The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 19

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2 > Part 19

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John Sheridan was an early settler on the Joshua Moore farm. He sold his farm to Joshun Moore, and went West.

Isaac Stout settled on Lytle's Creek on the Isaiah Stout farm about 1807. He cut the first stick of timber on the Stout farm. His wife's name was Susan- nah. They had the following-named children, viz., Jesse, Sarah, Phoebe, Lydia, Rebecca, Matilda, Isaac and Isaiah Stout.

Isaiah Stout lives on the home place, and is the youngest son of Isaac and . Susannah Stout. His wife's name was Lucinda Hardesty. He has a family of several children, all of whom are grown up and married.

Charles Stout was a first cousin of Isaac Stout, and was the first settler on the Rodney Jenks place. David, his brother, was the first settler on the Haines Moore place, and built the mill there on Lytle's Creek, afterward owned by Joshua Moore. It ground corn only. It is related that Charles Stout had a cow that got fast in the mud in a boggy place by a strong spring on his land, and that the wolves attacked her and nearly killed her. The wolves killed his dog also. He then went to Highland County, got a wolf-trap, set it, and caught a very large gray wolf.

John Pyle. was born August 5, 1766, in Chatham County, N. C. About the year 1815, he moved to Washington County, Ind. In 1823, he came to Clinton County, Ohio, and settled on the farm now owned by William S. Ri- ley. His wife's name was Ruth. He had a family of six children, viz., Will- iam, Sarah, John, Jehu, Mary and Edith, only two of whom came to Ohio with him. These were William and Jehu. Two daughters married and settled in Indiana. His children were all born in North Carolina, where his wife had deceased previous to his moving to Indiana. He died January 20, 1846, in the eightieth year of his age. He was noted for being a remarkably good hunter. He would go into the woods and kill deer when no other person could.

Jehu Pyle, Jr., son of Jehu and Ruth Pyle, was born on Christmas Day, 1795, in Chatham County, N. C. His wife was Esther, daughter of Joseph and Docia Stratton. She was born on the 4th of February, 1804. About 1832, Jehu Pyle, Jr., in connection with his brother William, bought the Samuel Southwick farm on Lytle's Creek, near its mouth, the.tract purchased consisting of several hundred acres. John Pyle moved to and lived at what is now known as the Esther Pyle or Snowden farm, where he continued to re- side until the time of his death, which occurred the 29th of Jannary, 1859. They had a family of eleven children, viz., Joseph and William, who were twins, David S., Abigail, Caleb, Nancy, Lindley, Mary, John, Melinda and Emily. Of these, Joseph, Abigail, Caleb, Nancy, Lindley and Mary died in their youth. John died in 1856, in the sixteenth year of his age.

William Pyle married Rebecca Garner. He has a family of several chil- dren. For some years, he resided in Indiana, but is now a resident of Adams Township. He was born July 16, 1822.

David S. Pyle was born on the 27th of September, 1824. His wife was Sarah T. West. She died in 1856. He afterward married Nancy Fisher. There were five children by the first marriage, and three by the second. Esther Pyle, widow of Jeha, resides with her son-in-law, Snowden, and is now in the seventy-ninth year of her age.

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ADAMS TOWNSHIP.

William Pyle, Sr,, son of Jehu and Ruth, was born March 11, 1788, in North Carolina. His wife was Mary, daughter of William Hadley. She was born on the 17th of July, 1792, and died the 7th of February, 1848, at the age of fifty-six. There were nine children by this marriage, viz., Samuel, Jehu, Mary, Ruth, John, David, Sarah, William and Ann Maria. He married again. His second wife, Abigail, died in 1853. He afterward married Lydia Smith, whose maiden name was Hazard. He died July 20, 1875.

