USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 2 > Part 24
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The following citizens from this township have held important offices in the county and State: Stephen MI. Wheeler, County Auditor in 1838 and 1839, and also Representative in 1840 and 1841: John T. Stewart, Associate Judge of Court of Common Pleas in 1837 and 1838; Perry Stewart, County Commissioner in 1866 and 1867, and Representative in the Fifty-eighth General Assembly of Ohio in 1868 and 1869; William D. Johnson, County Commissioner from 1869 to 1875. J. S. Kitchen, one of the present County Commissioners, is a native of the township, but was a resident of Springfield when elected.
Since the organization of Green Township, it has been politically Whig and Republican, voting four-fifths of its vote for the candidates of those parties. From 1842 to 1852, the Liberty and Free-Soil parties received from this town- ship one half their votes polled in the county. The vote of ISSO was the largest ever polled --- 316 Republican and S1 Democratic.
During the rebellion, Green Township sent promptly to the front her quota vi whummus, demonstrating that treason found no sympathy among her citizens, 175 men from this township giving their services to help preserve the Union. the names of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. Of these, twenty-three died in the service or since the war ended: ninety-five have removed from the township; and fifty-seven are yet residents of it, and relate with pride the achievements of the gallant boys in blue.
MADISON TOWNSHIP.
BY F. M. M'ADAMS.
Madison Township occupies a position in the southeast part of the county, and is bounded north by Harmony Township, east by Madison County, south by Greene County and west by Green Township. Its width from north to south is five and a half miles, and its average length from east to west is seven and two- sevenths miles. Its area is forty and one-fourteenth square miles, containing 25.650 acres. Some of this territory was originally a part of Madison County, from which its name is taken, and, previous to 1819, it was called Vance Town- ship. When and for what reason the name was changed does not appear on the records, but it retained the name of Vance for about two years after the forma- tion of Clark County. It is reasonable that the original name came from a family of that name who were of the earliest and most prominent settlers.
The lands of Madison Township are, for the greater part. Military lands. and lie south of the Little Miami River and east of Ludlow's line. This line has its southern terminus at the source of the Little Miami, in the northeastern part of the township. The value of real estate in 1850 was $335,962; in 1860, it was 8624,026: in 1870, 8984.410: in 1SS0, $1,069.462.
The Little Miami River has its, source in the northeastern part of the town- ship, and flows westerly. Massie's Creek rises in the southeastern part of the township, flows southwesterly. Willow Branch, in the southwestern part of the
747
MADISON TOWNSHIP.
township, is a tributary of Massie's Creek. These form the drainage of the township.
South Charleston is the principal town, and is situated near the center of the townshp, at the crossing of the F. C. & St. L. R. R, and the Springfield Southern Railroad. It contains three churches-Methodist Episopal, Presby- terian and Catholic. The Union School building, Town Hall and the Ackley House are public buildings deserving mention.
Selma is a small village in the extreme southwestern part of the township, five miles from South Charleston, on the P. C. & St. L. R. R. It contains good society and has a fine school building with three departments. The Orthodox Friends, American Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal religious so- cieties have each an organization and a house of worship. The Hicksite branch of the Friends' Society have a church in the vicinity. Selma, in ante-bellum days, was a noted station of the underground railroad.
From the records, it would appear that the township of Madison was made up of territory taken in part from Greene County and in part from Madison County, but the exact extent of each section cannot be accurately stated. The record of the County Commissioners reads:
"April 25. 1818 .-- Ordered by the board that as much of that part taken from the county of Greene and now comprised within the said county of Clark, and for- merly known by the name of Vance Township, be a separate and distinct town- ship, and it is hereby organized into a separate and disinct township, to be known by the name of Vance Township."
Under date of June 4, 1818, the Commissioners erected Madison Township as follows:
"Beginning on the north boundary of the Sth Range, on the line dividing the counties of Madison and Clark; thence south with said line to the southeast corner of said county of Clark; thence westwardly with the south boundary of Clark County to the east line of Green Township; thence north with said east line of Green Township to the north boundary of the 8th Range; thence east with said range line to the beginning. And the election for township officers shall be holden on the 19th day of September next, at the house of George Sear- lout, in Charleston."
