History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 45

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

USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches > Part 45

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Gratis township is so unfortunate as to possess no good means of transportation. There are no railroads in the

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

township, nor have the people any prospects at present of ever getting any. Their nearest railroad station is at. Camden, Somers township, a distance of some four or five miles. They are fortunate in the possession of good roads, extending in every direction, and connecting the chief points within the township with each other and with the outside world. Most of these roads are free pikes. One, however, passing southeast through Win- chester to Middletown is a toll pike. A few years ago, the pike from Winchester to West Elkton was also a toll pike, but it has since been made a free thoroughfare.

There are three towns in this township. Two, Win- chester and West Elkton, are regularly incorporated towns, and are places of considerable importance. The third is Greenbush, a small collection of houses cluster- ing at a crossroads, and supplied with a saw mill, post office and a few shops of no great importance.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME

is a matter of dispute as to the particulars, although there is the same idea in each way of explaining it. Some relate that at the first election of officers, the finances of the new township were in such an unsatis- factory condition that the first officers volunteered to serve without pay, offering their time and services gratu- itously, and that the name arose from that proposal. The objection to this explanation is that it makes the name to have been given some time after the organization of the township, and also to have been given by the citi- zens of the township, whereas it was the custom for the county commissioners to name the township at the time of organization. To our mind, the following explana- tion seems, of the two, to be the more worthy of credence: Owing to the fact that the most of the settlers at an early day were located in the extreme sounthern part of the township, it was troublesome te have to go to the elec- tions in the northern part of the then existing township, which bore the name of Lanier, which was of much greater extent than at present. In consideration of this, a party of Friends went in a body to the county com- missioners and petitioned that a new township be made in the southeastern part of the county. The commis- sioners, thinking the number of settlers in the territory which would be embraced by the new township to be too few to justify their granting this petition, refused to give it their consent. Before leaving, the Friends determined . to make one last effort. Samuel Stubbs, who was the spokesman of the party, went over the former arguments, and at the close remarked that he not only thought that they were justified in their petition for a new town- ship, but that he even thought that it should be granted them gratis. His arguments carried his point, and the clerk of the board, Mr. A .. C. Lanier, not only advised the granting of the township, but also that it should be called Gratis. His advice was followed, and the Friends went home victorious.

SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement in the county was made in this township in section thirty-six, by John Leslie, who en- tered land as early as 1802. Leslie and a man by the

name of Long entered the section together, Leslie taking the south half and Long the north half. Leslie emi- grated from Pennsylvania with his family, consisting of his wife, five sons and three daughters. The sons were Davis, Joseph, John, Stephen and Reese. Long had no family.

The next to enter after Wesley and Long was Alex- ander Pugh, who entered five quarter sections in the eastern part of the township. The most of his land lay in section thirteen. He made the first settlement in what is called Pleasant valley. He came from Georgia with three thousand dollars, and bought his land and paid for it at time of purchase. The most of the settlers who entered lands took them with the privilege of pay- ing for them in yearly installments. The lands were generally sold to the settlers for about two dollars and fifty cents per acre, they agreeing to pay about eighty dollars a year. At the time of his arrival Mr. Pugh was considered the wealthiest man in the settlement. Soon after Leslie's arrival William Swisher came from Kentucky and settled section one. He built on the north side of Twin creek. He was originally from Pennsylvania, but moved to Kentucky, where he stayed two years before moving to Ohio.

About the same time Hezekiah Phillips came into the settlement from and settled in the north- ern part of the township. Rebecca Phillips is said to be the first female white child born in the county. The southern part of the township was settled by a large colony of Friends, who came from the Carolinas and Georgia. The families of Stubbs Jones and Mad- docks formed a large part of the number. They were originally from Pennsylvania. From there they moved to North and South Carolina, and from these latter States to Georgia. Their opposition to slavery caused their emigration to the north and northwest. They came in large numbers to Ohio, and a great many set- tled in Gratis township. The ancestor of the Stubbs had gone from Pennsylvania to keep in sight and sound of his lady love, Miss Ester Maddock. He saw Gen. eral Braddock when undertaking his disastrous march against the combined forces of French and Indians. As many as thirteen brothers of his name came to Ohio together, and of these, twelve settled within thirty miles of each other, in the southern part of Gratis township and the northern part of Butler county. The Stubbs are a remarkably long lived family, their average age ap- proaching eighty years. There is in the possession of Mr. Jesse Stubbs, of West Elkton, a record of events which he has kept for over forty years.

