USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches > Part 64
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Sarah Mitchell was born in 1809, in Adams county, Ohio, and the other eight were born on the old farm of John Mitchell, where his son Samuel now lives.
John Mitchell entered eighty acres, living in a pole shanty until their log cabin was done. John Mitchell was a justice of the peace in Jefferson township for sev- eral years, and was for a number of terms township trus- tee. He was one of the oldest pioneers of Jefferson township, and was identified with the early enterprises of the new community.
In 1855 Samuel Mitchell married Miss Margaret Simp- son, who was born in Twin township in 1838. Her father lives four miles north of Eaton. Of their four liv- ing children, Estella and Merrill Edgar are at home; Flora Ellen is the wife of William Alford, of Jackson township, and Francis Alonzo is the fourth.
Franklin Mitchell was born in Jefferson township in 1829, and in 1854 was married to Miss Cynthia Ann Mikesell, who was born in Gasper township. They have three children. His farm of one hundred and twenty- seven acres of land is situated in section sixteen. He was assessor of the township for one term, and still holds the office.
Lewis Mitchell was born in 1796, in Kentucky, and died in 1857. He emigrated to Ohio in 1807, with his parents, Elijah and Sarah Mitchell, who settled in Jeffer- son township. His father died in Indiana, and his mother in Jefferson township in 1825.
Lewis Mitchell was the father of ten children, and all are dead.
Adam Reid was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, about the year 1788, and settled in this township about
1810, where he died in 1840. His wife, Hannah Bu- chanan, was a native of Virginia. Of their five children William B. Reid is the only survivor. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1807, and came to Preble county with his parents, and settled on the farm now owned by Michael Reid. Mary Ann Jones, whom he married in 1832, was born in Maryland in 1813. Nine of their ten children are living. He was councilman at New Paris for one term. He owns eighty-two acres of land.
John Curry, born in Pennsylvania in 1804, emigrated to Preble county in 1814, and settled in Jefferson town- ship. In 1832 he married Miss Nancy Ann Brinley, who was born in New Jersey in 1808. Their five children are all living-James H., William L., Achsah, Jane, wife of Alexander Barr, of Jefferson township; John P., of Dixon township; and Sylvester B. of Dayton.
Mrs. John Curry lives in section twenty-six, where her husband died.
William L. Curry was born in 1839, in section twenty- six, of Jefferson township. In 1872 he married Sarah R. Duffield.
James Curry was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1782. His wife, Martha Lindsey, born in 1775, died in 1844. In 1811 they came to Ohio and settled in Jefferson township, section twenty-six. He died in 1834. They had eight children, of whom three are living: Elizabeth, the wife of Andrew McKee, lives in section fifteen, Jefferson township; Sarah Curry, re- sides in Gettysburgh, this township; Margaret, who re- sides in Iowa with her brother-in-law, Andrew Wolf, and Martha; Martha, born after her sister Martha's death; Jane and John are dead, who were born in Gettys- burgh, this county, in 1848.
In 1866 Mr. Curry was commissioned postmaster at Gettysburgh, and remained in that office for ten years. Mr. Curry has one hundred and thirty acres of land, lo- cated in sections twenty-five and thirty-six, of Jefferson township.
Thomas W. Porterfield was born in Virginia in 1777, and died in 1872. His wife, Cynthia Ireland, was born in 1791, and died in 1869. They emigrated from Ten- nessee to Ohio at a very early day, and entered two hun- dred and forty acres of land in section eight, of Jeffer- son township. They arrived at this place before the woodman's axe had touched the native forest, and pro- ceeded to build a cabin, but the Indians were so troublesome that they went back to Tennessee, and remained there until the close of the War of 1812, when Mr. Porterfield returned and cleared his land.
Hugh Marshall was born in Kentucky in 1789. In the year 1813 he emigrated to Ohio and settled on sec- tion sixteen, of Jefferson. He had married Elizabeth Pitts in 1811, and his wife and child were his only com- panions during the journey. The only possessions they could boast were a horse, a kettle and a feather bed. The latter was used by Mrs. Marshall as a saddle, as she rode carrying the baby and kettle. Her husband per- formed the journey on foot by her side. Eleven chil- dren were born to them, eight of whom are now living,
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viz .: Enoch, Hannah, Mary, John C., Isaac E., Lu- cretta, Rachel and Phillip. Hannah was born in 1816 in Jefferson township, and in 1837 was married to James Brown, jr., whose father, James Brown, sr., was at one time a representative to the legislature from Wayne county, Indiana, but who died four weeks after leaving home. To Mr. and Mrs. James Brown, jr., were born four children, three of whom are still living: William A., John M. and Ella J. Mr. Brown died in 1871. His wife owns ninety-six acres of land in section thirty, of Jefferson township.