The inhabitants of Madison Township are principally to the manor born. The original settlers were from Virginia and Kentucky, with a few from other States.
The Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers and Catholics have well-organized Societies.' Infidelity and skepticism have found little root and less fruit. Schools flourish and the child of this day without a practical education has despised the offered opportunities.
Agriculture is the leading pursuit. Wheat, corn, oats, hay, potatoes and fruit are the main products of the land. Stock-raising receives much attention, and some of the foremost and most prominent breeders of fine cattle, sheep. horses and swine within Clark County are residents of Madison Town- ship.
The timber of the township is of good quality, and of sufficient quantity for practical purposes. Oak, ash, hickory and elm are the principal kinds of timber. The early settlers found very little timber here in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and therefore the timber found now is mainly the growth of the present century. Previous to the settlement of the land by the whites, the Indians annually fired the long grass which covered the country. This they did to facilitate hunting, and the result was the almost entire destruction of the small growth of timber. The surface of the country is generally level, but it is suffi. cienty rolling to make drainage by artificial means practically cheap and easy.
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748
HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
EARLY TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS.
The records at hand are at fault to show who were the early officials and their succession in office. Between the years 1516 -and 1855, the following- named citizens served in various official capacities: William Holloway, Robert Phares, Isaac Vandeventer, Adam Peters, Thomas Green, P. Sellers, John Kelso, James Wilson, Charles T. Arthur, Simon Armstrong, John Mitton, Rees Ellis, James Woosley, William Smith, Enoch Wilkins, Calvin Hale, John Curtice, Robert F. Evans. P. Hedrick, Francis Crispin, Gilbert Pierce, Clement Shock- ley, Samuel Briggs, Joseph Briggs, Isaac Dalyrimple, Jesse Ellsworth, William Beauchamp, John Reed. Rowland Brown, Seth Saint John, David Wilson, Eulass Ball, Isaiah Hunt, Jesse Griffith, William L. Warner, Greenfield Dooley, Chris- topher Fox, John B. Madden, Absalom Mattox, E. H. Broadbury, John Packer, Gregory Bloxsom. Cepbas Atkinson, Matthew Crispin, George Bennett, John W. Johnson, Charles Paist, David Morgan, Epaminondas Hutton, G. W. Jones, Jacob Critz, George Hempleman, Jefferson Nagley, D. V. Pringle, Joshua D. Truitt, Griffth F. Sweet, T. F. Houston, Calderwood Hill, John Rankin, Wash- ington Buffenberger.
Bonds on file show that:
1816, September 14- Peter Monahan and Richard Baldwin were elected Constables of Vance Township, and Alexander Ross was a Constable at the same time, having been elected the previous April.
1817, April 12-Richard Davisson gave bond as Constable of Vance Town- ship .:
1818, April-James Pringle gave bond as Constable of Vance Ternship " and part of Stokes attached to Vance." Bond, $500, " current mone; &f the State of Ohio."
1819, October 25 -- James Donaldson, having been appointed Constable of Madison Township, gave bond in the sum of $500, "good and lawful money of the United States." Charles T. Arthur was Treasurer at this date.
1820-Thomas Green and Samuel Hedrick served as Constables: 1921, Samuel Smith. William Luse: 1822, Aaron Hamilton, William Luse; 1523, John Vincent, Aaron Hamilton: 1824, John Vincent. Lewis Hedrick; 1525, William Powell. Lewis Hedrick: 1826, Samuel Hedrick, William Powell: 1527, Moses Pierce, William Powell: 182S, James Pringle, Jr., Moses Runyon, Dan Daugherty; 1829, Moses Runyon, James Pringle, Jr., Lanson White; 1830, James Pringle, Jr., Jesse Botkin: 1831, Elijah Allen; 1832, Moses Pierce: 1833, Isaac Davisson; JS34, William R. Hogue, Benjamin P. Gaines; 1835, Christo- pher Fox, William Scott, Dan Daugherty: 1838, G. W. Powell. James Price; 1839, Isaac Hedrick, Joseph J. Houston; 1846, Elijah Anderson; 1849, Epam- inandas Hutton.