George Kelley settled in Gratis township, and was among the earliest settlers in the county. He came from Virginia, where he was born in 1782. His wife, Elizabeth (Harrell), was born in Kentucky in 1787. They removed finally to Sullivan county, Indiana, where they both died; he in 1868, and she in 1875. James Kelley, son of George Kelley, was born in Gratis town- ship in 1811, December 8th, and was married, in 1838, to Hannah Goodlander, and has had a family of fifteen children, eleven of whom are living.

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

Some of the other early settlers were John Cypole and Levi Kinman, who came from Georgia in the fall of 1804, and settled in Gratis; Abraham Neff, who settled on Twin, and built the first saw and grist-mill ; the two Gifts, Nicholas and Jacob, who settled on section three, and were afterwards among the four proprietors of the town of Winchester; Abraham Wimmer, from Virginia; Daniel Boone, from Kentucky, a relative of the noted pioneer, and who settled on section eleven; William Hixon, from Georgia; and Abner Hall and nephew, Adam, of North Carolina. The above all came before 1809.

John Brown was born about 1795, in Georgia, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Gratis township in 1804. His father, Richard, entered a three- quarter section, one hundred and twenty-seven acres of which is now in the possession of his grandson, Joseph Brown. He paid a dollar and fifty cents per acre for the land. John Brown's wife was Mary, daughter of Jonas Randall, who died in 1867. They had seven children born to them: Jonas, (deceased); Sarah, (de- ceased); John R., residing in Iowa; Jonathan, in Kan- sas; Richard, (deceased); Joseph and Rebecca, (de. ceased). Joseph Brown was married three times. By his first wife, Elizabeth Stanley, he had two children (both deceased). His second wife, Mary Hasley, who died of small-pox in 1875, left two children: Ellie and Milo A. His third wife is Maria Stubbs. They have had one child, Samuel (deceased). Mr. Brown has been a director on the school board for twenty-four years.

John Brown and Mary Randall moved into their log hut the day after their marriage, carrying their effects upon a horse. At the time they moved in there was no floor to their dwelling. The house was finished after they had moved in.

Jerid, son of Alexander Pugh, was born in the year 1809. His father moved to Gratis in 1805. He married Catharine Barbara Schwartzwelder, who is still living. They had six children born to them, namely: Hannah, wife of Samuel Harris; John, who married Eliza Ann Gifford; William, who married Ellen Smith; Alexander; Ellen, wife of James Burnett; and Wesley (deceased). John Pugh has three children now living: Hiram C., Charles Wesley, and Samuel J. Mr. Pugh has a farm of about one hundred and twenty-nine acres, all in a fine state of improvement. He has also been a member of the township board of education, but holds no office at present.

Daniel Chrisman emigrated from Rowan county, North Carolina, in 1803, stopping until August, 1805, in War- ren county. In that year coming to Preble county he settled in section eleven, of Gratis township. By his wife, Mary Ozias, he had five children, four of whom are living, three of whom are in this county. John, the only one in Gratis township, married Susannah Hall (deceased). He is about the last of the early settlers, and is one of the largest land holders in Preble county.

Lewis Chrisman, son of Jacob Chrisman, was born in . 1801. He married Sarah Harshman, by whom he had eight children, three of whom are still living, viz: F. M.,

Sarah Ann, and Peter; the last two are living in Indiana. Lewis Chrisman died in 1854, and his wife in 1872. F. M. Chrisman was born in Preble county, on the old homestead, in the year 1833, and in 1857, married Esther Russell, daughter of John R. Russell. He has had six children, all of whom are living. His farm contains three hundred and sixty-eight acres. Rev. Jacob Chris- man, the grandfather of John and Daniel, was the first minister of the German Reformed church who crossed the Ohio river.

Benjamin Fall came into Ohio from North Carolina, and settled in Gratis township. His father, Christian, was one of the first men in the county; he came in 1805. His wife was Mary Leslie, who died about 1864. They had four children: Hannah, wife of Joseph Hal- deman; Mary Ann, wife of Daniel Snyder; Josiah, who married Susan Smith; and Elizabeth, wife of Oscar Morris. Mrs. Daniel Snyder had six children: Susannah, Benjamin, Samuel, Alice, Margaret, and Libbie."

