History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 59

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

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Morning Sun, situated on the northwest corner of sec- tion twenty-six, is a village of about one hundred and seventy-five inhabitants. The original plat of seventeen in-lots and one out-lot was recorded April 13, 1833, by James McQuiston, and an addition of out-lots two and three was made by James McQuiston, March 30, 1837. The first house in the town is the one now occupied by Alfred Sloan, colored. In this same house the first store was kept by James Pressly, before and after the village was laid out. Israel Hamilton opened his blacksmith

shop about the same time that the store was opened. Thomas Little became the first postmaster, May 26, 1836. E. O. Coleman is the present postmaster. The store is kept by Isaiah Brown and E. O. Coleman. The Morning Sun United Presbyterian church is situated in the village. The classical academy is near by. There is a tile factory and a saw-mill close to the village.

The portion of College Corner located in Israel town- ship was laid out and recorded February 18, 1868, by Frank, Mary Francis, William, David, and Ellis Shidler. Part of the town is in Union county, Indiana, part in Butler county, Ohio, and the rest in the southwest correr of section thirty-one, Israel township.

March 26, 1833, the hamlet of Claysburgh was laid out by Robert Boyse, William Nickol, Samuel B. Gilmore, and Samuel C. Foster, and the plat was recorded April 13th. The town was to be on the corner of sections nine, ten, fifteen, and sixteen. The only house is that of James Kelly.

EARLY PHYSICIANS.

The first physician in the township was Dr. John Ram- sey, a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, who emi- grated at an early day to Woodford county, Kentucky, and in 1806 came to Ohio, and settled in Israel town- ship, where he remained until the time of his death, which occured in 1826.

Soon after settling, impelled by necessity and a sense of duty toward the pioneers so far from medical aid, he undertook the practice of medicine in his neighborhood. Intellectually he was noted for the common sense bent of his mind, and on this base, by close private reading, he soon acquired a vast fund of practical knowledge con- cerning the science of medicine. He was highly es- teemed for his sound judgment, honest intentions, and devotion to his patients,

Dr. Ramsey performed the first surgical operation in the township when he amputated the leg of William Allenwith, using for the operation a case of instruments that would make the modern surgeon shudder. Notwithstanding, the patient rapidly recovered, and hopped about for many years, an unceasing source of close observation to the boys of the neighborhood, who had been told by their superiors in knowledge, that the old gentleman would be all right when his leg grew again.

Dr. Ramsey, though he never attended a medical col. lege, was not a quack, and though never at a school of pharmacy, was not a "yarb doctor." After practicing for twenty years, he was called away by that same grim foe he had been so successfully opposing for so many years. He died in 1826.

Dr. Samuel Pressly, a native of Abbeville, district of South Carolina, located at an early day in Israel town- ship, near the present site of Fair Haven. He remained here but a short time, when he returned to the South, where he afterwards became a distinguished physician. Of his career in the county, it is learned that his profes- sional and social standing was high. He was a skilful and fearless equestrian, and always visited his patients vra the "bee line," regardless of intervening forests, with their brush, logs, bogs, gullies, and stones. An old gentle-

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

man of Dixon township informed the writer, that when he was a boy he was sent to call Dr. Pressly to see a pa- tient near what is now Concord. The ground was cov- ered with ice, and travel on horse-back was very danger- ous. But the doctor fearlessly responded to the call, and after advising the boy to ride home carefully, jumped into the saddle, and was like a wild Indian. The boy followed in mortal terror, momentarily expecting to find the crushed remains of the doctor, but upon his arrival home, found him already mounted for the return trip.

In 1825 Dr. Eli Gilmore emigrated from Rockbridge county, Virginia, and settled in the central part of Israel township. He immediately commenced the practice of medicine, and continued it for about thirty years.

Physically, while in his prime, he was a splendid speci- men of robust manhood-tall, erect, active, tidy in dress, with an air of quiet dignity about him, that always made his presence felt and respected. In later years he became quiet corpulent, and never, until disabled by a slight paralysis, did he lose his characteristic elasticity of step. He paced a floor more lightly than other men of half his weight.