Samuel Pyle. is the only one of this family who resides in Adams Town- 1 ship. Jehu, David and Ann Maria are dead. Others reside in Indiana and Iowa. Samuel Pyle was born on the 22d of September, 1812. His first wife was a daughter of Thomas Austin, who settled on Todd's Fork as early as 1807. They had the following named children: Ann Eliza, Emily, Caroline .. Amanda, Henry. Thomas, Melissa, Clark and Arthur. His second wife was Harriet McMillan. He resides in the southern part of the township, and is . universally esteemed by all who know him.

Samuel Southwick was an early settler on Lytle's Creek, on the Jehu Pyle, Jr., or Snowden farm. He bought, about 1830, the Eli Harvey farm, near the mouth of Lytle's Creek. He afterward sold out to Jehu and William Pyle, and moved to Indiana. He was married four times. His first wife was a daughter of David Stearns; his second wife was a sister to his first wife. His third wife was Susannah Jenks, only sister of David Jenks. This marriage , was about 1820. He had five children, two of them by his third wife. Their names were Philo and Riley. His son Emory married Harriet Humphreys. Southwick laid out a graveyard on his land, containing about an eighth of an acre, which he reserved in his deed to Pyle. Two of his wives are buried there, and two of his children, the first grave being that of one of his children.

Benjamin Farquhar, came to Ohio in 1805, from Maryland. His wife's name was Rachel, a daughter of Jonathan and Susannah Wright, who came from Maryland about the same time. They had the following-named children: Uriah, born January 5, 1795; Cyrus, born July 4, 1796; Allen, born July 18, 1798; Jonathan, born April 21, 1800; Josiah, born February 19, 1802; Susan- nah. born October 16, 1804; Edwin, born July 3, 1807; Rebecca, born Sep- tember 9, 1810; and Rachel, born September 18, 1815. He bought land and settled in what is now the extreme northeastern part of Adams Township. Uriah studied medicine with Dr. Lathrop, of Waynesville. He came to Wil- mington in 1816, practiced medicine for about twenty years, and then removed to Logansport, Ind. His wife was Keziah Elam. Cyrus married Lydia, . daughter of Richard Fallis. Allen married Louisa Stockdale; Jonathan studied medicine with his brother. While visiting a patient, he was thrown from his horse and injured, from the effects of which he died. He was not married. Edwin died in infancy; Rebecca married Isaac Strickle; Susannah married Dr. Lytle, of Logansport, Ind .; Rachel married John Cadwallader. Benjamin Farquhar died in 1827, at the age of sixty-one, and is buried at. Centre.

Josiah Farquhar, son of Benjamin, married Abi Linton. He lived on the Farquhar farm until his death, April 9, 1838. His children were Benjamin, "Nathan, Francis and Caroline. Nathan and Caroline died in infancy. Ben- jamin and Francis both reside in Wilmington, as does their mother, Abi Sparks, she having married again, her second husband being Dr. Sparks. Both are prominent business men, and members of Friends' Church.

David Stearns was an early settler. He lived in the southwest part of Adams Township. He had three sons, Melzar, Luther and Harvey, and two . daughters. He came from Massachusetts in 1813. Melzar Stearns owned about two hundred acres of land in the T. Baytop and Dudley Surveys. It

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

was afterward owned by Samuel and Jehu Pyle, sons of William Pyle, who bought it after his death, which occurred abont 1834. His wife's name was Achsah Cranson. He was buried at the Southwick Graveyard. He was a farm- er, and for several years kept a dairy, and made cheese and butter. He was a very influential citizen. He had three sons, Cranson, Seneca and Harrison, and a daughter Sarah. Cranson married Catherine Elliott, widow of David Elliott, whose maiden name was Shaffer. She had two children by her first husband, a son and a daughter, Mary. The son lives in Venice, Butler County, and the daughter, who married A. McNama, resides in Wilmington. Cranson Stearns is still living at Mainville.

Henry LeValley lived on the Joseph Anson farm. John Stackhouse after- ward owned it and died there in 1820. He was the first person buried at Lytle's Creek.