Michael Hahn emigrated to Preble county in 1816, and settled in section seven. He was born in 1784, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents came from Germany. He married Miss Rebecca Jordan, who was born in 1789, and died in 1871. He died in 1825. Two of their three children are living. Alexander resides in Darke county, and Joseph in section eight, of Jeffer- son township.
Joseph Hahn was born in 1812, in Cincinnati, and came to this township with his parents in 1816, where he has since lived. In 1833 he married Sarah Garret- son, who was born in 1815, and died in 1846. She was born in Newcastle county, Delaware. His second wife was Rebecca A. Frist, who was born in 1816, and died in 1854. His third wife, Mary Porterfield, was born in Darke county in 1822.
John Brinley was born in New Jersey in 1782, and was married to Miss Achsah Harvey, who was born in 1782, and died in 1865. In 1811 they emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Butler county, where they remained until 1816, when they removed with their family to Preble county, and settled in section fourteen, of Jeffer- son township. They had nine children, four of whom are living in this county-William, Sylvester, Nancy and Carry. William, who lives on the homestead farm of four hundred acres of land, was born in New Jersey in 1806, and came with his parents to Butler county in 1812, and to Jefferson township in 1816. His wife, Sarah Stock- ton, was born in Jefferson township in 1818, and to them were born eight children, six of whom are living in this township.
Their son, Sylvester B., born in Butler county in 1816, was married in 1839, to Lorinda Purviance, who was born in 1815, and died in 1847. In 1849 he married Miss Nancy Reid, who was born in Kentucky in 1832. Two of their five children are living. Mr. Brinley owns three hundred and seventy-five acres of land in section eleven, where he resides.
In 1858, and during the civil war, he was engaged in the grain and stock trade, and kept a general store.
In 1855 he gave the ground on which Brinley's station now is.
A. P. Johnson was born in Butler county in 1816, and in 1817 came to Jefferson township with his parents, Moses and Mary Johnson, who settled about a mile and a quarter north of New Paris. In 1831 A. P. Johnson com- menced to learn the tailoring trade. In 1842 he married Sarah J. Davis, daughter of Lewis Davis, of New Paris. She died in 1843. One daughter, by this marriage, is
dead. In 1847 he married Anna M. Payne, of Warren county, by whom he had three children, of whom two are living. She died in 1863.
James Norris was born in Maryland in 1781, after- wards moved to Pennsylvania, where he emigrated in 1816 to Ohio, settling in section thirty-five of Jefferson township, where he resided until his death, in 1854. His wife, Barbara Weist, was born in Pennsylvania in 1782, and was the mother of twelve children, of whom only four are living-John, Abram, Elizabeth, wife of John Tweedy, who lives in Iowa; Hannah, the mother of Na- thaniel Baker, and John McD. Norris, who still lives on the old place.
John McD. Norris was born in 1810, in Warren county, Ohio. In 1857 he married Louisa J. Thomp- son, who was born in Connecticut in 1836, and died in 1874. To them were born eight children, of whom six are living. The father of Mr. Norris came to Jefferson township when John was a small boy. Though small at the time, he remembers that when the family first came his father built a hut of poles, which served as a shelter for about four weeks. The night they moved into their new log cabin a foot of snow fell.
Gideon Garretson was born in Newcastle county, Del- aware, in 1776, and in 1818 emigrated to Ohio, and set- tled in section eighteen, Jefferson township. His wife was Margaret Moore, who was born in 1785, and died in 1823. They had seven children-Elizabeth, wife of John Duffy, living in Wayne county, Indiana; Henry, residing in Jefferson township; Mary Ann, dead; Sarah, wife of Joseph Hahn, of Jefferson township; Gideon and Joel are dead; James, living in Huntington county, In- diana.
Henry Garretson, born in Delaware in 1809, came with his parents to Jefferson township in 1818. In 1835 he married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Penland. She was born in this township in 1815. To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Garretson six children were born, three of whom are living, all in the township. Mrs. Garretson's parents located in section twenty in 1810, coming from North Carolina. Mr. Penland died in 1820, at the age of thirty-six, and his wife died in 1868, aged eighty-three years.
Mr. Garretson owns two hundred and two acres of land in section seven.
