The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 107

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214

USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county > Part 107

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OAKLAND.

A town named Oakland was laid out by Daniel Beckel, a prominent citizen 'layton, July 27, 1854, on Section 27, Township 2, Range 7, and May 19, 1856, I Beckel and J. P. Ohmer made an addition to the former plat, the latter gentle- ): laying out a second addition May 21, 1857. This, like many other projected T'as, has never existed except on paper, yet the time may come when Oakland i be within the corporation limits of Dayton, and it requires no stretch of the mination to predict that such will come to pass inside of the time that it has ila Dayton to reach its present dimensions. No other towns have ever been la ed in Mad River Township, though the hamlet of Harshmanville is the near- st pproach to a village of which the township can boast. Here settled one of iQioneers whosc family became prominent in county affairs, and after whom the la was called in honor of the enterprise, energy and public spirit exhibited by ifounder of the family and his descendants toward the growth and develop- ue of the Mad River Valley. Few families of Montgomery County arc better r ore favorably known than the Harshmans, and to them is honestly due much present prosperity.

PIONEERS.

in the general history of Montgomery County is given an elaborate record of the arveying parties who traversed this region of the country and also the names of ose intrepid pioneers of civilization who composed those parties and who

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

subsequently made their homes and spent their lives in this vicinity. Of t colony who started from Cincinnati in March, 1796, arriving at the mouth of M River in April of that year, but three settled inside the present limits of M River Township, viz., William Hamer, William Gahagan and James Morris ; t latter forming one of the party headed by Col. George Newcom, and Gabag with the party that came on the boat in charge of Samuel Thompson.

William Hamer owned a pair of horses and a wagon, and in this way tra eled from Cincinnati to his new home. He was accompanied by his wife, Ma and six children, Solomon, Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah and Polly ; also t' friends, Jonathan and Edward Mercer. It was a long, cold and dangerous jou ney through the woods, up the narrow traee which had been partially cut out the Cooper surveying corps the preceding year, but these were not the men flinch when duty called them, and their indomitable spirits never flagged und the many hardships which they were called upon to undergo. Passing over i many incidents of the journey from Cineinnati to the mouth of Mad Riv which are fully spoken of in the general history, we come to the record of 1 first settlers of Mad River Township.

William Hamer was born in Maryland about the year 1750, there grew manhood and married. In the spring of 1792, with his wife, Mary, and childr he moved West, coming down the Ohio to Cincinnati in a flatboat, built by hi self and son, Solomon. Upon reaching Cincinnati, they took the lumber of wh the boat was made and built a cabin, in which the family lived until March, 17 when they started for Dayton. Mr. Hamer was a local Methodist preacher, a thinking that in the Symmes purchase, as in the settlement of the Ohio Compa at Marietta, Section 29 would be given by the proprietors for religious parpo: he kept on up Mad River and located on that section. In this view he was n taken, and afterward had to pay $2 per acre, like the rest of the settlers. built his cabin on the top of the hill, just south of where the Cineinnati, Che land, Columbus & Indiana and the Toledo, Detroit & Buffalo Railroads cross Springfield pike, being assisted by his son Solomon and William Gahagan ; ; for half a eentury afterward that hill was known throughout this valley " Hamer's Hill." His wife, Mary, bore him eleven ehildren-Solomon was their settlement here sixteen years old ; Thomas was six years old ; Nancy af ward married William Gahagan ; Elizabeth married William C. Lowry ; Say was married in November, 1801, to David Lowry, who lived up Mad River, r the mouth of Donnel's Creek, where she died in August, 1810; Polly mar Joseph Culbertson, of Miami County. On the 9th day of December, 1796, I, ton Hamer was born at his father's eabin on Hamer's Hill, and was the first cl born in the Dayton settlement, and no doubt in Montgomery County ; he mar Catherine Haney, moved to Illinois, then to California, where he died many y! ago. William Hamer, Jr., married Hannah Culbertson, and moved to India: Susan married a Mr. Krider ; Ruth married Abram Wagoner ; Ellen died married. Mary, wife of William Hamer, died at the homestead on " Han Hill," August 9, 1825, aged sixty-three years. Mr. Hamer married the sed. time, and subsequently met with an accident on his way to Cineinnati, in the sh mer of 1827, from the effects of which he died shortly afterward.