Samuel Stubbs was born in Georgia in 1766, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, and in 1805 settled on section twenty-nine of Gratis township. He died while on a visit to Indiana in 1846. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in Georgia in 1771, and died in Gratis in 1843. She was a descendant, in the third generation, from Sir Isaac Newton. Sir Isaac's sister Rachel married a Fran- cis Jones.

Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs had ten children: Rebecca, William, Tabitha, Newton, Martha, Sarah Ann, Nathan, Rachel, and Jesse Stubbs. Jesse Stubbs married Mary Jones, and has had nine children, six of whom are liv- ing. Mr. Stubbs now resides in the spot where he was born, and is seventy-one years old.

Jonas Randall came to Preble county and settled in Gratis township in 1805. He was born in South Caro- lina December, 1766. He married Sarah Roberts, who was a native of the same State, born May, 1766. They had nine children, all of whom grew up and raised fam- ilies, but none are now living. Jonas Randall died in Gratis in 1852, and his wife in 1855. He was a prosper- ous farmer, owning one thousand acres of land. He gave each of his children a farm.

He was a member of Friends' church, and was a use- ful citizen. John Randall, his son, was born in South Carolina, in July, 1790, and was married in 1811, to Elizabeth Conarroe, who was born in Philadelphia, in 1795. They have had nine children, of whom six are living, viz: William C., in Monroe township; Mrs. John Lee in Jefferson; Mrs. Isaac Julian, in Illinois; Mrs. Isaac Wright, in Indiana; Andrew C., in Illinois, and Mrs. John Small, in Kansas. William C. was born in 1816, and has been married four times. He was ap- pointed, in 1837, ensign in the State militia, under Gov- ernor Vance, and was afterward made lieutenant, which commission he held four years.

Thomas Stubbs was born in Georgia in the year 1770. From Georgia he emigrated to Ohio, and in the year 1805 he settled in Gratis township. Like a good many of the emigrants from the south, he was obliged to leave on account of his anti-slavery views. His wife was

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

Mary, daughter of Charles Hobson. They had ten children born to them: Elisha, Arah, Charles (deceased), John H., Keziah, Lydia, Rebecca, Sarah (deceased), and Lorenzo. The latter, born in 1818, married Sarah Mad- dock, and has had five children, three of whom survive. Mr. Stubbs has a farm of one hundred and eighty acres. This farm was given him by John Overpeck, as a recog- nition of a kindness done him by Lorenzo Stubbs. Dur- ing an illness of Mr. Overpeck's his own children deserted him and left him to Mr. Stubbs' sole care. At Mr. Over- peck's death, at the age of eighty-two years, he left his farm to Mr. Stubbs.

John H. Stubbs, son of Thomas Stubbs, was born in Butler county in 1805. His father moved from Pennsyl- vania to North Carolina, from there to Georgia, and finally to Ohio. The first wife of J. H. Stubbs, who was Margaret E. Hart, died in 1840. They had ten children: Levi, Zimri, Aaron, Thomas, Isaac, Lydia, Ira, Esta, Elizabeth, and Sarah. His second wife was Lydia M. Eccles, by whom he had eight children: Enoch, Emma, Ezra, Harriet, Eli, Allison B., George H., and Katie.

Levi Stubbs married Mary Thomozin Thayer. By her he had nine children: John E., Lewis E., Ira S., Charles Z., Walter I., Luella, Aaron A., Lizzie Ann, and Sarah Margaret. Ira Stubbs, married Rebecca J. Swain. Nine children were born him, viz: Ollie, Charles S., Russel F., Curtis A., Mary L., Lurton H., Frank C., Orion J., and Helen B. Mr. Stubbs has a farm of forty-four acres. He is a merchant in West Elkton.

John Riner was born near Martinsburgh, Virginia, about 1780. From Virginia he moved to Ohio, and set- tled in Gratis in the year 1805. He died in Gratis on section fourteen, in 1840. His first wife was a Huffman, of Virginia, by whom he had two children: Sarah and · Catharine. His second wife was Mary Osborn, of Shep- pardsburgh, Virginia. She died in the year 1873, at the age of eighty-three. John and Mary Riner had seven children, four of whom are now living: Julia Ann, Henry, J. Welsey and Rebecca. Henry Riner married Elizabeth, daughter of John Chrisman. They have three children of their own: Susan, John and Charles, and two adopted ones-Thomas and Mattie.