1844, May 31-Isaac Richardson gave bond of $200 as Treasurer of School District No. 7.
1844, April 2-John I. Dale gave bond of $1,000 as Treasurer of Madison Township.
1845, April 7-Clement Anderson gave bond of $500 as Assessor of the township.
1850, December 7-Joseph A. Houston, Township Treasurer, gave bond in the sun of $1.000; he had served the previous year.
1850, June 6-John Holmes, Treasurer of School District No. 2, bond, $2,000.
1851, April 9-Joseph A. Houston. Township Treasurer, bond, $500.
1852, April 13-Robert C. Clark, Assessor, bond, $2,000.
1853, November 26-Joseph A. Houston, Justice of the Peace, bond, $1,000.
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MADISON TOWNSHIP.
1853, April 5- Samuel Buffenberger, Supervisor of Roads, bond, $50.
1853, April 4-Robert C. Clark. Assessor, bond, $500.
1853, September 15-Lewis Hedrick, Supervisor of District No. 5, bond, $100.
1855, October 22-W. D. Pierce, Supervisor of District No. 9, bond $100.
1848, January 6 -- Joseph A. Houston, Justice of the Peace, bond, $1,000.
1844, December 20-A. Waddle appointed by Mordecia Bartley, thirteenth Governer of Ohio, to cast the proxy vote of said Governor on the stock of the Jefferson, South Charleston & Xenia Turnpike Company.
ROADS.
The original roads seem to have been laid out regardless of section lines and cardinal points of the compass. The exceptions to this statement are few, and this fact mars the shape of many of the finest farms of Madison Town- ship.
The West Jefferson, South Charleston & Xenia Turnpike was built by a stock company about the year 1844. The Springfield & South Charleston Pike was finished in 1866. The Charleston, West Jefferson & Washington Pike was failed in 1868. The average cost of these improved roads is put down at $2,000 per mile. .
OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
The early settlers of Madison Township, like the pioneers of other parts of the great State of Ohio, were a peculiar people, and seemed providentially de- signed for their parts in life's great drama. . They were men and women of rude and arpolished manners, yet they were not lacking in the nobler qualities that fitted them to become the antecedents of a more polished civilization. The fol- lowing brief mention is made of some of these families, who, braving the priva- tions of frontier life, laid the foundations of society, on which their descendants have built and flourished:
George Buffenberger was a Virginian. He and family came to Ohio and settled in Madison Township as early as 1807, locating on the head-waters of the Little Miami. He owned a large tract of valuable land, raised a large family of children, and was characterized as the most eccentric nan of his generation. He possessed great wealth, yet was careless, and often shabby in his dress, and defied the ordinary customs of civilized life.
Christopher Lightfoot was a man of fine education, and a Scotchman. He settled where William Watson now lives, south of the Little Miami depot, some years before South Charleston was laid out, and was one of the prejectors of that village. He was a school-teacher and surveyor.
Elijah Pratt was probably the first physician of Madison Township. He was practicing as early as 1818. He lived northeast of South Charleston. He was from New England.
John Kolso was among the first Justices of the Peace of the township. He lived on the Jamestown road, on lands now owned by Paullin's heirs. He reared a large family of children, all of whom are non-residents of the township.
William Holloway was an early settler near Selma, on the MeDorman farm. He was a Quaker, and for many years filled the office of Justice of the Peace creditably.
William Willis was an old and devout Quaker. and kept a hotel two miles west of South Charleston, on the State road from Xenia to Columbus, where Caleb Harrison lives. This place, being on the commonly traveled road from Cincin- nati to Columbus, it was widely known, and was a favorite stopping-place for the distinguished men of the early times. Between the years 1830 and 1840,
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
while Tom Corwin was a member of Congress, and was compelled to reach the national Capital on horseback, he made this hotel a regular stopping-place. He was sometimes accompanied by Henry Clay, of Kentucky, on similar trips, and the high old times had at the " Old Willis Hotel " by these distinguished guests often tried the patience of the quiet host. The house, a one-story log building of three rooms, still stands.