Intellectually, he far surpassed the ordinary standard. He had an exceedingly fine legal mind, and as a barrister would have been a giant. The dull routine of country practice, as neighborhood physician, did not give his fine powers of mind room for that activity of which they were capable. As a physician he felt the responsibilities of his position, and was quick to detect, and quicker to ac- knowledge merit wherever found. Jealous of the honor of his profession, he was terrible to quacks. Correct in his judgement, and honest in his opinions, he succeeded as a physician. He died in 1857, and to-day sleeps with his fathers in Hopewell cemetery.

Dr. S. C. Foster, of whom but little information can be gathered, commenced to practice about 1830, and after remaining in Israel township for a few years, re- moved to Indiana, and died there about 1850. He is buried in Richland cemetery.

Dr. A. W. Pinkerton, of Dixon township, commenced to practice in Fair Haven in 1845. During the war he served as surgeon in the Army of the Potomac. He was a young man of acknowledged ability, but was smit- ten in the flush of manhood by a fearful and sudden death at Liberty, Indiana, where he was buried.

Dr. Alexander Porter, son of Rev. Alexander Porter, the pioneer preacher, came with his father to Israel town- ship in 1815. He grew up with the country; com- menced the practice of medicine prior to 1830, and con- tinued to practice for more than forty years, with his of- fice on the farm near Fair Haven, where he resided for so many years. He was apparently never robust, but he was gifted with the power of endurance, and as tough as a wild-cat. He worked and even slept in the saddle.

As a physician he was greatly esteemed, was conscien- tious in the discharge of every duty, and as a citizen he had no equal. Now he is a feeble old man living at Ox- ford with his son, Dr. J. B. Porter, and is only watching and waiting for his release from life.

Dr. Richard Sloan located in Morning Sun about thirty-

five years ago, and continued in business until recently, when he became completely exhausted. Few men held more fully than he the confidence of his patrons. His business was varied and extensive, and to-day we find him confined to his home, not by old age, but by pros- tration resultant from exposure and over-work.

Dr. A. C. McDill, who was in an extensive practice for many years, sold out in 1855, and removed to Monmouth, Illinois, where he is living in retirement. His field of practice was in the vicinity of Fair Haven, which field has since been held by Drs. W. G. Gilmore, Fouts, Rob- ison, Beverly, J. B. Porter, and at present by H. M. Lo- gan and A. M. Howe.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

THE McQUISTON FAMILY.

As the name suggests, the McQuiston family origina- ted in Ireland. The first record of this family shows that in 1765, in county Antrim, there was born to David McQuiston and wife a son who was named Hugh.

In 1772 David McQuiston and family, together with his two brothers, set sail from their native land, and in due time arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, and im- mediately settled in Abbeville district.

In 1796 Hugh McQuiston married Margaret Gaston, who was born in Abbeville district in 1767. Her par- ents, who were natives of Ireland, suffered all the hor- rors of a famine on ship-board while crossing the Atlan- tic. The Gastons were well represented in the Revolu- tionary war. They were all men of splendid physique, not one of whom was below six feet in stature, and being excellent marksmen, were often chosen for hazardous undertakings. Old Mr. Gaston was one of those valiant men, and Margaret, together with her mother and little sister, were compelled to do the farm work.

The McQuistons remained in their South Carolina home until the spring of 1807, when it was decided to remove from the rich agricultural region in which they lived to the free soil of the then new State of Ohio.

In the above named year the journey to the north was undertaken. The McQuiston family journeyed in company with the family of James McDill. The whole journey, which occupied six weeks, was made in wagons. While crossing the mountains the McDill wagon was upset and one of the little girls severely injured by the fall.

Preble county had been fixed upon as the terminus of the journey.

The little party arrived within the confines of their adopted State, and inasmuch as their was no cleared land ready for them in Preble county, Hugh McQuiston rented a patch of ground in Butler county, on the

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Miami river, near what is now known as Old River about three miles above Hamilton. While here the children some times went to school, and on their way to and fro were accustomed to cross the present bed of the Miami river on a slab which spanned the mill-race, which at that time was some distance from the river, but to day is the bed of that self same stream.