Simon Grey was the first owner of the farm where Mahlon Stratton now resides, and lived there at an early day. His wife was Mary Reese. He built the house in which Stratton now lives, in 1835. David Jenks did the carpen- ter work.

Joseph and Mahlon Stratton were cousins who settled on Lytle's Creek in 1809. Joseph Stratton was born at Campbell Court House, Va., June 2, 1769. His wife was Docia Morman, who was born May 2, 1773. She died October 5, 1823, and was buried at Lytle's Creek. He lived on what is known as the Caleb Moore farm. He married a second wife afterward. His children by the first marriage were Micajah, David, Susannah, Nancy, Joseph, Esther and Benjamin. There were two children by the second marriage, one of whom, Rebecca, died when a young lady, and Edward, who is still living. He died February 7, 1831, and is buried at Lytle's Creek. Mahlon Stratton was the first settler on what was known as the Rayburn place. His wife's name was Sarah. Both lived there until their death. He donated the land for the burial-ground at Lytle's Creek, where he and his wife were both buried. They had eight children, viz., Levi, David, Mary, Sarah, Rachel, Elizabeth, Susannah, Esther and Mahlon.

Thomas Kersey, Sr., was born September 15, 1759. He was the son of William and Hannah Kersey, of Guilford County, N. C. His wife's name was Rebecca, daughter of John and Ann Carter, of Orange County, N. C. She was born July 11, 1759. He came to Ohio and settled on Todd's Fork in 1812, on land adjoining that of John Carter, his brother-in-law. He had six children, three boys and three girls. The boys' names were John, Thomas and Carter; the girls' names were Mary, Nancy and Rebecca. He died August 10, 1865, and was buried at Lytle's Creek. John married a Steddom; Carter married a Lindsey; Mary married Eli Millikan, and Nancy married Simon Hadley.

Thomas Kersey, Jr., was born January 27, 1793, in Guilford County, N. C .; came to Ohio with his father in 1822. His wife was Letitia, daughter of Samuel and Martha Craig, of Warren County, Ohio. He died September 7, 1870, in his seventy-eighth year. His widow survived him two years, and died May 11, 1872, in her seventy-second year. They had six children, Ann, William, John, Hannah, Martha and Rebecca. The parents are buried at Lytle's Creek.

William Osborn was born in North Carolina August 1, 1778. His wife's name was Susannah Foust, daughter of Philip Snotherly, of North Carolina. They were married in 1799; came to Ohio in the fall of 1815, and, after liv- ing & year or two on the Samuel Harvey place on Lytle's Creek, afterward owned by Thomas Rich, he bought 100 acres of land and settled on it in J. Roberts' Survey, in the extreme southern part of the township. They were

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Friends. They had a family of eight children, viz., Thomas, born February 23, 1800; John, born May 15, 1801; Elizabeth, born February 27, 1803; Mary, born January 2, 1805; Peter, born March 3, 1807; William, born De- cember 5, 1808; Charles, born June 10, 1811; and Margaret, born July 25, 1814. He died about 1860. His wife died June 25, 1848; both are buried at Lytle's Creek.

Thomas Osborn married Margaret Reynard, daughter of Adam Reynard. He died July 18, 1838. He had the following-named children: William, Su- sannah, Adam, Peter, Catharine Mary, Elisha, Margaret and Thomas.

John Osborn, son of William, married a daughter of Preserved Dakin. They had a family of several children, none of whom now reside in the town- ship of Adams. John Osborn moved to Kansas several years ago.

Elizabeth Osborn was the second wife of Hiram Maden. She is now dead. Mary Osborn was the second wife of Mordecai Walker, and died in 1848.

