April 10, 1853; married Janu- ary 11, 1877, to Miss Margaret M. King, of Indiana, who was born in 1859. They have two children-Charles S. and Lawrence.

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ship on account of hard labor connected with it, was hailed with delight as a kind of social festival or glee by our pioneer fathers.

No poor man was permitted to be under the painful necessity of begging for the necessaries of life for him- self or family. It was a common practice of those who had a bountiful supply to ascertain the necessities of his less fortunate neighbors, and to generously share with them. The stranger was ever a welcome guest, and taken in and cared for.

Having given some space to our pioneer fathers in this history, it is due to that noble generation of women, who have nearly all passed away-

OUR PIONEER MOTHERS,

to give at least an outline history of the manner in which they discharged the duties devolving on them during the pioneer days of the township.

Domiciled in a rude log cabin, surrounded by a dense forest, inhabited by wild beasts and savage Indians; her lot was truly a hard one, and her true history at this day seems to partake more of fiction than of reality. Com- pelled by force of circumstances to perform manual labor which at this time would seem impossible for her to endure, deprived of society, deprived of the luxu- ries, and sometimes, no doubt, of at least a bountiful supply of the necessaries of life, she had a hard task to perform in assisting her husband to provide the neces- saries of life for the family, and with her own hands to manufacture from flax and wool the fabrics to clothe the family.

In those days flax was grown almost exclusively for the lint which was manufactured into linen. The pro- cess of manufacturing was as follows, and was principally done by female labor: The flax was pulled by hand, tied into small sheaves, then shocked until dry enough to beat out the seed-the seed being threshed out. The flax was thinly spread on a meadow or lawn to rot or to make the wood or stem of the plant brittle, so that it could be separated from the lint. It was then housed in a dry place. The next process was breaking it on a large

wooden brake, which was heavy work and had to be done by men; next came what was called scutching; this was done by the women and children. This was about the first labor the writer ever performed, and he has not lived long enough yet to overcome his aversion to this kind of labor. The process was this: A board was driven into the ground and stood about waist high. A hand of broken flax was hung and held across this, and then with a wooden scutching knife the woody part was knocked out of the lint. To stand in one position all day and handle a scutching knife had no attraction for a boy .-- It next went through the heckle, from that to the spin- ning wheel, then to the loom, and came out linen. Out of flax linen our shirts were made. The tow which was heckled out of the flax made a coarser quality of linen, out of which pants for summer wear were made.

For winter apparel they depended entirely on the fleece of their own sheep; the fleece being taken off, washed and picked by hand, then taken to the carding-

mill, carded and made into rolls. It was then ready for the spinning-wheel, two of which constituted an outfit for a family-a small one for old ladies. On this she could spin sitting, and the large one for the daughter. This spinning had to be done walking which was hard labor, and there are still a few of these relics to be seen at farm houses. The spinning done, it went to the weaver-nearly every farm house containing a loom-and manufactured into jeans for coats, vests and pants. .Linsey was used for female apparel, and for coverlets and blankets for the bed.

Goods thus manufactured were of superior wearing quality. In addition to this labor, when sugar-making time came, the women and children superintended that almost exclusively, and a large supply of maple sugar and molasses was annually made.

PIONEER SCHOOL-HOUSES AND SCHOOLS.

The writer having received the rudiments of his edu- cation in the school-houses erected after 1825, a de- tailed history of those and the schools generally can be given from personal knowledge. But for the history of pioneer school-houses proper he is indebted to his friends, Captain Abraham Sayler and Thomas Huffman, esq., who were school boys at an earlier day.

The first school-house of the township was built on section twenty-five. This was a much better building than was common then, being a hewed log house with cross bars or sticks covered with oiled paper in the place of glass to admit light. The inside furniture consisted of slab benches destitute of backs, the urchin's spinal column being sufficient to keep him in an upright posi- tion. Writing desks were of the most substantial kind. Two inch-holes were bored into the wall, and a heavy slab pinned on them. For heating apparatus we had a large fire-place, very near across one end of the room, into which could be rolled large logs, the larger boys cut- ting them at noon, and all hands rolling them in. The school-house being generally built in the forest, fuel was easily obtained. This house was built in 1818, and William Botton was the first teacher. He kept what was then called a "loud school," that is, when no class was reciting, the school was permitted to spell as loud as they pleased.

A difficulty originating between the northern and southern part of the district, the south dissolved the union, and set up for themselves. They went to the little village of Camden; employed a man by the name of John Simson to teach their school. They built him a cabin, he being a man of family. All hands went to work on Friday, to build a school-house of poles or round logs, got it up, chinked, and daubed it, and had it ready for school the next Monday.

The plastering was done in the following manner: When the building was as high as wanted, they threw across the center of the building a log or girder, then laying rails from this to the sides of the wall close enough to hold mud mortar which was made by mixing with cut straw, and tramping with a horse. This was then thrown on the rails, which made it air-tight. A roof of

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clapboards was then put on, and the house was finished, the windows and furniture being the same as the first one described. This house was located on the section line between sections thirty-five and thirty-six.

Some time in 1820 there was a school-house of a similar description built about the center of section sixteen. First teacher-Andrew Small.

About 1824 there was a temporary school-house built on section fifteen. Teacher-James Welsh.

Since writing the foregoing, the writer has obtained reliable information that a school-house had been built . on section eighteen in 1812. This was a round log house with open fire-place, large enough to take in large logs of wood and furniture the same as described in school-house in the eastern part of the township. The first teacher was Joseph A. Dally or Joseph Anderson- the writer's informant is not certain which. So the question is settled that these teachers were the first two of the township.

These rude structures in the way of school-houses, after the township was properly divided into more con- venient districts, were superseded by better ones, but the furniture remained about the same for many years.

The State school fund was very small until about 1852, when the school system of the State was revised under the new constitution, and ample provision made for public schools. Prior to that time the public fund was insufficient to maintain a school more than three months per year, and when a longer term was desired by the people, the residue of the money had to be raised by subscription. This remark does not apply to pioneer schools proper, but to that period between, perhaps, the years 1830 and 1850. Prior to that period schools had to be maintained almost entirely by subscription.

The county being sparsely settled school districts were necessarily large, children frequently having to go from two to three miles to school, and generally through a dense forest. When snow was deep, a log was dragged from the residence to the school-house to break the snow. We had no boots then but very low quartered shoes, so our mothers would draw a pair of old stockings over our shoes to keep out the snow. Children of that period of our history did not go much on style of dress and did not believe that fine clothes made the boy or girl more respectable, and it was a very common thing to see a young urchin wending his way to school in very rough weather with his father's old pigeon tailed felt coat on for an overcoat, the skirt dragging the snow; or the girl with her mother's cast-off shawl, to keep her comfortable. This was then the fashion, and all were satisfied as long as they were able to follow the style of the day in dress. No child refused to attend school on account of homely dress, no distinction being made on that account.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 43

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

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