Mungo Murray was a Scotchman, and located on Section 12, on the northern border of the township, in 1817. His sons, James. George and Peter, were gen- tlemen of rare business qualifications. The last named built the "Murray House," of Springfield, and was at one time one of the foremost of the business men of that city. The elder Murray died in August, 1830, at the age of fifty- five years.
John McCollum was a native of Virginia. He settled two miles south of South Charleston in 1814, on the farm now owned by D. V. Pringle. He was twice married. By the second marriage he became the father of eight children --- Rebecca, Henry, John, Alvira, Evaline, Minerva, Seth O. and Russell B. He died in 1848, aged seventy-three; his wife died in December, 1871, aged eighty- seven.
David Vance was a Kentuckian. He settled in Madison Township in 1SOS or lova, one mile west of South Charleston, the farm now owned by James Pringle. He was a cousin of Joseph Vance, tenth Governor of Ohio. His sous -Ephraim, John, Daniel, Joseph, Elijah and Elisha-were worthy citizens. The last two were twins.
James Pringle, Sr., came from Kentucky and settled in Madison Township in 1812, on Section 16, now owned by D. O. Heiskell. His wife was a Vance. They raised a large family of children. who in after years filled well their sov- eral stations in life. Their sons were Thomas, David, William and James. Mr. Pringle died in August, 1867, aged eighty-four.
Isaac Davisson, about 1810, settled a short distance east of South Charles- ton. He married Sarah Curl in ISOS. His father, Isaac Davisson, Sr., was an early settler of Warren County. Isaac, Jr., and his bride, made their wedding tour on horseback, Mrs. Davisson using a feather-bed for a side-saddle. They passed through Springfield on their way from Todd's Fork, in Warren County, to their new home, near Catawba. At this time. Springfield bad but a few houses, and these were in the brush. After spending the first three years of their married life in Pleasant Township, they located in Madison, as stated. He purchased fifty acres of land, and in time added several hundred acres to his estate. He was of Methodistic stock, as well as his wife, and, in the years that followed their coming to the neighborhood, the early preachers held meetings in their humble cabin. and to the end of his days his devotion to the Master and his zeal for the church never waned. His wife still lives, and has passed the ninetieth milestone in the eventful race of life. They raised a large family of children; twelve of these lived to become married; they were William, Obadiah. Lemuel, Mary. Elizabeth, Nancy, Sarah J., Margaret, Julia Ann, Maria, James G. and Daniel.
Phillip Hedrick and his wife ( Foley) settled on the north back of the Little Miami in 1811. on the farm now owned by K. P. Truitt. Mr. Hedrick was a Kentuckian: his wife, a Virginian. He bought 600 acres of land at $1.25 por acre. The husband and wife died in 1838 and 1825 respectively. They were married in Kentucky, and five children were born to them in that State. Their children were Samuel, Lewis, David, Isaac, Henry, Joseph, Anna, Mahala and Rebecca. He assisted to lay out South Charleston in ISI5.
Charles Paist was a native of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried Abigail Perkins, of Wilmington, Ohio. He settled on the head-waters of
MRS. MATILDA KITCHEN GREEN TP.
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ABRAHAM KITCHEN GREEN TP.
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MADISON TOWNSHIP.
Massie's Creek, on the Columbus and Xenia road, in 1815, and there built a store and carried on merchandising several years. He was the first merchant of Mad- jon Township. He moved to South Charleston in 1824, and there continued merchandising for some time. He served one terin as Associate Judge of the Cart of Common Pleas, and was one of the leading Abolitionists of his time, being far in advance of the public sentiment of that day. The first anti-slavery address ever made in South Charleston was made from the porch of his residence, on Columbus street. He was a medley of contradictions, being a Democrat, a Quaker, an Abolitionist, and an ardent follower of Tom Paine. His children- Isaac, William, Charles and Mary (Mrs. D. O. Heiskell) inherited the sterling qualities of the father. He died in 1858, aged sixty. His wife died the next year, aged fifty-eight.
