The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 67

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081

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The different societies were styled Granges and were classed as National, State and Subordinate Granges. The membership was originally limited to those engaged in or depending on agriculture and horticulture, but those en- gaged in other pursuits were afterward admitted to membership.

Had the primary principles of the order been strictly adhered to, great good might have been accomplished. These principles were to foster mutual in. terest and co-operation; to stimulate a pride in the calling of the farmer; to make home more attractive, thus strengthening the attachments of our youth to rural life; to encourage and promote economy and education -- in a word. to de- velop the higher and better life of the farming community.

The founders of the order rightly claimed that an organization of this na- ture was almost absolutely necessary for the farmers, as, owing to their com- parative isolation, they were deprived of many of the social and educational advantages possessed by almost every other class of society; and that self- interest and self-protection demanded a combination of some kind; hence the organization of the order.

The first grange in this township was instituted at Springboro October 1, 1872, S. H. Ellis, Master. This was soon followed by one at Red Lion, with John Gustin as Master; one at Ridgeville, with Dr. Keever as Master. and one at Utica, with Lawrence Rogers as Master. These were all the granges located in the township, although there were many in the township who were members of granges situated outside of this township.

The Springboro Library Association was organized in 1832 by Jonah D. Thomas, William S. Bedford, Dr. Joseph Stanton, Josiah and Mahlon Wright and others. The first Librarian, Dr. Stanton, was an uncle of Hon. E. M. Stanton, the noted Secretary of War. William S. Bedford is the only one of the original members now living. He has been President of the association for the past thirty years. They have a well-selected library of about 2,000 volumes. The present officers are: William S. Bedford, President; J. J. Baner, Secretary, and F. W. Wright, Librarian.

The Warren County Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association indemnifies its members for losses sustained in the destruction of or damage done to their farm buildings, from whatever unavoidable cause. In case of total destruction of property, the sufferer receives three-fourths of the appraised value, and the assessed amount of damage when only partially destroyed. A re-appraisment is had every three years. The association was formed in 1860, and the follow-

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ing board of officers was elected: Joseph Stanton, President; William S. Earn- hart, Vice President; B. G. Easton, Secretary; Job Mullin, Treasurer; William Carpenter, Thomas Parker, S. Clevenger, Appraisers. When first organized, membership was limited to citizens of the township, and the number of mem- bers to twenty, but now it may include any farmers of the county to the number of forty; at present, it numbers about thirty members. It is claimed that it costs its members less than one-twentieth of 1 per cent per annum.

IN THE WAR.

When the dread alarm of war was sounded throughout our land, the youth of this township. with those from other parts of the country, responded promptly to the Nation's call to arms, unmindful of the fact that they were esponsing a cause which "hung in the balance," and that many of our best men entertained grave doubts of our ability to cope with the enemy, and maintain our National supremacy. They thus gave the lie to the taunt that they were mere " hire- lings." All they asked to know was that our flag was in peril. And in the long and bloody struggle which followed, in the "times which tried men's souls," when rebellion, like a huge anaconda, was striving to crush out our National life, they were ever found true to their trust, found wherever duty called, and. on many a sanguinary field of battle, they, with brave hearts, up- held their country's honor.

Many of the bravest sacrificed their noble lives on the altar of their country. Both the battle-field and the foul prison-pen claimed their victims from among the youth of Clear Creek Township. Some of them lie in unknown graves in the far South, but they need no marble shaft to mark their last resting-place; their memories are enshrined in the hearts of a grateful people, and their heroic deeds are written on the roll of fame in characters of living light.

We regret that we have not been able to procure a list of the soldiers fur- nished by this township-at least a list of those who gave up their lives in the cause; but we have found it impossible to obtain anything like an accurate list, and have. therefore. deemed it advisable not to attempt to give any.

MANUFACTURES.

The manufacturing interests of the township are naturally very limited, owing, principally, to the absence of large water-courses, as before noticed, and consequent lack of water-power. In early times, Clear Creek furnished ample power for mills; but, as the country became improved, it gradually dwindled away, until it was a mere wet-weather stream. The only water- power in use in the township at present is at Springboro. It is furnished by some fine never-failing springs (from which Springboro derived its name) situated a little northwest of town.