During the summer they raised a crop of corn which was their sole dependence for the winter's food. They remained all winter in a miserable little hut, and suffered much from the inclemencies of the weather.

In the spring of 1808 they arrived at their new place in Preble county, which was immediately made home- like by the familiar faces and hearty welcomes of their old neighbors, the Elliotts, McCrearys, the McDills, Douglas, and others. Hugh McQuiston bought the southwest quarter of section twenty-four, of Israel town- ship, and soon cleared a space of about two acres, in the midst of which he erected a hewed log cabin, covered with clapboards held down by weight poles.

To Mr. and Mrs. McQuiston were born five boys and one daughter. The little girl, Eliza, was burned to death while watching a gap near some burning brush piles. William, Joseph, David and Archibald lived to a ripe old age. Hugh, the only survivor, is in his seventy-first year. The latter is now known as Hugh McQuiston, sr. He was born in Preble county, Septem- ber 26, 1810. His father died June 21, 1845, in his eightieth year, and his mother died July 17, 1852, in her eighty-fourth year. One by one have his brothers drop- ped into the tomb, and to-day he is the last of his gen- eration. His youth was spent on the farm with his father. Though schools were poor at that early day, he managed by close application to acquire a practical knowledge of "the three R's," which added to native good sense, made him a man of rare common sense. October 9, 1833, he was married to Nancy, the daugh- ter of Samuel McDill. Four children blessed this union: Samuel G., born August 13, 1834, lives near Paxton, Illinois. Their second son, John C., who was born November 29, 1838, was quick to answer the call of his imperilled country, and in July, 1861, enlisted and was sent to the front. After serving about ten months he died of typhoid fever at Meadow Bluff, West Virginia. Eliza Jane, born October 19, 1843, is the wife of Henry Pinkerton, of Union county, Indiana. Their youngest child, Maggie, who was born June 3, 1853, is the wife of David Stephenson, of Yellow Springs, Ohio. Mrs. McQuiston died June 28, 1853, and on August 7, 1856, Mr. McQuiston was married to Elizabeth Wilson, who was born October 3, 1816, and whose parents, Matthew and Jenny Wilson, came from Kentucky to Israel township about fifty years ago. Mr. McQuiston lives on the same spot on which he was born. The primitive cabin gave way to a two-story log house, which Mr. McQuiston's father erected not long after his settlement. In 1849 Mr. McQuiston erected the present commodious two-story frame resi- dence.

On the farm, not more than twenty rods from the

barn, is a little spot of ground in which are buried Mr. McQuiston's sister, Eliza, who died in 1810, and the three daughters of David Faris.

Mr. McQuiston's farm is well improved, about one hundred acres being under cultivation. Though not a stock man, in a professional sense, he raises good stock, and deals largely in fine hogs. First a Whig, then a Republican, he has always been a faithful supporter of the principles of his party. He has never pushed him- selt into office, and is simply an honored and valued citizen.

When about seventeen years of age he joined the United Presbyterian church at Hopewell, of which his father was one of the original members. For more than thirty years he has been a ruling elder in the church, first at Hopewell and of late at Morning Sun.

Any one who has seen Hugh McQuiston will not soon forget his tall and erect figure and sprightly activ- ity, which, for a man of his age, is extraordinary. He is one of the very few citizens of Israel township who is living on the place on which he was born. Like a sturdy oak which the blasts of succeeding winters have deprived of its companions, this venerable old gentleman is the sole survivor of a past generation of the McQuiston family.

SAMUEL B. McQUISTON,

the eldest son of David and Jane McQuiston, was born in Israel township June 16, 1825. The general history of his family has been narrated above. His father, David McQuiston, the brother of Hugh McQuiston, sr., was born in Abbeville district, South Carolina, January 15, 1802. He was six years old when his parents settled in Preble county. Whenever he could be spared from the farm work he attended the pioneer school-mention of which is made elsewhere. However, he spent the most of his time assisting his father in the arduous labor of clearing away the heavy timber which covered the farm.

In 1824 he married Jane, daughter of Samuel and Janet McDill, who were neighbors of the McQuistons in South Carolina.

