History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 57

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 57

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Philip Murray was born in Somers township in 1814. His father, Thomas Murray, was born in Ireland in 1779, and his mother, Martha Lewellen, was born in this coun- try in 1788. They were early settlers of Somers town- ship. In 1844 Philip Murray married Elizabeth Bader, who was born in 1823, and died in 1856. Four of the six children by this marriage are living. In 1857 Mr. Murray married Elizabeth T. Moren, who was born in 1820. Two children have been born by this marriage. In 1862 Mr. Murray became township treasurer, which office he held for four years. Until the year 1834 he was a farmer. In that year he took charge of a saw-mill on the Killough farm, in Somers township. He has been connected with the saw-mills located on the Camden and Richmond pike, on the farm of John Mills, then on the farms of John Douglas and Thomas McQuiston. In the year 1858 he quit the milling business and engaged in the dry goods business at Morning Sun until about the year 1866, when he again engaged in the saw-milling business.

Winburn Jenkins was born in North Carolina in 1817. From that State he moved to Ohio, and settled in Israel township, section six, in 1849. He married Sussanah Leviston in 185-, and has had six children, three of whom are living.

James R. Smith was born in Union county, Indiana, in 1810, and died in 1857. His wife was Mary Paxton, who died in 1871. They had ten children, three of whom are still living: Eliza, married and living in Israel township; Mary, married and living in Fair Haven, and William R., living in Israel township. William R. Smith was born in 1836. In 1857 he married Mary Ann Evans, who was born in 1836. She died in 1874, leav- ing three children. He married again in the same year, a Miss Grace E. Munns, who was born in Butler county, Ohio. They have had two children. He lives in Fair Haven and owns fifty-four acres of land.

Robert Smith, the second son of James and Ann Smith, was born in Kentucky in the year 1795. In 1815 he was united in marriage to Mary A. Patterson, who was born in South Carolina in 1795. She emigrated to Ohio with her parents and settled in section thirty, of Israel township, where her father entered land in 1806. They had seven children born to them, of these only four survive: John P., Samuel P., Eliza Jane, and Mar- garet. The two daughters reside in Kansas, but John P. and Samuel P. still reside in this township.

James Smith was one of the earliest pioneers of the county, having settled in Somers township, it is said, in 1802.

John P. Smith was born in 1816 in Somers township. In 1840 he married Nancy Buck, who was born in 1818, and died in 1857. By this marriage he had four chil- dren, three of whom survive. In 1858 he married a second time. His wife was Jane Morrow, born in Penn- sylvania in 1826. She died the same year of her mar- riage, leaving one child. His third wife was Margaret Mckay, who died in 1862, leaving one child. In 1863 he married Sarah Gilmore, who was born in 1830. By this marriage he has had four children, all living. In 1869 Mr. Smith was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for nine years. In 1866 he was elected to the office of clerk of the township, which position he still holds.

Samuel P. Smith was born in Somers township in 1820. In 1842 he married Mary Ann McGaw, who was born in 1819, and who died in 1852. There were born them four children, three of whom still survive. In 1853 he married for his second wife Matilda McBride, born in South Carolina in 1823. They have had three children.

Alexander M. Smith was born in Dixon township in 1857, and in 1879 was married to Lydia Allen, who was born in Union county, Indiana, in 1857. They have one child, Nora Myrtle Smith. He owns forty-five acres of land given him by his father.

James Harper, the only surviving child of Nathan and Elizabeth Harper, was born in Union county, Indiana, in 1829. In 1850 he moved to Preble county, Ohio, and located on the farm on which he now lives. In the same year he married Margaret A. Paxton, who was born in Israel township, in 1828; and who died in 1876. Ten children were born to them, six of whom are still living. Mr. Harper owns ninety acres of land located in section twenty-one of Israel township.

Alexander Caldwell was born in Ireland in 1818. In 1846 he emigrated to Pennsylvania, where he lived about five years. He then moved to Virginia and stayed there a year. In the next year, 1852, he moved to Ohio and settled in Israel township, where he has since re- sided. His wife was Mary Monteith, born in Ireland in 1831. Nine children have been born to them, all of whom are living. Mr. Caldwell owns a farm of eighty acres, one and a half miles northeast of College Corners, Ohio.