We think we may safely assert that the first mill in the township was built on the stream flowing from these springs, and near where the Lower, or Baird's Mill, now stands. It was a log building and was erected about the year 1801 or 1802 by a Mr. Lawrence. We are told that a dam was built across the stream near its source, and the water conducted from there to the mill in large troughs, which were made by hollowing out logs.

This mill was replaced, in 1813, by a brick mill. In the meantime, how- ever, a Mr. Caldwell had built a mill a short distance south, on Clear Creek. In 1816, a woolen factory was built on the above-mentioned spring stream, a short distance above the mill, and, in 1831 or 1832, another mill was built, known as the Upper Mill, and, apropos of this, Dr. Aaron Wright says that a few years since he cleaned out the mill-pond and put in a new fore-bay, and the cost was almost as great as the original cost of building both pond and mill,

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such was the change in cost of material and labor in the course of fifty years. The woolen factory is patronized by many persons fifteen to twenty miles dis- tant; it is owned by Wright & Thomas. There is also a steam saw-mill at Utica, owned by John Murry; a drain-tile factory at Merrittstown, owned by I. B. Jones, and one southeast of Merrittstown, owned by Monroe Sweney. The first mentioned was built in 1816 by Abram and Caleb Merritt, for a pottery. About the year 1840, William H. Ballard commenced the manufacture of matches at Red Lion. He began on a small scale, using at first a knife to split the matches, but, in a few years, introduced the most improved machinery and enlarged his operations quite extensively, and, for a few years, transacted a pretty large business. He quit the business in 1862. There are at present in the township ten blacksmith shops, five or six boot and shoe shops and as many wagon-makers' shops, two harness-shops, six dealers in dry goods and general merchandise, three groceries and one drug store. In the professions, we have four physicians, three lawyers, four ministers and an unlimited number of school-teachers.

POST OFFICE AND ROADS.

There are five post offices in the township, viz., Dodds (at Utica), Samuel F. Kling, Postmaster; Ridgeville, C. H. Eulass, Postmaster; Pekin, William W. Earnhart, Postmaster; Red Lion, William H. Ballard, Postmaster, and Springboro, David Mering, Postmaster. The latter is a money-order office.

The number of farms in the township, as reported to the census enu- merator in 1880, was 297; this includes all farms of ten or more acres. There are no very large farms, as in some of the stock-raising counties, this being ex- clusively an agricultural community.

The three largest land-holders in the township are Benajah Gustin, C. B. O'Dell and B. A. Stokes.

In proportion to the number of miles of public roads in the township, we think but few townships in the State can surpass this in the number of miles of graveled road.

The first free turnpike built in the township was the one leading from Springboro to Ridgeville. In 1840, a toll pike was constructed from Dayton to Lebanon, built but a few years since; that part of it lying in Warren County was purchased by the County Commissioners, as were the roads from Frank- lin to Waynesville and from Franklin to Lebanon; so that now, toll roads are a thing of the past so far as relates to this township.

The township has never been blessed with railroad communication with the outside world until the year 1881, when the Cincinnati Northern completed a line from Cincinnati to Utica, where it connects with the T., D. & B. road, run- ning thence to Dayton and Toledo.

EARLY SETTLERS.

When, where and by whom the first permanent settlement was made in the township is a question difficult to decide, as several parties claim the honor for their ancestors. But the probabilities are that settlements were made in several different parts of the township at about the same time. In 1795, Abner Crane came from Essex County, N. J., with his mother, brothers and sisters and settled in Butler County. He bought a tract of land in Franklin Township, Warren County, near where Red Lion now stands, and moved on it. One day while out hunting, he discovered a fine spring of pure water, where his son, Samuel R. Crane now lives, and decided to secure that place, and, in 1796, he built a cabin on the new purchase and moved into it, thus becoming one of the first settlers in the township.

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Wild beasts and wild men were here in abundance at that time. Mr. Crane bought both tracts of land of Judge Symmes, and, as did hundreds of others, had to pay for it the second time. Not being able to pay for both, he gave up the tract in Franklin Township. His brother Jonathan settled on the Todd farm; his brother Moses settled on the Benajah Gustin farm, and John H. Robinson settled on the Earnhart farm, the four taking the whole section and settling on their land at nearly the same time.