Robert Houston was born in Scott County, Kentucky, April 11, 1800. At the age of twelve years, he came to Ohio with his parents. He studied medi- cine at Springfield, Ohio, and began the practice of his profession at South Charleston in July, 1521. He married Eliza Pearce November 25, 1822, and became the father of twelve children. He continued the practice of medicine forty four years successively in this village. In 1865, he removed to Cham- mion (Stv. Il], where he died July 11, 1872, aged seventy-two years. He was an ardent Whig, a zealous Republican, and for nearly fifty years was a consistent and useful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Samuel Thomas and family came to Madison Township about 1814, where he remained until his death, in 1867, his wife dying in 1871. He was a native of Delaware, born in 1785, and was married, in Warren County, Ohio, to Mary St. John, a native of New York, born in 1783. They had nine children. and their eldest child. John, is now residing in the township, at the age of seventy- two.
POLL-BOOK OF AN ELECTION HELD IN VANCE (MADISON) TOWNSHIP, CLARK COUNTY, OHIO, APRIL 6, 1818.
NAMES OF ELECTORS.
NAMES OF ELECTORS.
1 Gregory Bloxsom.
23
Elijah Anderson.
·2 Charles Paist.
24
Henry Neagley.
3 Isaac Vandevanter.
25 James Wilson.
4 Richard. Davisson.
26 Jephtha Johnson.
Archibald Mickle.
27 William Holloway.
6 George Neagly.
Poiser Seller.
Francis Crispin.
30
Isaac Warner.
9
John Kelsev.
31
Joseph Vance.
10)
Joseph Briggs.
32
Phillip Hedrick.
11
John Briggs, Jr.,
33
Isaac Jackson.
12
Daniel Johnson.
34
David Littler.
13 William Vickers.
35
Abner Robinson.
14
John Neagley.
36
Enoch Smith.
1.
Robert Phares.
37
Samuel Arthur .....
10 Charles Arthur.
38 Richard Baldwin.
17 (. Bloxsom.
39 Jacob Reader.
IS Thomas Green.
40 George Neagley, Sr.
= Eli Adams.
41 Josiah Bate.
20 Alexander Crawford.
42 Francis Alexander.
Peter Monohan.
43
William Bloxsom.
PHILLIP HEDRICK, JOSEPH VANCE, ~ Judges.
EBENEZER PADDOCK, )
WILLIAM BLOXSOM, I RICHARD BALDWIN, S
Clerks.
BB
AAdam Peterson.
29 Ebenezer Paddock.
John Briggs.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
In the year 1847. the Assessor of Madison Township, R. C. Clark, enrolled the following-named citizens as subjects to do duty as militia:
William D Pringle. Fletcher Smith. William Little, John Little, James Pringle, Jr., Joseph Garns. Benjamin Hughis. Seth McCollnm, Samuel Eppard, Hiram R. Athoy. Obed Johnson, Elijah Woosley. George Gilroy, Oby Davisson, Benjamin Woosley. Presley Jones. Trusdil Reeder, Calderwood Hill, Augustus Hutchinson, Jonathan Cheney, Christopher Schickedantz. George Schickedantz, William Rawin. Alexander Waddle. Abner Brittin. Jessie Wise, Edmond Hill, John C. Layborn. Hiram Lewis, William Paist, Jr .. Joseph Peat, John Rankin, Joshua Rankin. Lewis Hill, James Thacker, Edward Edwards, Jacob Buzzard, John F. Harrison. Milton Parker, Aikin Kelso. Edward Wildman, Samuel J. Warner, James L. Knick, Lanson Hale, Hiram Haughman, David Vance, George W. Jones, Greenfield Dooley, David Armstrong, James P. Harrison, Griffith F. Sweet, Jacob C. Smith, William Ely, William Weymouth, Hadan Cramer. Put- nam Gaffield, Daniel Hempleman, Josiah Merrit, Isaac Wilson, Thomas Matti- son, John B. Wade, William Townsley, Jaines Marshall, Isaac Warner, William Conrey, Jacob Pierce, William Frasier, Simeon Warner, Jacob Muna, James Anderson, John Frame. Benjamin Frame, Josiah Negley, Levi Jones, Samuel, Hutchinson, Daniel Smith, Michael Way.