William H. Garretson was born in 1846, in Jefferson township. His grandfather emigrated from the State of Delaware in 1818, and settled in Jefferson. William H. Garretson was married, in 1867, to Miss Annie E. Mor- rison, who was born in Jefferson township, in 1848. Her father was an early settler of the township, coming from North Carolina in 1816. Her mother came from Virginia in 1825.
To Mr. and Mrs. Garretson have been born four chil- dren, of whom but one is living, Emma May, born in 1876. Mr. Garretson is living on his father's farm, in section seven.
William Stockton was born in 1790, near Trenton, New Jersey, and in 1804 came to Ohio, stopping for a short time in Hamilton county, thence going to Butler
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county, near Middletown, and in 1818 emigrated to Preble county and settled in section eleven, of Jefferson township, where his son, William, now lives. Mrs. Will- iam Stockton is in her eighty-sixth year, and is living with her son. Her husband died in 1867.
William J. Stockton was born in Butler county in 1817, and in 1818 came with his parents to this township. In 1850 he married Miss Martha J. Adams, who was born in Preble county in 1833, and to them have been born five children, all of whom are living.
Daniel Stockton was born in Butler county in 1815. In 1836 he married Elizabeth Bowman, who was born in Maryland in 1807, and died in 1874. To them were born three children, and all are living. Mr. Stockton owns ninety acres of land in Jefferson township.
Andrew Scott was born in 1819, in Ireland, county of Londonderry, and when only two years of age emigrated with his parents to Rockbridge county, Virginia. Robert and Jane Scott, his parents, emigrated to Preble county in 1829, and settled in section nineteen, of Jefferson township. In 1836 they bought the farm where Andrew Scott now lives, in section twenty-eight. Andrew Scott married Jane McClure, whose parents were early settlers of Darke county. She was born in 1822. They have had no children by this marriage. Mr. Scott owns one hundred and ninety-six acres of well improved land.
Samuel King was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1808. His father, John King, died when he was only three years old. His mother's name was Catharine Everman. In 1818, in company with his mother, and his brothers and sisters, he arrived in this county and settled in the Fudge neighborhood, in Monroe township, Preble county, and built a cabin in the midst of the wilderness, where no clearing had been made. By his wife, Mary Norman, the widow of John Norman, he has had four children, two of whom, Ann and Samuel, reside in section thirty-four, Jefferson township.
Peter Bilbee was born in Adams county, Ohio, in 1803, and in 1820, with his parents, Peter and Isabella Bilbee, settled on the land in section twenty-three, Jeffer- son township, where Peter Bilbee, jr., now lives. His mother was born in Ireland, and his father in New Jer- sey. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Jane lives in Indiana, and Peter and Esther, who have never been married, reside on the home place of seventy- three acres. When Peter, jr., was twenty, while in the employ of John Mitchell, he split over nine hundred and ninety rails in one day, and from that day to this has been challenging any one to beat that day's work. It has not yet been done.
John King, father of Samuel, jr., was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1806, and in 1818 settled in Monroe township, Preble county. His wife, Elizabeth Miller, who was born in 1814, and died in 1874, was the mother of six children, Samuel being the only one living in Preble county. When they settled on their place, in sec- tion twenty-one, Jefferson township, they found an old log cabin, in which they commenced house-keeping, and immediately proceeded to clear their land. Samuel King, jr., was born :n 1831, and, in 1852, married Miss
Elizabeth Marzy, who was born in 1833, and died in 1876. By his second wife, Nancy C. Bernan, he had three children. Four children were born to his first wife. The farm on which he now resides consists of sixty-three acres in section twenty-one.
John Swerer was born in New Jersey in 1806, and em- igrated with his parents, Peter and Agnes Swerer, about 1820. Mr. Swerer settled in Jefferson township. For several years he was a justice of the peace. His wife whom he married in 1828, was born in 1811, on the farm on which her father first settled and where her brother, Samuel now resides. To them eight children have been born, four of them living: Lewis, Warren, Agnes, and Sarah, all in New Paris, except Sarah, who lives in Miami City, Montgomery county, Ohio.
Jacob Kimmel was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, from which State he came to Ohio, and in 1826 settled in Jefferson township. He died in 1854 in Monroe township In 1826 he married Julia A. Gephart, who was born in 1808, and who died in 1847. Seven children were born to them, four of whom still survive, viz: George, Jacob, Peter and William. Mr. Kimmel owned eighty acres in Jefferson township. He was a carpenter by trade. His son, George, was born in 1827, and in 1849 mar- ried Letitia Harshman, born in 1830. They have seven children. He owns three hundred and forty- five acres of land, part of which is in Monroe and part in Jefferson township.