William Gahagan was a brave and patriotic Irishman, who loved the of his adoption, and hated that flag which was the emblem of oppression in. native isle. In 1793, he came in Wayne's Legion from Pittsburgh to Cincin and served with that army through the campaigns of 1794 and 1795. He Benjamin Van Cleve were comrades, and in May, 1794, they made a trip of the Ohio to Fort Massac, with contractor's supplies, returning in July to the a After the Greenville treaty, he at once engaged with the surveyor, Capt. John j lap, who was making preparations for field work in the Mad River country, acted as hunter for that surveyor's party. He selected land up Mad River, for some years made his home at William Hamer's cabin, afterward marri

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MAD RIVER TOWNSHIP.

ancy Hamer. About 1804 or 1805, they moved into Miami County, settling on land that he owned south of Troy, known as Gahagan's Prairie, and was sely identified with the settlement and progress of that portion of Miami unty. His wife, Naney, died, and he married a Mrs. Tennery, dying in Troy, out 1845.

James Morris, a native of Pennsylvania, eame west to Fort Harmar, and was the expedition under Gen. Harmar in 1790. He left Cincinnati in March, 96, as one of the party headed by George Newcom. He settled on land north Dayton, on the Great Miami, in Mad River Township, followed farming, was ice married, but died childless.

Robert Edgar was born in Staunton, Va., February 8, 1770, his father, Robert, ving emigrated from Ireland in 1739, and settled in that State. About 1780, e family removed to near Wheeling, West Va., where, about 1790, the father was lled by the Indians. Soon afterward, our subject settled up the estate and in mpany with his brother and sister came down the Ohio on a flatboat to Cinein- ti, where he arrived in 1795, and the following year joined the Dayton settle- ent at the mouth of Mad River. He was married in Hamilton County, Septem- r 27, 1798, to Mrs. Margaret Kirkwood, nee Gillespie, widow of David Kirk- bod, of which union were born the following children : George, Jane A., Robert , Samuel D., William G., Mary and John F. The mother was born in Phila- Iphia, April 6, 1772, and was an estimable, worthy woman, who watched care- ily over the interests of her household. For some years after coming to Dayton, F. Edgar lived in the town, built and managed a mill for D. C. Cooper, but finally frebased a farmi in Section 33, Mad River Township, since known as the " Edgar i'm." and there raised his family. In the war of 1812, he went out in defense ( the frontier settlements, and his son, John F., has now in his possession the ord which his father carried in that struggle. Mr. Edgar was one of the influ- cial men among the early settlers, and died December 19, 1838, his wife surviv- if him six years, dying November 25, 1844 ; both were members of the Presby- tian Church.

Valentine Oyler came from Canada to Ohio in 1796, was a Tory, and had to I.ve his native State, Maryland, during the Revolutionary war and fly to the I glish dominions. We find that in the tax duplicate for the year 1798, of Day- 1 Township, Valentine Oyler's name appears as the miller of Daniel C. Cooper. Sit is evident that he was here at an earlier date. He finally settled in Seetion on the " Woodman farm," and raised a family. He was the grandfather of D. Pottle, and his youngest son, Samuel, died near Hagerstown, Ind., in 1875. ese facts came from some papers left by Peter Lemon, who had collected mate- il with a view of writing a history of Mad River Township.

Andrew Lock was another of the earliest settlers, as we find his name in the tx duplieate of Dayton Township for the year 1798, his tax being $1.373. He Cered 640 aeres of land in Sections 5 and 11, immediately north of the mouth Mad River, along the Miami, in what is now Mad River Township, and there (d in an early day. A portion of this land is now owned by the Phillips heirs, al, where the Troy pike crosses the Great Miami, was known among the first set- trs as Lock's Ford.

Among the next to locate in this township were two brothers named William 1 Henry Robinson, who settled near the site of Harries' Mills about 1800, and tere built one of the early mills of the county, the latter brother being the prin- Gal in this enterprise. William was a miller by trade and a Presbyterian Teacher, preaching for the New Lights at Beavertown and Presbyterians at l'yton. Henry subsequently removed to Indiana, where he died. He had a lige family, the sons being Henry, Coleman and Samuel.