David and his wife settled on a farm of seventy-seven and one-half acres of land, given him by his father, and located in section twenty-one of this township. The ten acres belonging to the old Hopewell church adjoin this farm on the east. When he came into the possession of this farm, Mr. McQuiston found the timber so thick that it was necessary to cut away the trees to make room for his cabin, twenty feet square, which he located where the present house stands. The log house is still standing, and is used as the kitchen of the present residence. In this rude cabin David McQuiston and wife commenced house-keeping, and in this place they lived and died -- Mrs. McQuiston dying in 1845, and her husband in 1870.

Mr. McQuiston was prominent in the church, and was tenacious of his principles almost to obstinacy.

The children are: Samuel, Hugh, Thomas, Elizabeth, Margaret, Martha, William, Mary and Sarah.

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HEZEKIAH MORTON.

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RES.OF HEZEKIAH MORTON, ISRAEL TP. PREBLE CO.O.

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HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.

Samuel B. McQuiston may well be proud of such a lineage as that of which he can with propriety boast. Being the firstborn, he was as the right hand of his father. As soon as he could lift a stick he helped his father clear the land, and still remembers many a hard day's work mid the brush piles. As work was almost his first lesson he learned it well, and to-day no man in the community is a greater or more successful worker. Work has be- come his loved profession, and he has become not its slave but its master.

At the tender age of fourteen an event occurred which, in one day, as it were, changed the boy into a man. His widowed aunt, Martha Caldwell, having no children of her own, urgently requested that her nephew come and live with her. His parents reluctantly gave him up, and from that day until this he has lived on what is known as the Caldwell farm.

Manfully did the boy farmer go to work to earn the fortune which he saw in the farm thus consigned to his care, all of which he now owns, and not one acre of which did he receive by inheritance.

The place first consisted of about three hundred and twenty acres of land, situated in the southern halves of sections thirty-five and thirty-six of this township. In all probability it was entered by a man named Latta, though there is no record of the original purchase. William Caldwell bought the place in 1828, and divided it be- tween his sons, John and Nathan. John immediately settled on the northern half, and Nathan sold his half and remained in Butler county. John and Martha Cald- well went to house-keeping in the log cabin built by Mr. Latta, which cabin is still a part of the McQuiston house. The Caldwells added a one-story brick, and about twenty- two years ago a second story was built. In 1878, Mr. McQuiston made a two-story brick addition to the rear of the old residence. The brick used in the build- ing of the addition was taken from the walls of the old Covenanter church.

Mr. McQuiston was married October 4, 1848, to Mar- tha, the youngest daughter of John and Martha (Chest- nut) Douglass, who came from Chester county, South Carolina, in 1834, and settled in Oxford township, Butler county, not more than half a mile south of the McQuis- ton residence. Mr. and Mrs. McQuiston have had no children.

Upon the death of his aunt, which occurred in 1874, Mr. McQuiston bought, at public sale, the place which he had tended for so many years. Besides this farm he owns one hundred and fifty-eight acres of land adjoining the Caldwell place, and also owns land in Butler county. These farms are well improved and, consequently, very productive. He pays considerable attention to the rais- ing of stock of excellent quality.

He is a Republican, and has from time to time held important offices in the township. For many years he was an elder in the Hopewell church, and is now an elder in the Morning Sun church, of which he is a liberal supporter.

HEZEKIAH MORTON.