John M. Kimmel was born in the year 1850, in Wash- ington township, Preble county. In 1876 he married Seraphine Ritnour, who was born in Darke county, in the year 1853. They have one child. Mr. Kimmel commenced business in Eldorado in the year 1879, keeping a clothing and gents' furnishing store. In the first twelve months he did a business of ten thou- sand dollars. His house is the only one of the kind in the township.
James Harvey Young, who was born in Augusta coun- ty, Virginia, emigrated to Ohio in 1831, and settled in section twenty-two, Jefferson township, where he resided until his death, which occured in 1852. Mary Brown, his wife was born in 1802, and died in 1870. They had four children, of whom Margaret J. and Caroline R. live in New Paris, Mary is dead, and Cyrus N. resides on the home place. He was born in 1838, and in 1874 married Mary McMahon, who was born in Monroe townshpi in 1855. To them have been born two children, both of whom are at home.
In Augusta county, Virginia, in 1794 John McFadden was born, and in 1834 he emigrated to Ohio and settled in section twenty-four, Jefferson township. His wife, Elizabeth Wehrly, whom he married in 1819, was born in 1797, in Augusta county, Virginia. Of their nine chil- dren five are living: Sarah in Nebraska, Margaret, Tracy, and Susan in Indiana, Catharine, wife of R. G. D. Mc- Kemy of Eaton, and George, who resides on the home place, and was born in 1837. In 1863 he married Mrs. Rabecca Jane Pence, by whom he had two children. His first wife died in 1874, and in 1876 he married Mrs. Mary E. Detrow, widow of John Detrow. Two children
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blessed this union. He farms about sixty-two acres of land.
James Woofter was born in Virginia in 1796, and at the age of nineteen emigrated to Ohio and settled in Darke county, which was at that time comparatively un- settled, and he was compelled to undergo all the hard- ships of a pioneer's life. He came to Preble county from Butler county in the year 1827. His wife, Sarah Sullivan, was born in New Jersey in 1798. Three chil- dren were born to them, only one of whom, Daniel F., is now living. The latter was born in Wayne county, Indi- ana in 1820. In 1839 he married Hannah Harper, born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1821. Ten children were born to them, seven of whom survive. Thomas P. Woofter, their son, enlisted in 1862 in the Nineteenth In- diana battery. He died, soon after the battle of Perry- ville, from the effects of exposure. Mr. Daniel Woofter was a captain during the hundred day's service in the One hundred and fifty-sixth regiment of the Ohio volun- teer infantry. He was discharged in the fall of 1864. He is the proprietor of the Sugar Valley mills, which were built in 1833 by his father, James Woofter. Charles Lincoln Woofter graduated at a Columbus school.
James Graham, the great hunter, who was considered the best shot in the township, came from Augusta coun- ty, Virginia, about the year 1822, and settled a short dis- tance east of New Paris.
Thomas Miller emigrated from Ireland in the year 1824, and settled on a farm in the very center of the township. He died not many years ago. He has two sons and one daughter living in this county: Robert, in Eaton, Mrs. Mary Graham, in New Paris, and Joseph, a short distance east of New Paris.
Arthur Duffield, born in Pennsylvania in 1810, emi- grated to Ohio in 1838, and settled in Gettysburgh, Jef- ferson township. For eighteen years he was engaged in the general store business, and in 1856 he purchased a farm of the Curry estate in section thirty-five, just west of Gettysburgh. He is now the owner of five hundred and eighty acres of rich land. His wife, Jane Harsh- man, was born about the year 1820, and died in 1843. One child was the result of this union. He married Barbara Pence for his second wife, and by her had six children, two of whom are dead.
John McKee, born in Pennsylvania in 1778, emigrated to Preble county, Ohio in 1822, and settled in section fourteen of Jefferson township, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1846. His wife, Margaret Curry, was born in Pennsylvania in 1775, and died in 1829. She was the mother of eight children, of whom are still living James, William, Josiah, and Mar- garet, widow of Joseph Bilbee.
William McKee was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1810, and came to Ohio in 1822 with his parents. He married Nancy Jane Curry in 1855. She was born in 1830. Her parents, John and Catha- rine Curry, settled in this county in 1814, and are both dead. Mr. McKee is the father of ten children, of whom seven are living. He owns eighty acres of land situated in section twenty four.