Simeon Loop was born in Pennsylvania, from which State he moved to Ohio. He died in Gratis township about 1846. His wife, Catharine E., is also dead. Mr. Loop owned a farm of seventy-six acres. Five children were born him: Susanna, Jacob, Mary Ann, Sarah and Lewis C. The latter married Eliza Jane, daughter of George Long. They have had two children: Mary Ellen and Sadie (deceased). Mr. Lewis Loop was born in 1830, and is still living on the farm owned by his father.

In the year 1805 Jesse Kenworthy, sr., came to Ohio, and settled on section thirty-two of Gratis township, where he died in 1858. He moved from North Carolina to South Carolina, where he married Rachel Cook, a native of that State. She was the daughter of Eli Cook, who settled in 1805, on the same section as Kenworthy. This colony came overland to Ohio, driving their own teams, and making the best arrangements possible until

they could build their cabins. Jesse and Rachel Ken- worthy had a family of five children, viz: William, who married for his first wife, Alice Ballard, and for his second, Ann Townsend; John, who married Lydia Jones; Mary, who married first David Branson, and second, Daniel H. Moon; Sally (deceased), and Jesse, jr. The latter married Mary Langston, and has five children: John R., Susan K., Rachel, Zimri and Alvin L. Mr. Jesse Kenworthy, jr., was born in the year 1817, and has lived all his life on the farm where he now resides. He first started on his father's farm which had been willed him. He made additions to this from time to time until he is now the owner of seven hundred and forty-six acres in Ohio, be- sides three hundred and sixty acres in Illinois. He has made a specialty of stock raising, particularly the raising of hogs, raising from three to four hundred of the latter a year. His son, Zimri, married Ann E. Lynn. They have had two children: Francis Elmer and Frank E., both of whom are deceased.

Daniel Kenworthy is one of ten children. He has been married twice-first to Mary Roberts, and then after her death, to Mary J. Lane. He has had four children. Mr. Kenworthy is a member of the board of education of his township, and also a director of the Preble County Agricultural association. He has a farm of one hundred acres.

William Gifford moved to Ohio from North Carolina about 1805, and settled in Gratis township. He was born In 1773, and died in 1813. His son, Jesse Gifford, was born in Gratis township in the year 1812. His wife, Bethena Rix, was born in 1813. They had six children : Anuel, Susanna, Eliza, Henry, Hannah and Linley. Mr Gifford owns seventy-five acres in Preble county.

Anuel Gifford married first Sarah Korres, by whom he had six children: After her decease he married Ellie Owens, and has had one child by this union. Mr. Gif- ford has been school director for four years, and for several years a member of the board of education. He is part proprietor of a saw-mill.

Nathan Maddock was born in Georgia, in the year 1777. In the spring of 1805 his father, Samuel Mad- dock, moved from Georgia with a colony of about fifty persons, composed mostly of representatives of the Stubbs and Jones families. The latter of these families is now not represented in this part of the county. Samuel Mad- dock brought with him his two sons, Nathan and Francis, and his daughter Eleanor. He settled on section thirty- two of Gratis township. Nathan married Sarah Fouts, of North Carolina. Four children were born to them- Joseph, John, Henry, who married Phebe Brown, and Rachel, who married Riley Davis (deceased). After he death of Mrs. Maddock, which occurred in 1815, Nathan married Martha Mendenhall, by whom he had one child, Samuel, who married Martha Cook.

Joseph Maddock married Mary Stubbs. Three chil- dren have been born to them, two of whom, Nathan and Martha Ann, are still living. . Henry Maddock is living in Lee county, Iowa, and Samuel in Henry county, Iowa.

John Maddock and his wife Martha (Stubbs) had six children, two of whom died in infancy. Mr. Maddock

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A.H.MARKLEY

MRS. DANIEL G. PRUGH.

DANIEL, G. PRUGH.

Although distinct traces of the ancestral line of the Prugh family are lost to history ere it is retraced through the eighteenth century, it is undoubtedly the fact that the family tree first took root in the soil of Germany. Tradition has not handed down the name of the first of the family who left his native land and settled in this country. However, it is known that Conrad Prugh, the grandfather of Daniel G. Prugh, lived in Frederick county, Maryland during the stirring struggle for National independence. He died in the year 1805, leaving behind him a family of sixteen children, equally divided as to sex. Soon after the death of their father most of the children emigrated to Ohio, and set- tled principally in Montgomery county, about five miles south of Day- ton.