Peter Osborn married Sarah, daughter of John Hadley. His wife died August 22, 1853; he died November 17, 1874. Both are buried at Lytle's Creek. He was an influential citizen of Adams Township, and a member of and a minister in the Society of Friends. They had a family of eight chil- dren, viz., Alfred, Charles, William H., Sarah Jane, John Thomas, Ruth Ann, Elwood and Eli, all of whom are living except Eli, who died in infancy. All reside in Clinton County. A few years after the death of his first wife, Peter Osborn married Eliza Trueblood, widow of Cyrus Trueblood, of Indiana. Two children were the result of this union-Mary E., who became the wife of James Smith, and Adeline Osborn.

William Osborn, Jr., was married December 25, 1834, to Hannah Hadley, daughter of David Hadley. He had five children by this union-David S., Mary Emily, William, Isaiah H. and Seth. William Osborn remained single after the death of his first wife until 1881, when he married Theodocia Hadley, widow of Eli L. Hadley, whose maiden name was Thatchor.

Charles Osborn married Elizaboth Fulgum. He resided on the home farm, of which he became the owner after his father's death. They had thir- teen children, viz., Sarah, Isaiah, Mary Jane, Michael W., Peter, Caroline, Elizabeth, Charles W., Calvin, Lydia, Clark, Frank and Delphina. Isaiah died at eight years of age, and Calvin at twelve. His wife, Elizabeth, died October 28, 1864, and he afterward married Jemima Clark, a widow. Charles Osborn deceased on the 1st of January, 1876, at the age of sixty-four years. He is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery.

Jacob Hale was one of the first settlers on Todd's Fork. In 1805, with Isaac Harvey and John Hadley, he came to view the country. They traveled on horseback, coming through Highland County. They found it a "goodly land." They returned to North Carolina, resolved to part with their posses- sions there, and remove with their families to Ohio as soon as possible. Jacob Hale was largely engaged in business there, and owning considerable land it took him some time to close up his affairs. The three, Hadley, Harvey and Hale, were all brothers-in-law, Hale having married Martha Harvey, and John Hadley her sister Lydia. They selected a tract of land on Todd's Fork, then owned by Robert Pollard, since known as the T. Baytop Survey, No. 2, - 372, as suitable for making them a home, with others of their family who were expected to come with them to what was then, to them, the far West. This survey contained over two thousand acres of land, and was purchased by Isaac and Eli Harvey, jointly, from the owner, at Richmond, Va., for this purpose. In 1807, Jacob Hale came with his family to Ohio, and settled on Todd's Fork, and bought over three hundred acres of said survey. All of his children, ex- cept the youngest, were born in North Carolina. Their names and order of

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

their ages are as follows: Samuel, Elizabeth, William, Eli, Ruth, Lydia, Jacob, Martha, Joseph, Armonia, Mary and Emily. Of these Elizabeth married James Massie; William married Mariah Sabin, sister of Warren and Zebulon Sabin; Eli Hale married Ann Hadley, daughter of William Hadley; Lydia married John Harlan, who settled near Dakin's Corner; Jacob and Martha were twins; Jacob married Hannah Andrew, daughter of Samuel Andrew; Martha married Hiram Mendenhall, son of Nathan Mendenhall, whose wife was Nancy Harlan; Joseph Hale's first wife was Rowena Harlan, and his second wife was Sarah Sewell; Armonia Hale married Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald Ed- wards; Mary married Isaac Goldsberry; Emily died in infancy.

Armonia Hale was born in Randolph County, N. C. He- came to Ohio with his father when he was about three years of age. His wife was Eliza- beth, daughter of Archibald Edwards. He resides on the farm where his father settled when he first came to Ohio. He is an industrious and useful citizen. He has resided continuously on the same farm for over seventy-five years. His family consisted of the following-named children: Joseph, Elwood, Milo, John, Edward and Jacob, sons, and Martha and Ann, daughters.

John Anson came from Now Jersey in 1817. He died in 1848, at the age of seventy-eight. His wife's name was Hannah. Both are buried at Lytle's Creek. They had the following-named children: Samuel, Evaline, David, John, Isaac, Benjamin, Thomas, Androw, Joseph and Clinton. Joseph resides in Adams Township. He and Andrew are the only members of the family now living.