Robinson built a brick house on his farm in 1808, which is still in a good state of preservation.

Elkanah Gustin came from Greene County, Penn., in 1800, and settled on the farm now owned by John Conover, his father, Jeremiah Gustin, having bought a large tract of land in that vicinity. Elkanah was the father of seven boys and eight girls, of whom Benajah, aged eighty-four, is the only survivor.

William Sweney came from Pennsylvania in 1799, and settled in Clear Creek Township on the farm now occupied by his son Eli. He died, in 1848, at the age of seventy-eight. He was the father of nine children, of whom Eli is the only one living; Robert, the eldest son, was with Gen. Hull, at Detroit, when he surrendered his army. Eli was, for a number of years, a Captain in the Ohio militia He is now in his seventy-fifth year, and is hale and hearty for one of that age. He says he remembers distinctly of going on horseback, with his father, to the old mill at Springboro -- mentioned in the preceding pages -- when there were no roads worthy of the name in all this section of country-nothing but mere bridle-paths marked by "blazing" trees along the route. Joseph Kirby, Joshua, Joseph and James Carter, James Wills and Jonathan and William Garwood were among the early settlers in the south- eastern part of the township.

George Harlan was born in North Carolina in 1767, from whence his father came to Pennsylvania, then to Kentucky, and, in 1797, to Ohio. After a short stay at Deerfield, they settled in Clear Creek Township. Mr. Harlan filled several different offices of trust and honor in the township, county and State. He died, in 1846, at the age of seventy-nine.

Moses Harlan, his son, was born in 1810, and occupies the old homestead. He, likewise, has been honored with a number of positions of public trust, having, among others, filled the office of Justice of the Peace for eighteen years and Township Trustee for twenty-seven years. The Eulasses, Blackfords, Kee- vers, Richard Lackey, Thomas Venard and the McDonalds were among the pioneers in the eastern part of the township. Richard Lackey came from Ken- tucky with the Harlans, and settled on the farm now owned by his son Richard, about a mile east of Ridgeville. He purchased land of Highway, who, like Symmes, could not pay for it, and it reverted to the Government, and those who had bought of him had to pay for their land again.

Richard Lackey, Jr., was born in 1811, and was married in 1832 to Per- melia Dyke. He is the father of eight children, of whom one son and three daughters are living. Mr. Lackey was for twelve years Township Treasurer: for four years, County Treasurer; Real Estate Appraiser in Turtle Creek Town- ship, and has filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and Township Trustee for several years in this township.

Martin Keever was born in Maryland in 1727, and came with his family to Ohio in a very early day, and settled on the farm where his deseendants now reside. When about thirty years of age, he was captured by the Indians, and remained a prisoner for nearly two years. He died, in 1824, aged ninety- seven; his wife survived him thirteen years. His son George was born in 1781, and came to Ohio with his father. He was married, in 1808, to Abigail Bunnell. He was thrown from a sulky, in 1845, and, being a large, corpulent

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man, the fall killed him; he left but one child-Dr. M. H. Keever, who was born in 1810, and who inherited the home place. Dr. Keever died from heart disease while sitting at the breakfast-table, April 7, 1878; his death was uni- versally regretted by the citizens of this and adjoining townships, as he was a genial, whole-souled man, and a physician of marked ability.

Among the first settlers in the vicinity of Springboro, were the Richard- sons. Nulls, Frys, Dearths, Greggs and Mullins.