Andrew Campbell was born in Ireland in 1791. He emigrated from Ireland to Preble county in 1852. His

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wife was Rachel Weir, who was born Ireland in 1781, and died in 1859.

John Campbell was born in North Ireland, in 1815, and emigrated to Preble county, and settled in section six of Israel township, in 1861. In 1846 he married Martha Scott, born in Ireland, in 1825. They have had seven children, six of whom are now living. Mr. Camp- bell owns a farm of seventy-eight acres, which is well improved.

Francis A. Beall was born in Somers township, in 1820. His father, Charles Beall, was an early settler in that township, having removed there with his parents from Maryland, in 1816. Francis A. married for his first wife Sarah Moore, of Israel township, born in 1827; she died in 1860. There were two children born of this marriage, one living. In 1866 he married Mary H. Brown, born in Israel township, in 1830, by whom he has had no children, but has taken two to raise.

Jabez Harrison was born in Virginia in 1800, and died in 1845. He emigrated from Virginia to Wayne county, Indiana, and remained there five years, and afterwards lived in Fayette county until his death, which occurred in 1845. His wife, Elizabeth Taylor, born in Virginia in 1800, died in 1847. Three of their eight children are living: Ashbury C., in Washington Territory; James R., near St. Louis; and Wesley H., in Preble county, Israel township, where he owns two hundred and seventy-five acres. He moved from Wayne county, Indiana to Fayette county in 1835, and to Union county in 1847, whence he moved, in 1858, to Israel township. His wife, Lavina Brown, was born in 1829. They have a family of five children.

Charles Hockersmith was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1850. He came to Preble county in 1868, and purchased a farm of seventy-nine acres from James A. and William M. Gilmore. In 1874 he married Rachel M. Gilmore, who was born in 1843. They have had two children, one of whom, Robert A., is still living.

INCIDENTS.

The first birth in the township was that of Hugh Elli- ott, who was born June 26, 1808, and Mr. Elliott is consequently the oldest native resident.

The first death of which there is any remembrance was that of the little daughter of Dr. John Ramsey. She died about the year 1807, and was buried near the fam- ily residence, on the farm now occupied by George Ham- ilton.

Ebenezer Elliott put up the first brick house in 1816, on the farm now owned by his son Hugh. Robert Boyse is supposed to have put up the first house that was roofed with shingles, and James Boyse put up the first frame barn.

It is said that the first orchard in the township was set out on the farm of Robert Bishop, in section five.

The first wheat was sown in the summer of 1807, by Ebenezer Elliott, on his farm, in section twenty-six. In the previous spring he planted five acres of corn. The family tired of corn bread, and longed for a taste of wheat bread, and so the boys persuaded their father to

clear two acres and put them in wheat. The crop raised was a big one, and after it was harvested was put in a rail pen covered with clapboards. As soon as possible, the boys cleared a spot of ground near by, and after threshing it with flails and winnowing it in a sheet, they started for the mill at Hamilton, with two bushels and a half. After they returned with the flour they could hardly wait while Mrs. Elliott baked a cake, which as soon as done was eagerly devoured by the boys, Mrs. Elliott, with motherly self-denial only taking a morsel. The cake tasted very good, but had scarcely been swal- lowed before the whole family became sick, with sick- ness proportioned to the amount of cake eaten, and the mother received the reward of her self-denial, and was the least sick of all. Mr. Elliott, upon his return, pro- nounced the wheat "sick" wheat. All of it was of the same nauseating quality, and so ended the visions of a continuous supply of daily bread. The wheat, after being spurned by the cows and hogs, was used for whis- key, and it is not definitely kr.own how sick it made the men who drank it.

When Ebenezer Elliott was justice of the peace he was going to church one Sabbath when he met a man hauling a load of mill-stones. Upon being convinced that this Sunday labor was voluntary he was filled with righteous wrath, and on Monday the constable collected two dollars and a half from the Sabbath breaker.

In 1814 a violent tornado swept through the woods south of Morning Sun, doing great damage. The trees were thrown in every direction, and what few fences there were, were scattered to the four winds. Fortu- nately no lives were lost, though there was great anxiety among families whose members were supposed to be in the track of the storm. This was the most violent storm there has ever been in Israel township.