Jacob Hale, son of Jacob Hale, Sr., was born July 12, 1802, in Randolph County, N. C. His wife's name was Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Delia Andrew. She was born January 7, 1812. He died about the year 1844; his widow is still living. They had three children-William, Susannah and Al- fred. William Hale and Alfred both reside in Adams Township, and are prosperous farmers.

Jesse Thatcher was born August 1, 1815, and was the son of Thomas and Susannah Thatcher, and a brother of Joseph and David Thatcher. He died in May, 1882, in his seventy-seventh year. He was the father of quite a large family of children. His wife was a daughter of Adam Rhinard, an early set- tler in Union Township.

David Jenks was born October 23, 1790, in Rhode Island, and raised in Massachusetts. He was the son of David and Susannah Jenks, and came to Ohio in 1818, and first settled in Butler County. In 1824, he came to Adams. Township and bought about seventy-five acres of land of Samuel Gaskill, who had bought it at the administrator's sale of John Stackhouse, who died in 1820, he having bought it of a man by the name of LeValley. His wife's name was Thankful, daughter of Thomas Fish. She died June 9, 1830. They had seven children, as follows: Achsah, Joseph, Lorenzo, Rodney, Harriet, Al- den and Thankful. He afterward married Keziah Jessup, by whom he had one child, Amanda. He died January 5, 1854, and was buried at the South- wick Graveyard, as were both his wives. Keziah, his widow, only survived him about three months.

Rodney Jenks, son of David, was born May 2, 1823. He married Sarah Rebecca, daughter of Samuel Byard. They had five children-George, David, Hannah Ann, Alden and Martha Ellen, only two of whom, George and David, are now living. Rodney Jenks resides near Ogden, on what was once known as the Micajah Stratton farm.

Isaiah Quinby was born in Lancaster County, Penn, January 30, 1799. He married Elizabeth Moora, daughter of Elijah and Sarah Moore, of Center County, Penn. They emigrated to Ohio in 1826, coming down the Ohio River

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, from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati in a skiff. He first settled in Warren County, near Hisey's Mill, where they lived for a few years, and then removed to Chester Township, near Oakland, where they resided until the fall of 1839, when they removed to Adams Township, near Lytle's Creek, where he purchased a farm of one of the Holaday's, being the same since owned by Joseph Strat- ton, Jr. They had eleven children, viz., Sarah Jane, Aaron B., Josephine E., Thomas M., Miriam E., Ezra A., Mercy Ann, Isaiah W., Elijah, Hannah Sophia and Jesse Cutler. Josephine, wife of R. A. Washburn, died July 23, 1859, and is buried at Lytle's Creek. She left one child, Josephine by name .. Mercy Ann, wife of George Gillett, died at Bedford, Iowa, in July, 1873. She left three children. Sarah Jane and Elijah died in infancy.

Elizabeth Quinby died December 23, 1858, and is buried at Lytle's Creek; she was a member of the Society of Friends. Isaiah Quinby married a second wife, by which marriage there was one child, Harris Quinby; he resides in Iowa. Isaiah Quinby moved to the vicinity of Hawleysville, Page Co., Iowa, in 1866; he died in March, 1873, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and is buried at Hawleysville.

Dr. William W. Sheppard, of Sligo, Clinton County, is a practicing phy- sician of large experience. He is the son of Levi Sheppard, and was raised in Wilmington; he came to Adams Township in 1848, where he has since rer sided continuously, except a few years spent in Illinois. His wife's name is Elizabeth, daughter of Humphrey Riddle; they have had three children, viz., Shotwell, Rachel and Levi. Their daughter died a few years ago, and is buried in Sugar Grove Cemetery. Dr. Sheppard was born March 20, 1821. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Society of Friends, and enjoy the confidence and respect of all who know them.