Edward Dearth, in the spring of 1798, came from Fayette County, Penn., and settled where I. N. Dearth now lives; he had five sons who came with him; he purchased over 1.400 acres of land in a body. When they settled there, they knew of but one family within three or four miles of them, on what is now the Vail farm. As an instance of their loneliness and their anxiety to welcome the advent of families into their neighborhood. it is re- lated that one evening. after all the family. except Mr. and Mrs. Dearth, had retired, Mrs. Dearth heard a dog barking in the direction of the present site of Springboro. She called her husband's attenton to it, and he thought at first that it was a wolf. but finally decided that it was a dog, and that they would try and ascertain, in the morning, from whence the sound came. So. when the morning came, they started through the woods, feeling certain that they would find a human habitation of some kind. After going about two miles, they came to a cabin in the woods, and were greatly pleased to find that they had other neighbors. even that far off, but they soon regretted the ac- quaintanceship thus formed, for they proved to be notorious horse-thieves and counterfeiters. There were three brothers of them, named Daniel, Isaac and Aaron. Daniel, however, was not connected with the other two in their ne- farious practices, but was a quiet, inoffensive citizen. Isaac and Aaron finally left this part of the country and located somewhere below Cincinnati. The settlers there soon found that they were not a very valuable acquisition to pioneer society, and tried every peaceful means to induce them to " go West," and, as a last resort, a vigilance committee was formed for the purpose of forcing them and all others of that class to leave. One evening Isaac was shot and killed while standing in his own door, by some one supposed to be one of the committee. The other brother left at once for parts unknown.

Samuel Gregg came from Pennsylvania in 1796, and settled in Deerfield. where he resided till the fall of 1798, when, having purchased a tract of land in Clear Creek Township, he moved on it and began the labor of making for himself and family a home-a work in which he was eminently successful. He died, in 1844, at the age of seventy-one. His son William, who succeeded to the homestead, was born in Deerfield in 1798, and grew up with the country. He lived to see the township grow from an almost unbroken wilderness to its present populous and highly cultivated condition, having lived to the age of eighty-one. Mr. Gregg, though moving in a comparatively humble sphere, was a man in the truest sense of the word. His every-day life merited the appro- bation of all who knew him. Such a reputation is certainly much more to be desired than one which would call forth the unmeaning plaudits of a fickle public. Two of their sons-James A. and Jonah R .- are living on the old farm.

Isaac Mullin was born in Virginia in 1777; was married, in 1801, to Miss Haines, in New Jersey, and came to Ohio the same year. He settled at Waynesville, but the next year he removed to Clear Creek Township; he died in 1839. Job Mullin, son of Isaac Mullin, was born about the year 1806. He relates that he has heard his father say that when he settled in this township he knew of but two other families nearer than Waynesville-but of course there were others, of whose location he had not learned-that, hearing a cow-

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bell one day in the woods, and, following the direction from whence the sound came, he found a family named Grimes, who had " squatted " on a claim, and were proceeding to build a cabin. They, of course, received a hearty welcome from Mr. Mullin. Mr. Job Mullin says he has a very vivid recollection of his early school days. His father had to mark the route from their house to the schoolhouse by blazing the trees, so that the children might not get lost on their way to and from school; he remembers going to school to Mary Smith, when Gen. Clay passed through here with his Kentucky troops during the war of 1812, and the teacher dismissing the school to allow the pupils to see the soldiers.

We have not tried to give a complete list of all who had come into the township prior to 1802 or 1803, but only a few of the first and most prominent ones in each neighborhood.

One of the most prominent men who came later was Jonathan Wright, a surveyor, and who, it is claimed by his descendants, laid out the city of Colum- bus, Ohio, though Howe, in his Historical Collections of Ohio, gives the credit to Moses Wright. Jonathan Wright was a very influential man in the township, because of his intelligence and his uprightness of character, together with his energetic spirit in building up and improving the country. But we have no: space to notice, even briefly, all the early settlers, and will therefore pass to another subject.

INCIDENTS.

We are informed that, about the years 1815 or 1820, distilleries were almost as plentiful about Springboro as dwelling-houses. Dr. Wright states that there were, within a radius of two miles, not less than fifteen. Doubtless one reason why so much of the grain and fruit was distilled was because of the greater cost in transporting it to market in the original form. But another, and, perhaps, a more potent reason was, that it always commanded a ready sale in the form of whisky and brandy. Temperance, or, rather, total abstinence, had not become so popular as at the present time, consequently, the use of liquor as a beverage was customary among all classes and on all occasions. The clergy, even, were not exempt, but many of them considered a glass of "grog" essential to their well-being.