At the time of the first settlements bears, wolves, wild- cats, and foxes were plenty, but it was the smaller game that gave the settlers the most annoyance.

In the spring of 1810 the country was over run with hordes of mice, mice of all colors, shapes and sizes. They are described as having been a cross between a mole and a common mouse. For awhile they stayed, creating great havoc.

Wild turkeys were very plentiful, and their gobble, gob- ble, gobble! was a terror to the corn planter, who found . that the corn was scratched up nearly as fast as it was put under the ground. Large numbers of these ma- rauders were entrapped.

In the fall of 1809, there was a failure of the beech- mast throughout the country, and the consequence was, that the squirrels began to emigrate to the south in armies. Hundreds of them passed through Israel town- ship, jumping along at a lively rate, and swimming, or rather floating, over the streams. Scores of them were killed with clubs while crossing the Miami river.

Many will remember the crust which formed over the snow in 1817, when the deer, breaking through the crust, were easily captured by improvident hunters, who killed so many that there was a great scarcity of meat after- wards. .

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All of the yellow willow trees in this part of the coun- try owe their origin to a very patriarchal old tree that stood on the Colerain dike, between Cumminsville and Cincinnati. As the travelling public passed by that way, it was customary to cut a switch from the old tree, and to plant it when the distant home was reached. More than sixty years ago, Rev. Alexander Porter, upon his arrival from Cincinnati, after a trip on horseback to that city, gave the willow switch which he had cut from the old tree near Cumminsville, to his little daughter, Mary, who thrust it into the moist ground near the spring which was back of the house.

That switch, then so puny, is now without doubt the largest tree in the county. Recent measurements show that the trunk just below the branches is twenty-five feet in circumference. It is about sixty seet high, and, like the golden candlestick of old, has seven branches, the longest of which measures sixty feet. This tree, which is well worth visiting, is still strong and vigorous. It stands just back of the early residence of Mr. Porter, which was situated in section seventeen, on the farm now owned by Alexander Orr, a grandson of Mr. Porter.

Levi Coffin, president of the underground railroad, had one branch of his road through Israel township. Ebenezer Elliott, Nathan Brown, and others along the line are said to have been directors of the road. When- ever the colored refugees touched College Hill, near Cin- cinnati, they were sure to go to Canada via the Israel township route.

Sometime the parties would miss the "through train," and would be compelled to advance without a conductor. About thirty years ago, a party of this kind was travelling up the pike from Oxford, when a man on horseback overtook them, and tried in every manner to hinder them, and thus assist their masters, who where in close pursuit. The frightened negroes took refuge in the house of a colored man who lived in Claysburgh, and the avaricious watcher, thinking that they were trapped, quietly awaited the arrival of their masters. But the shrewd darkies had escaped from a back window, through the cornfield into the adjoining woods, and were rapidly conducted into Indiana. Their sable conductor was none other than Gabriel Smith, known all over the country as "Old Gabe."

Nearly forty years ago, an emigrant from the South came into Israel township bringing his two slaves with him, but as it was unlawful to hold slaves in Ohio, he settled just across the Indiana line. One of the slaves was old Gabe, who afterwards settled at Claysburgh. He was a fine singer, and the fiddler of the county, and was quite a character.

In 1858, a gentleman by the name of Sloan, who lived on a plantation in Newbury district, South Carolina, feel- ing that the end of his life was approaching, and desirous of freeing his slaves before his death, decided to make a trip to Ohio. He had probably heard of the Israel town- ship settlement from South Carolina, and it was thought best to make this township the terminus of the jonrney. Accordingly, he started with his fourteen slaves, and pro- ceeded by wagon over the mountains to Ohio, arriving

after several weeks of weary journeying. Mr. Sloan pur- chased a few acres of land adjoining Morning Sun, and after seeing his people comfortably settled, returned to the South, and died almost as soon as he got there, Alfred Sloan is the only survivor of the party of freed- . men.

CHURCH HISTORY.

There is no other township in Preble county whose history of every day life is so thoroughly identified with that of the church. It has been well remarked that the history of Israel township is the history of her churches. Her pioneers were her preachers, and her early settlers were her church members. As has already been noticed, the majority of the pioneers of Israel emigrated from the south, and principally from South Carolina, and that most of them were supporters of churches in the south, and for conscience sake took their departure from their native State, and came north into the virgin State of Ohio, to battle with the wilderness and suffer the rigors necessary to settlement and acclimatization; and all this because of their love for God and their ab- horrence of evil. Men who would voluntarily leave good homes for such cause must have been made of true metal, and their subsequent history has proved it.