We now come to a pioneer who was, without doubt, the most prominent and inential man among the first settlers of Mad River Township. There were, in filt, few of the pioneer fathers who did more toward building up this eounty and

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

encouraging its speedy settlement than Judge Isaac Spinning. He was born i New Jersey, October 3, 1759, and there married Catherine Pierson, a native ( the same State, born March 11, 1767. They subsequently eame west to Cineir nati, settling near that point, from where they removed, in 1801, to Mad Rive Township, loeating in the eastern part of the township, where Mr. Spinning owne 960 acres of very fine land in Seetions 17 and 18. Their children were Piersor who in 1812, settled in Springfield ; Anna M. (who married the Rev. Peter Mor fort); George G., who died young ; Charles H .; Phoebe D. (who became the wife ( the Rev. David Monfort), George B., Mary P. (who married Dr. Job Haines Charlotte C. (who died in early girlhood) ; Harriet, who married Prof. W. H. M. Guffey, and Susan J. (who became the wife of Andrew Calhoun). In May, 180: Mr. Spinning was appointed one of the Associate Judges of Montgomery County and held that position until his death, which oceurred at the home of his son-il law, Dr. Job Haines, of Dayton, December 24, 1825, his wife having died Septen ber 6, 1818. Judge Spinning entered the Revolutionary army when but seven teen years old, serving faithfully in that battle for human rights and liberty, agains English oppression and tyranny. His funeral was an imposing one for tha early day, and six Revolutionary heroes laid his body away in its last restin place, they being selected as pall-bearers in honor of the eause for which all hay risked their lives.

From the reeolleetions of Charles H. Spinning, deeeased-one of Judge Spir ning's sons-we learned that when they eame to Mad River Township, a ina named Stanley Miller had a eabin and a young orchard about a mile sonthwest ( where his father settled. some of the stumps of the apple trees being yet vis ble. Mr. Spinning says : " I was then eight years old and remember there was cabin on the bank of Mad River, a few rods above where William Harries' flou; ing-mill now stands ; about eighty rods south of that there was a small eabin on a very small tanyard of two or three vats, and about one-quarter of a mile wes of this tanyard was a little overshot mill, on a small branch that runs near when Camp Corwin was located, erossing the railroad at 'Tate's Hill.' Mr. Hamer, Methodist preacher, lived in a small eabin on what was then ealled 'Hamer Hill. I also think there was a cabin on the school seetion near where Georg Kemp's house now stands." Thus writes one who was old enough when he cam to vividly remember mueh of the earliest records and events transpiring at the day in the neighborhood. For two or three years after Judge Spinning settled ; Mad River Township, there seems to have been a lull in emigration to this sul division, as we do not hear of any others who came at this time. In 1805, an c! odus seems to have taken place, and the settlers came pouring in from tl: East and South, among whom stands prominent the name of Jonathan Harsh man, a native of Maryland, born December 21. 1781. Upon reaching manhoo he removed to Kentneky, but, disliking the institution of slavery, he came to Oh in 1805, and bought forty aeres of land in Section 22, where J. Clinton Wilso now resides. For this he paid $30, and traded a silver wateh for a copper still which was located on a spring Here he lived until the elose of the war of 181: then removed to where George Harshman now resides, and there built a brid house some years later. He took a leading place in milling and distilling, an under that head will be found a history of his manufacturing career. In 1998, E was married to Susannah Rench, who bore him the following children, viz. : Eliza beth, Catherine, Jonathan, Mary, John, Joseph, George, Susannah and Reube Mrs. Harshman died December 5, 1839, her husband surviving her nearly eleve years, dying March 31, 1850. The deseendants and connections of this pioner are among the foremost families of the county, and have always held the leadil, positions in its mereantile, manufacturing and professional eireles.

Shortly before the date of the above settlement, John Reneh and wife, Eliz beth, with Mr. Staley and wife (the latter a sister of Mrs. Rench), settled at th present site of Harshmanville. They eame from Pennsylvania, and Rench bui

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te first house at the above-mentioned burg, but at what particular date we are able to state.