Confining this sketch to the family of one of this large circle of rela- tives, it is found that Peter Prugh, the father of Daniel G. Prugh, was born in Frederick county, Maryland, near Westminster, February 12, 1784. The first years of vigorous youth were spent on the farm and in the milling business. But he soon found that the running of mills was less adapted to his taste than the building thereof, and the strong mechanical genius which has ever been characteristic of the Prugh family converted the miller into the millwright. In or about the year 1811, he emigrated to Ohio, and came to Preble county, in section four of Gratis township, where he purchased one hundred and thirteen acres of land at seven dollars per acre, to which farm he afterwards ad- ded forty-three acres. Although farming was his chief occupation, he frequently turned aside to indulge in his favorite mechanical pur- suit. He helped to construct various grist- and saw-mills in the coun- ties of Preble, Montgomery, and Greene. His farm, however, occu- pied much of his attention. The native forest, with its heavy under- growth, was to be cleared ere he could expect to reap revenue from his investment. Realizing that it is not good for man to be alone, he early sought a helpmeet in the person of Miss Elizabeth Gentis, a daughter of Daniel Gentis, of Clarke county, who emigrated from Germany at an early day. The young couple commenced house keep- ing in a log house which Mr. Prugh had erected near where his son's residence now stands. This house was supplanted in 1825 by a com- fortable brick, which with its accompanying farm buildings, which stood until after the death of the old people when the buildings gave way to the handsome residence and barn of their son.

Peter Prugh's wife died November 12, 1845, and he followed her to the tomb March 23, 1859. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and it was through his efforts that the church at Win- chester was founded. He furnished much of the material and helped construct the building. The Prugh family consisted of fourteen chil- dren, ten boys and four girls, all of whom lived to be men and women. Two brothers and one sister are deccased. Of this large family Daniel G. Prugh, the fourth son and fourth child, was born in Gratis town-

ship, May 9, 1821. He spent the first years of his life doing farm work. The county being new and work pressing, his educational advantages were limited. However, native talent and perseverance made of him an exceptionally intelligent man. This hard, earnest intelligence ever guiding every outlay of strength, has won for him true success.

In 1840 he left the farm and worked for two years and four months at the blacksmith trade, but disliking the business, he returned to the home place and became sole manager of his father's farm on the follow- ing conditions, viz .: That he pay the taxes ; provide for every want of the family ; and advance annually to his father twenty dollars for church purposes. He profited by this arrangement for three years, and on the seventh of August, 1845, was married to Sarah Swihart, by whom he had four children. Of these the two girls died in infancy. Reuben Cassius, the oldest son, was born June 27, 1847, and Albert Clayton, the second son, was born July, 30, 1849. These sons are now in Kan- sas, where they are prospering in the stoek trade. Reuben went in the fall of 1879, and his brother followed him in the following spring.

Mr. Prugh's irst wife died May 2, 1854, and he was again married November 29, 1855, to Anna Swihart, of Montgomery county. Mr. and Mrs. Prugh have one son, Charles Lyman, born March 1, 1857. who, in the fall of 1880, went to Middletown, where he is now engaged in the hardware business

In 1849 Mr. Prugh bought the home place. He now owns in all three hundred and sixteen acres, two hundred and sixty adjoining his residence, and fifty-six acres in section two. After selling the place his father removed to Winchester, but disliking town life, spent his last days on a farm just west of Winchester, near the residence of his son. The latter continued to live in the old house until the year 1874, when he erected his present commodious residence at an expense of three thousand five hundred dollars. The large barn was erected in 1867 at a cash outlay of about one thousand eight hundred dollars. For twelve years, between the years 1854-69, Mr. Prugh served as township trustee. In 1869 he was elected county commissioner, which office he held for two consecutive terms of three years each. He has served the people in other capacities, as a member of the Preble County Agricultural board, road commissioner, and other minor offices. He is the oldest road commissioner in Preble county.

In political life Mr. Prugh has always been an active Republican, and to his certain knowledge none of the name has ever been under any other political banner.

Though not a member of the church, he has always liberally con- tributed for the erection of churches, not confining his benefactions to any particular denomination. He has always honored the Christian religion. He has spent the most of his life on his present farm, which is well improved. Surrounded by hosts of friends, the memory of a life well spent and the record of many good deeds is most pleasant.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 45

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

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