The original stock was Scotch-Irish, and in the rocky fastnesses of Scotland they had imbibed the strongest Presbyterianism. Many of them settled in the Caro- linas. In 1743 the Covenanters, and in 1732 the Re- formed Presbyterians, seceded from the mother church in Scotland, and it was to these two parties that the Caro- lina settlers of Israel township belonged. Both churches were well represented in the township from the very first, and as a matter of course the rock-ribbed Christians im- mediately proceeded to organize their respective churches, and it is not strange that their influence has molded the character of the people.

THE COVENANTER CHURCH.

Prior to the year 1810 the Covenanters, who had made their homes in the township, assembled in private houses in the neighborhood, and it was not long before it was deemed expedient to enter into the organization of a church of their own denomination. They imme- diately proceeded with the work, and very soon, under the ministration of Rev. Donnelly, a minister of their church, succeeded in effecting an organization with a very considerable number of members. This organiza tion took place in the cabin of James Faris, in section twenty-six, near the spot where the church was afterwards erected. Rev. John Kell was among the first ministers who labored among them. Rev. John Black, of Pitts- burgh, preached after Mr. Kell, and he in turn was fol- lowed by Rev. Lusk, and soon afterwards by Rev. Gavin McMillan, who was the faithful shepherd of the flock for many years. It was during his pastorate, in the year 1834, that the Covenanters, while in general assembly at Pittsburgh, became divided into two parties, the dis- senters taking the name New Party and the remainder calling themselves members of the Old Party. This di- vision, originating in the presbytery, became general

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throughout the Covenanter church, and it soon became necessary for the Morning Sun congregation to declare itself. The shepherd of the flock, Rev. Gavin McMil- lan, thought best of the New Party, and accordingly an- nounced the fact to his people, who, naturally enough, followed him almost en masse into the new pasture, though a few positively declined to leave the Old Party. At this time they had a commodious brick church, which, until quite recently, stood in the midst of the cemetery where most of the original members lie buried. During the controversy between the two congregations for the possession of the church building, an amusing incident happened which is worthy of record. William Ramsey, one of the conservative party, got possession of the church one Sabbath, and opened the doors to the members of his party. He took his stand beside the high, old fashioned pulpit, and was about to conduct services when Mr. McMillan hurriedly entered the church, and before Mr. Ramsey was aware, had nimbly swung himself over the balustrade of the high pulpit, and the day was his. But Elder Ramsey, though amazed, was not altogether nonplussed, and with ready and keen wit he exclaimed: "He that entereth not in by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Then he, with his followers, withdrew to the school-house opposite the church, and the new party remained the possessors of the house of worship. Mr. McMillan continued to preach to this peo- ple until within a short time of his death, which oc- curred in the winter of 1867, in the fortieth year of his ministry. Rev. J. H. Cooper, while pastor of the church, decided to unite with the United Presbyterian church, and accordingly, with the majority of his peo- ple, was received as a member of that church. They continued to worship in "Beechwood" church, and many of the eastern portion of the Hopewell congrega- tion united with them. Several years ago these people, under the name of the Morning Sun congregation, to- gether with one hundred and one members of Hopewell church, organized

THE MORNING SUN CHURCH,

and immediately proceeded to build their present hand- some brick church, at an expense of nearly fourteen thou- sand dollars. The old church was sold and torn down. Samuel McQuiston used the bricks to build his new house. Only the outline of the old foundation remains in the cemetery as a monument, and together with many of the old members who are buried around it, is it moul- dering to dust. Its young successor, the Morning Sun church, is in a flourishing condition. . After Mr. Cooper, Rev. H. A. McDonald became the pastor of this congre- gation. He was followed by the present pastor, Rev. J. M. Johnston. The present eldership is as follows: Hugh McQuiston, sr., Hugh Elliott, Dr. Sloan, Samuel Mc- Quiston, William Wright, Dr. Harris, John Marshall, James Cook and James Faris. There are two hundred and eight members of the church, and about two hun- dred in the Sabbath-school. John Elliott is superintend- ent.