Martin Houser and wife, Barbara Neff, came from Shenandoah County, Va., ilthe year 1805. They were married in the " Old Dominion," and upon coming t this county settled in Section 25, also owning land across the Miami, in what i now Harrison Township. Their children were Henry, John, Martin, Daniel, .cob, Isaac, Polly and Katie. Father Houser died February 23, 1842, and his fe January 8, 1844, both being buried in the Beardshear graveyard. Prior to 05, Edward and Elizabeth Mercer, also Jacob and Elizabeth Replogle, settled i the Houser neighborhood, while Rev. Thomas Winters and Benjamin Kizer led on Section 16. Kizer came from Kentucky to this township in 1805, and ter a few years' residence removed to Butler Township, and in 1828 to the Coper stone quarries on the Shakertown road. His son, Daniel, was born in Mad Iver Township, April 2, 1807. In October, 1833, he married Eliza Warner, and 1 1835 purchased eighty-five acres of land from Lewis Broadwell, adjoining the cy of Dayton, and there died October 17, 1869. A sketch of Rev. Winters will I found in German Township. In 1805, Henry Butt and Jacob Rothamel lived ( the School Section 16, the former coming from Frederick County, Md., with te Lemon family.

Peter Lemon, a native of Frederick County, Md., came to Mad River Town- sp in 1805, and settled where Oakland was afterward laid out. His sons were . hn, Jacob, David and Peter, and the daughters Catherine (who married a Stuts- 1.n), Susan (who married Samuel Booher), Margaret (became the wife of Daniel chtsman), Elizabeth (the wife of William Cox), and Mary (married Conrad Dod- 11). Mr. Lemon began the preparation of a history of Mad River Township, but (I not finish the work intended, yet he collected many facts, and his papers men- tn that sixteen families arrived in this township at one time in the year 1805. -I stopped in Section 27, on the Lemon farm, until they bought land and erected coins, which were built in one day and occupied the next. There were ninety- s: persons in these sixteen families, but four of whom were living, as far as Mr. Imon knew of, in 1875, as follow: John Banker. John Waid, Jonathan Lemon Ed Peter Lemon (the latter has since died).

James Grimes, with his mother and five sisters, emigrated from Rockbridge (unty, Va., in 1805, coming in a six-horse wagon, via Crab Orchard, Ky., cross- is the Ohio River at Cincinnati, thence up to what is now Greene County. He 's then a single man, just arrived at his majority, and entered 500 acres of land, in 1807 operated a copper still. . In 1809, he sold the land, and purchased a etion in the north part of Mad River Township, now known as the Davis farm. the year 1811, Grimes went to the mouth of the Scioto River, and, loading two Itboats with bacon, apples and flour, went to New Orleans, where, unable to sell 1, produce to advantage, he took the cargo to the West India Islands, was absent 1 rteen months and made on the trip $1,300. He returned in 1812, and shortly verward married Edith Williamson, and settled on Section 20, who bore him cht children, viz. : John, William, James, Martha, Asa, Henry, Mary B. and anklin. In 1852, Father Grimes sold his farm to John Harries and moved to Erke County, dying in Greenville in 1853. In 1816, he sold 160 acres of Section : to David Duncan, who soon afterward built a brick house, the first erected in te neighborhood, which is still standing. The five sisters who came with James (imes in 1805 were Betsey, Peggie, Polly, Annie and Martha. The first men- Ined married Edward Newcom, Peggie a Mr. Campbell, Polly a Mr. Crawford, anie a Mr. McConahew and Martha a Mr. Fulton. William Grimes, who is now a erchant in Dayton, was born on the homestead in Section 20 in 1818, and assisted i clearing up the land. In 1840, he married Sarah Dougherty. Another of the I ding pioneer families of Mad River Township are the Kemps, who are de- ended from Lewis and Elizabeth (Lyons) Kemp, natives of Frederick County, 1., who, with a family of eight children, left their native State in 1806, and came