The subject of this brief sketch is among the most substantial farmers of Israel township, and no man in the country is more universally known and respected than "Ki" Morton, as he is familiarly called by his neighbors. He is the sixth son and eighth child of Benjamin and Hannah Morton, and was born August 27, 1827, on the homestead farm in section two of Israel township. The Morton family is of English descent. Benjamin Morton, the father of Hezekiah, was born in New Jersey in 1787. He was of poor but honest par- ents, and in early life realized the necessity of hard work as the basis of his fortune. He was young, vigorous, and brave, and with a keen insight into futurity foresaw that his future success was beyond the western horizon. Soon after, determining to go west he secured the posi- tion of teamster of an emigrant wagon en route for dis- tant Ohio, and after several weeks' tedious journeying the big wagon, or "Jersey ship," as it was called, stopped in Ohio, and Benjamin Morton found himself in a strange and new country, far from the home of his childhood. By dint of industry he obtained enough money to pur- chase a horse and saddle, and thus obtained the means of returning to New Jersey, and his parents. He sold his horse and saddle in New Jersey, and walked back to Warren county, Ohio, which he had adopted as his new home. At two other times he made similar trips to the home of his childhood. He bought a little property in Warren county, and on the twenty-seventh day of March, 1817, he married Miss Hannah Janney, who was born in New Jersey, October 21, 1795, and whose parents emi- grated to Ohio, and settled in Warren county at an early day. In the year 1819 Mr. Morton purchased the north- east quarter of section two of Israel township, Preble county, and immediately set to work to make ready a home for his family. He sold the western half of his land to one Benjamin Indicot, and the eastern half is still known as the Morton farm, and is occupied by Clay- ton Borradaile, the son-in-law of Hezekiah Morton, who owns the place. When Benjamin Morton bought his farm he owned no team, and was obliged to walk from Warren to Preble county whenever he wished to put in a day on the new place. While engaged in clearing a space for the little cabin and adjoining corn patch, he camped by the side of a log, against which he was wont to build his fire. On the days when he intended to re- turn to Warren county he was accustomed to work until nearly dark, and then start out on the long and lonely walk to his distant family, which he would greet some- times in the wee sma' hours of the early day. After journeying back and forth in this way for several times, he removed his family and what little of this world's goods he possessed to the new abode in Preble county. Then and there did the Morton family struggle with every obstacle incident to pioneer life. The native for- est offered a vigorous resistance to the stroke of the woodman's axe, and the work of clearing the farm pro- ceeded slowly.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Morton consisted of thirteen children, five girls and eight boys. Ten of this

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large family are living, and three brothers and one sister reside in Preble county. Hezekiah was the first child born in the old brick house which is still standing on the homestead farm Hezekiah Morton's whole life has been spent on the farm, and in early boyhood he learned how to work, and to this day he remembers these early les- sons. His education, though not extensive, was not neg- lected, and to-day he possesses a practical education, valuable because the lessons were learned in the school of experience. His boyhood days were spent upon the home farm, where he assisted his father.

On the fifteenth of May, 1851, when he was twenty- four years of age, he was married to Hannah J. Van Skiver, who was born April 21, 1831, in Israel township. Her parents, Samuel and Elizabeth Van Skiver, emigrated from New Jersey to Warren county, Ohio, and soon after removed to Preble county, and settled in Israel township, not far from the Morton farm.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Morton commenced housekeeping across the line in Dixon township, on the farm in section thirty-five, then owned by Benjamin Mor- ton. After living on this place for about three years Mr. Morton found that the net result of years of toil was enough hard cash to enable him to purchase a farm of his own, and accordingly he bought one hundred and seventeen acres of land located in section thirty-six of Dixon township. The spring before his father's death found . Hezekiah in possession of a home of his own, and the subsequent death of his father severed the tie that had in his boyhood days bound him to the parent tree, and he henceforth became the head of a distinct family.

Iu 1859 he bought the homestead farm of eighty acres, and soon after removed from Dixon township to his old home in Israel. About this time he added one hundred acres to his farm in Dixon township. Mr. Morton's fam- ily consists of his wife and four children, of whom there are three daughters and one son. The eldest child, Eliz- abeth Amelie, was born June 13, 1853, and married Clayton Borradaile, who now occupies the Morton home- stead farm. Sarah Juliette, their second child, was born May 12, 1856, and is the wife of Levi Brown of Dixon township. Samuel Elmer, their only son, was born Feb- ruary 2, 1859, and their youngest daughter, Mary Alice, was born June 21, 1865. The two latter are living at home with their parents.

In the spring of 1874 Mr. Morton purchased one hun- dred and ten acres of land in section twelve of Israel township, and in the fall of that same year removed to the handsome residence which adds so much to the at- tractiveness of the farm, which undoubtedly is one of the best in the county.

During the time occupied in the accumulation of val- uable property Mr. Morton was rapidly earning the esteem of his fellow-citizens, by his upright conduct and genial manners. He realized that "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," and acting on that principle

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 59

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

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