Jonathan Wright, like many persons of the present day, while disapprov- ing of prohibition laws, was yet a practical temperance man. When he let the contract for building the woolen factory at Springboro, it was specified in the contract that there was to be no liquor used on the premises by any one. One day, the contractor and his men were sitting under a tree eating their dinner, aud, among other things, they had a bottle of whisky. Mr. Wright, in passing by, saw it, and, without saying a word, deliberately picked up the bottle and broke it; the contractor sued him, but, when the Magistrate saw the contract, he decided that the contractor had no cause for action.

Mr. Wright was a member of the Society of Friends, and they, while practical believers in morality, do not hesitate to perform whatever they con- sider necessary labor on the Sabbath. In the early settlement of the country, there were some persons who were great sticklers for a strict observance of the Sabbath, and could not tolerate any variance from their views in that respect, however lax they might be themselves in regard to other matters.

Mr. Wright, Mr. Mullin and others were frequently fined for performing common labor on that day. But a more liberal spirit pervades society now. The spirit which animated the early settlers of New England is gone, it is to be hoped, never to return.

One of the most exciting times, perhaps, ever known in this township, was in 1835, when that dreaded scourge of the East, Asiatic cholera, raged so fear- U

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fully at Red Lion. It was supposed to have been caused by eating fish which were tainted. The water had been drawn off the Miami Canal and quantities of fish were left in the pools and mud in the bed of the canal. A great many persons from the vicinity of Red Lion caught them, and nearly every one who ate them was taken with the cholera, and, as it was a comparatively new dis- ease to the physicians here, they did not understand how to manage the cases. and, as a consequence, a large majority of them proved fatal. Samuel N. Gus- tin was the first victim. It is said that, although the cherry trees were loaded with fruit, that year, the birds would not touch it, and it hung on the trees and dried. The disease was confined almost exclusively to Red Lion and vicinity, and to those who had partaken of the fish.

In a pretty early day, Col. John McDannell, who had been a Colonel in the Revolutionary war, and who possessed all the hauteur of a " gentleman of the olden time," came from Dauphin County, Penn., with his family, and set- tled on the farm now owned by D. F. Corwin. They came all the way in a carriage, which was probably the first carriage ever brought into the township. if not the first in the county, and had a negro driver.

It was a hard matter to decide which of the two, the carriage or the driver. was the greater curiosity. The young men used to go there on Sunday and get the negro to run the carriage out so that they could examine it thoroughly: this they continued to do until Mrs. McDannell came out and ordered them off for desecrating the Sabbath. We are not able to say whether the young ladies visited these curiosities or not. But, from the well-known lack of curiosity in the sex, it is presumable that they did not. The carriage must have been a counterpart of Holmes' wonderful "One-Hoss Shay," as it is said to.be in & good state of preservation yet.

Mr. Job Mullin mentions that when Gen. Clay's troops were passing through this region, as previously noticed, the officers had their negro servants with them, and the negroes excited the curiosity of the school children more. perhaps, than the soldiers, although they had never seen either before.

This concludes our history of the township. We have endeavored to give the facts as correctly as possible, and, if any errors have been stated, it was not intentional. Of course, many incidents and facts have been omitted. but that was unavoidable. We can only hope that what we have written may prove satisfactory.

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP. BY HORACE CLINTON.

In the first division of Warren County, it was divided into four townships, named Franklin, Deerfield, Wayne and Hamilton. Hamilton then embraced all of Salem and Hamilton, and most of Washington Township. June 24. 1813, the eastern portion of the township was cut off, by a line drawn south from the mouth of Todd's Fork to the south boundary of Warren County, and , erected into a new township, called Salem. June 8, 1818, the then existing boundary line between Salem and Hamilton was changed to the present line.

We now have a township in the shape of a rectangle, being about six and a half miles from north to south, and five and one-half miles from east to west. and containing about thirty-six square miles. The whole of the township is included within what is called Virginia military land. The State of Virginia, at an early period of the Revolutionary war, raised two descriptions of troops. State and Continental, to each of which bounties in land were promised. In March, 1784, Virginia ceded her lands north of the Ohio to the General Gor-

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 67

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1081

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081