UNITED PRESBYTERIAN.

In the preliminary remarks upon the early history of Presbyterianism, it was stated that the emigrants from the south belonged either to the Covenanter or Reformed Presbyterian church. The history of the Covenanters of Israel township has been closed, and we see its vigorous life continued in the flourishing Morning Sun United Presbyterian church.

Taking a retrospect of the course of the Reformed Presbyterians who settled in the township, it will be dis- covered that they hardly waited to build their cabin homes before they proceeded to organize their church. It will be seen that the nucleus of the United Presbyterian church in Israel township was formed by the emigrants from the south.

THE HOPEWELL CHURCH.

In the years 1806 and 1807 several families, members of the Associate Reformed church, emigrated from the States of Kentucky and South Carolina, and settled in Israel township in the midst of the Beech Woods. Rev. Risk, a minister of the Associate Reformed church, preached to them soon after their settlement. In the fall of 1808, at the house of William McCreary, in sec- tion thirty-six, they formed themselves into a society, and in conjunction with the people of Concord petitioned the presbytery of Kentucky for supplies. Among those who occasionally supplied them were, Revs. McCord, McGill, Samuel Crothers and Abraham Craig. Septem- ber, 1808, the people assembled in the double log barn of David McDill's, and Mr. Craig, after preaching, or- ganized the congregation into a church of nearly fifty members. Prominent among these first names on the church roll were the McDills, McQuistons, Boyses, Ram- seys and Elliotts. At the time of the organization the following elders were chosen by the congregation : David and Andrew McQuiston, James Boyse, Ebenezer Elliott and John Patterson, all of whom had been ordained previous to their settlement in the township. The church continued to receive supplies from the Kentucky presby- tery, and the number of members was increased by immi- gration, but the prospect of having a settled minister among them did not open until 1814, when Rev. Alexander Por- ter, the pastor of the Associate Reformed church at Ce- dar Springs, Abbeville district, South Carolina, being pre- viously released from his charge, came on a visit to the western churches, and to the Israel township con- gregation preached on two Sabbaths and one week day. By this time the congregation had increased to more than fifty families, and the people were more than ever desirous of securing a pastor and of erecting a house of worship. Accordingly they drew up a call for Mr. Porter, and presented it to the presbytery of Kentucky. A copy of the call is now in possession of the Hopewell session. It is drawn up in the usual form, and prays that Mr. Porter become the shepherd of their souls, and promises him all due respect and support. It was signed by the following persons, who constituted the first mem- bership of the church: David M., Andrew and Hugh McQuiston, William, Moses and James McGaw, David

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and Mary McDill, James and Robert Boyse, Ebenezer and Robert Elliot, John and Samuel Patterson, John, Robert, David, Joseph and Samuel Pressly, James and Thomas McDill, Nathan Brown, John Brown, Hugh Ramsey, Richard Sloan, George and James Brown, Gavin Mitchell, William McCreary, Robert, Joseph and John Douglas, William Morris, John Foster, Alexander Hamil- ton, David Fares, John and James Hathorne, William, John and Robert Buck, William Pinkerton, David and Samuel Hathorne, William Allen, William Morris, John and Samuel Wiley, John and James Baine, Reuben C. and Andrew Weed, James Giles, John Wilson, John and James Alton, Andrew and Mary Martin, Robert Gamble, Joseph and William Steel, Richard and James Scott, Mat- thew and James McClurken, John Caldwell, Alexander Young, William Robison, Gilbert Marshall, David Bon- ner and Andrew Baird. Mr. Porter was promised three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents yearly salary for two-thirds of his time. For the other third of his ministerial labors the congregations of Ham- ilton and Concord were to pay one hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents, with the understanding that as soon as these churches could be provided with a settled pastor, Hopewell would receive the whole of Mr. Porter's labors.

Prior to this call the first church building had been erected just west of the present house. It was a log structure thirty feet square, and afterwards, to accommo- date the growing congregation, received an addition of thirty feet. The pulpit was in the middle of the west side, with two small windows just back of it. The seats were made of slabs hewed from logs. They were pro- vided with stiff, upright backs. The present church building is a commodious frame, and is kept in good repair.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 57

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

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