Andrew McKee was born in 1802, and in 1834 mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Curry, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1807. In 1822 he emigrated to this county with his parents. He died in 1870. Four children, all living, have been born to them. Mrs. McKee owns one hun- dred and thirty-seven acres of land located in section fif- teen.
John Harshman, born in Rockingham county, Virgin- ia, in 1792, came to Jefferson township and settled in section twenty-six, about the year 1822. He resided here until his death, which occured in 1850. He served in the War of 1812 six months. His wife, Susan (Pense), born in Virginia in 1795, died in Jefferson in 1864. They had a family of five children, three of whom are living, viz: Franklin and William in Lee county, Iowa, and Daniel W., in this township. Daniel W. Harshman, county commissioner, was born in Jefferson township in 1826; was married in 1851 to Mary Jane Curry, who died in 1876 at the age of forty-seven. His present wife was Harriet Ann Mitchell, whom he married in 1878. She was born in 1829. He had by his first wife seven children, six living. He was elected county com- missioner in 1877; was a member of the township board of education ten years, and of the agricultural board four years. He was captain of militia in 1863, and afterwards elected lieutenant colonel of militia, and was out in the one hundred days' service.
Darius Jacqua was born near Kinderhook, New York, October 15, 1787. In 1806 he moved with his parents to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where he was married March 25, 1813. In 1815 he removed to Potter county, Pennsylvania, and in 1817 removed to Ohio and settled on Duck creek, now within the corporate limits of Cin- cinnati. In the spring of 1824 he removed near his farm in Preble county, and as a pioneer cleared the native forest and erected a log cabin, into which he re- moved in the following fall. He suffered all the hard- ships of pioneer life. In 1833 he lost his wife, leaving him with a family of nine children, the eldest of whom was but seventeen years of age. In the same year he united with the Christian church. In 1866 he had a stroke of palsy which almost entirely deprived him of the use of his limbs. He died March 25, 1871. His son, Reuben, is still a resident of Jefferson township, and is one of the most substantial citizens.
Samuel Smith, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1802, emigrated to Ohio in 1838, and settled in section twenty, of Jefferson township. For thirty-three years he was engaged in the milling business. In 1840 he bought the mill at New Paris, formerly owned by Peter Fleming. He was also engaged in the stone and lime business, and always attended to the interests of his farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres, which he owned at the time of his death. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in 1812, and died in 1860. To them were born ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Of these six are living, one in Philadelphia and five in Jefferson township.
Thomas J. Smith, born in May, 1841, married Miss Millie McPherson in 1863. Mrs. Smith was born in
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1843. To them four children have been born. Mr. Smith is engaged in the stone and lime business, and has the largest business in the township. In 1870 he bought the north quarry, and in 1873 the one south of New Paris. Having no time to attend to agriculture, he owns but twenty-two acres of land.
William C. Smith was born in New Paris in 1845. In 1868 he married Sarah E. Rudy, who was born in 1841. To them have been born five children, two of whom are living. In 1870 Mr. Smith engaged in the lime busi- ness, and after nine years sold out to James Smith, his brother. He and James have rebuilt and are running the old mill north of New Paris, built by Silas and Peter Fleming.
James S. Smith was born in 1843, at New Paris, and in :866 married Miss Amanda J. Wieland, born in 1848. Four of their five children are living. In 1870 he engaged in the lime business with his brother Thomas, and is also in the milling business with his brother William.
John Smith was born in 1850, on the old farm where he now lives. In 1874 he married Miss Isabella A. Porter- field, who was born in 1855. Their three children, Mary Eliza, John Wesley, and Anna Laura, are living. Mr. Smith's farm, of one hundred and three acres of well cultivated land, is situated in section twenty-one, quarter of a mile east of New Paris. Mrs. Smith's par- ents, Leander and Sarah Porterfield, reside in New Paris.
Saul Thomas was born in Greene county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1789. From this State he emigrated to Vir- ginia, and afterwards moved west, settling near New Madison, in 1817. From that period until his death he has lived in western Ohio, a period of sixty-three years. . The most of that time was spent in or near New Paris, where he died in 1880. For seventy years he was an active business man, and in every department of his work proved himself a man of sterling character. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and lived under every ad- ministration of the Government from Washington to Hayes. "He has lived in the grandest period of his- tory, and has witnessed triumphs of science, art and industry,` that challenge, for their description, the most graphic pen." At the time of his death Mr. Thomas left a wife by a second marriage. During his life he was, for forty years, a member of the Masonic fraternity, by which order he was buried in June, 1880.
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