A REMINISCENCE.
Capt. Roland Brown was a Kentuckian. He settled and lived many years on a farm west of South Charleston, and then emigrated to Illinois.
In 1828 or 1829, a debating society was held in s small brick schoolhouse that stood very near the place where now stands the Methodist Episcopal Church. Capt. Brown was fond of debating, and was seldom absent from the meetings of the society. The subject of railroads and telegraphs was just beginning to at- tract some attention in the Eastern States. Capt. Brown took up this theme one night, and, enlarging upon it, said the time was not far in the future when railroads would be laid all over the West; that one would reach from Cincinnati to Lake Erie which would not run far from the place where he stood. He added that men would yet travel fifteen miles an hour, and heavy burdens be pulled ove: these roads by steam power.
The Methodists were then in the dominance in the village. They voted Capt. Brown a visionist, a castle-builder, and denounced his railroad theory as the rankest infidelity, and contrary to God's revealed word. They claimed that if God had intended his creatures to travel in the marvelous way spoken of. he would have foreshadowed it in the prophecies. Of those who were most out- spoken in denouncing the Captain's theory, mention is made of John Mitton, Sarah Mitton, Eli Adams and wife, Susan Mitton, Joshua D. Truitt, Benjamin Truitt, James Woodley and his wife, John McCollum and wife, Asbury Hous- ton and wife, Laughlin Kinney and wife, Horatio Murray and wife. No better nor more honored Christian people ever lived in Clark County than these above named; many of them lived to travel by railroad, and the news of the death of more than one of their number was flashed across the land by telegraph.
REMINISCENCE OF THE PAST
"In the year 1835, a man named Eastman, from one of the New England States, sent an appointment to address the people of South Charleston on the question of the abolition of slavery. At that time, there were barely a dozen souls in the village who sympathized with the anti-slavery movement. The ex- isting political parties were alike indifferent, but the pulpit and the press had sounded a note of warning, which began to echo in the ears of a few Quakers
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MADISON TOWNSHIP.
here and there. When Eastman arrived, he was met by a previously appointed committee, consisting of several of the best citizens of the place, who notified bin that bis proceres in the village was obnoxious to its citizens, and under no circumstances would the people consent that the slavery question should be discussed from the Abolitionist's standpoint.
" Mr. Eastman answered courteously that be was accustomed to such recep- tions, and that, notwithstanding the warning of the committee, he should cer- tainly carry out the object of his visit and deliver his address; that he recog- nized a higher law than any statutory enactment, and that he feared God more than man. There was a good schoolhouse and a church in the village, but had they been a thousand miles distant they would have served Eastman as well as now. No one dared to open the door of a public house to the agitator! But Charles Paist, a staid old Quaker. said. 'Thee may speak at my house,' and ac- cordingly it was announced that the speaker would speak that evening from the porch of Charles Paist, on Columbus street. When the hour of the meeting arrived, the speaker found in front of him in the street a large crowd of men and boys whose demeanor meant trouble. They were all supplied with eggs, which had been provided by the merchants and grocers of the village, and nothing was better understood than that Eastman was to be egged. This was known by Eastman, and by Mr. and Mrs. Paist. So, when the speaking began. Mrs. Paist quietly took a position in front of the speaker, and so contrived. dur- ing the whole time of the speech. to shield Eastman from the egging that threatened him. Mrs. Paist was greatly esteemed. and no one dared throw an egg which would endanger her. At the conclusion of the speech, the speaker was conducted by a back way through a corn-field to the house of a man named Smith, where he was safe from the mob. The seed sown on this occasion took root. Twenty-one years later, when the Deputy Marshals of the United States. carrying off citizens of Champaign County under authority of the fugitive slave law, passed through the village of South Charleston. and by their overt acts set at defiance the local civil authorities, Judge Ichabod Corwin, by a strong anti- slavery speech in the street, enlisted the people in pursuit of the Marshal and his posse; the livery stock of the village was put at the disposal of the crowd; rifles, muskets, revolvers and other firearms were brought forth for use: the principal citizens joined in the pursuit, and were in at the capture of the Addi- son White rescuers."
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