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

CHESTER TOWNSHIP.

BY A. H. HARLAN, NEW BURLINGTON, OHIO.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.

TI THE rocks composing the foundation of our superstructure are of the Hudson period, Lower Silurian age, and paleozoic era of the world's formation. These rocks are of the class limestone, and were formed from a "calcareous organic sediment " at the bottom of the sea. In other words, they were com- posed of the lime-like substance of the shells of the mollusca, or sea-living an- imals of that period, and from an argillaceous or clayey matter carried into the sea by the ever advancing and retreating waves upon the land. To use the words of J. S. Newberry, Esq., the chief geologist of the Ohio survey: "In the advance inland of the sea line, the first deposit from the sea would be what may be termed an unbroken sheet of sea beach, which would cover the rocky sub-structure of all portions of the continent brought beneath the ocean. Over this coarser material would be deposited a sheet of finer mechanical sediment, principally clay, laid down just in the rear of the advancing beach; and, finally, over all, a sheet of greater or less thickness of calcareous material, destined to form limestone when consolidated, the legitimate and only deposit made from the water of the open sea." These rocks in time, or as centuries followed centuries, and the ever and unceasing changes of nature went on, became covered with drift, first of blue clay, then followed by alluvium, from which in time sprang forth vegetation, and when found by the settler of the eighteenth century, was covered by an unbroken forest. Looking upon this scene with an eye for the beautiful and mysterious, an admiration and rever- ence for the Power that wrought these mysteries, one cannot but see that the conclusions had been drawn and the result known ages before the completion of this great sub-structure. No mistakes were made, but, on the other hand, these laws, when once set going, continued on and on in an unceasing perform- ance of their duties until the end had been reached and made ready for the coming master-stroke of this great architect, man.

If we could but follow man from his first appearance upon earth on the high table-lands of Central Asia, up through the long ages of his wanderings in a darkened and benighted condition, until the closing years of the eighteenth century of the Christian Era, when we find him planted upon the shores of the New World; if we could have passed with him through all his battles for civil and religious freedom, and witnessed his many attempts at establishing a government shorn of all prejudices and superstitions; or if to-day we could. look back upon him (in all these ages) with a supernatural vision, we could but re-admire the mysterious workings of the Prime Architect and Builder of all this. But space forbids, and we can only refer to him as he emerges from his baptism of blood in that century, and find him again established with civil and religious liberties as his chief corner-stones; but at what a sacrifice!

LOCATION.

The township of which I write is located in the extreme northwestern corner of Clinton County, and is bounded on the east by Liberty and Union, and on the south by, Adams, each and all sister townships of Chester. On the

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west it is bounded by Wayne and Massie, of Warren, and on the north by .. Spring Valley and Cæsar Creek Townships, of Greene.

From east to west, its width is four and eighty-seven hundredths miles; from north to south its length is six and thirty-one hundredths miles, and it contains within its boundaries thirty and seventy-three hundredths square miles. Its altitude above low water at the suspension bridge, on the Ohio River, at Cincinnati, is about four hundred and fifty feet; above the sea level, about nine hundred feet. The declination is from northeast to west and south. Before the organization of Clinton County, about one-fourth of the lands now embraced in our township belonged to Warren, and prior to that to Hamilton County. At the establishing of Clinton County in 1810, it was one of the three townships into which the county was subdivided, viz., Chester, Richland and Vernon, and was by far the largest in both area and population of the three. The boundary lines of that day are, however, in great part but tradition of to- day, so that just where the lines were that separated Chester from her sister townships the writer of this cannot fully determine. Enough for the purpose to say, however, that they included all of Liberty, a part of Wilson, then on a line south so as to include Wilmington, and to a point where a line drawn west would include the northern half of Adams. It then followed the line of Warren to Greene, and the.latter to the place of beginning.

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The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 19

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410