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

to Montgomery County, Ohio, purchasing Section 22 and a portion of 29, in thi township, paying for the same $10 per acre. Their children were Jacob, Isaal Joseph, David, Samuel, Mary, Catherine and Margaret, all of whom settled in th neighborhood. The mother, Elizabeth, died April 13, 1827, aged seventy.tw years and eleven days, Mr. Kemp surviving her fifteen years, dying December 2. 1842, aged eighty-two years five months and fourteen days. Joseph, the thir eldest son and father of George Kemp, of Dayton, was born in Frederick Count Md., April 6, 1788, served in the war of 1812 as an Ensign in Capt. Van Cleve company and died October 5, 1824. John and Elizabeth Booher came the sam year as the Kemps, and settled in Mad River Township. About the year 1800 Philip Wagner and family came from Rockingham County, Va., by flatbeat. 1 Columbia. They remained in that vicinity several years, then removed int Montgomery County, settling in the neighborhood of where the Soldiers' Home now located, and there Philip, Sr., died. His children were John, Jacob, Danie William, Susan, Betsy, Polly and Philip. In 1810, the last mentioned bought tract of land of about three hundred and fifteen acres in Sections 19 and 24. Mal River Township, married Ester Bowman, who bore him cight children, viz. : Joh: Sarah, Benjamin, Polly, Catherine, William, Philip and Jacob, three of whom no reside in the township. Another son of Philip, Sr .- viz., John-married Esto Croll about the year 1808. settled on land adjoining his brother Philip's, which I bought of a man named Houser, and raised a large family, all of whom left th vicinity at an early day. In the year 1804, John Dille, a native of Virginia. wit his wife, Elizabeth, and three children-Ann, Betsy and Samuel-came from Ker tucky to this township, settling in Section 19, where they had born to them for children, viz. : Isaac, Elcanor, John and Brice. All of this family are dead by Isaac and Brice, who reside in Dayton. Two years after John's settlement, h parents, Samuel and Ann Dille, also his brothers, Rickey, Samuel and Brice, em grated from the "Dille Bottom," near Wheeling, Va., and settled on land adjoinir his, in Mad River Township. Soon after the last Dille settlement was made, thre other families, relatives of the above, came from the same part of Virginia. viz John and Polly (Dille) Bodley, Asa and Rebecca (Dille) Griffith, James and Poll (Dille) Jones, all of whom had families and settled in the same neighborhood a the Dilles. None of the above are now residents of Mad River, having movo away many years ago. Another of the carliest settlers of the Dille neighborhoc was Robert Coleman, who gave the ground upon which the first schoolhouse that vicinity was erected. At what precise date he came we are unable to stat but it is evident that he was living there prior to 1806. George Frybarger, native of Germany, settled in Section 21 in the year 1805, where he died in 181 He came from his native land to the colonies about 1776, locating in Frederic County, Md., from whence he came to Ohio. He was married twice, each wi bearing him two children, viz. : George, Martin, Valentine and Annie. The moth of the last two died in 1829. The best known of this family was Valentine, wl was born on the old homestead in Mad River Township November 17, 1805, ar there nearly all his life was passed. He was married to Elizabeth Hosier Api 14, 1831, who bore him ten children. For many years he was engaged in quarry ing and furnishing stone for building purposes. He died July 22, 1873, and h wife August 24, 1874, both dying as they had lived, faithful adherents of the R. formed Church.

We know of no more appropriate way of closing an account of some of t! early settlers of Mad River Township than by giving a brief sketch of its olde living settler. Levan Cottom was born in Worcester County, Md., March 3, 179, of parents Thomas and Pricilla (Cottingham) Cottom, natives of the same Stat He came to Montgomery County, with his parents and an uncle, William Cottin ham in May, 1807. Both were men of families, and all lived during that summ on forty acres of land owned by William Hamer, and removing to land adjoinin that in the fall. Both tracts were in what is now Mad River Township. In tl

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MAD RIVER TOWNSHIP.

ring of 1808, the Cottoms again changed quarters. going on land owned by mes Finley. In 1812, Levan became a resident of Dayton, where he lived, ve several years which were passed in the immediate vieinity, until 1834, when removed just north of the eity, in Seetion 28, Harrison Township. In 1832, was married to Prieilla Tyler, of this eounty, and to them were born two sons, wid D. and James B. The parents, Thomas Cottom and wife, died in 1842. w great the change as witnessed by this venerable pioneer !

MILLS AND DISTILLERIES.

Mad River is a fine mill stream, and it is said that the river between Spring- fld and Dayton has a fail of 150 feet, and that twenty or twenty-five years ago tre were between the two towns thirteen distilleries, making 17.500 gallons of misky every twenty-four hours, a sufficient amount of fluid to run a four-foot jir of buhrs the year around. At a very early day, there was much distilling (ne throughout this township, many of the first settlers having a eopper still, tth a eapaeity of twelve to fifteen bushels per day. Of these, there were four in Ction 22, Jonathan Harshman had one on the original forty acres purchased by In ; Lewis Kemp had one on the old homestead ; Jaeob Kemp operated a still vere D. Cosler now resides, and Joseph Kemp, one on the Barbara Steele farm, a of which were on springs, and in operation as early as 1815. William Hamer, », had a still on his farm, it stood north of the present house on that hill ; David Imon had one on the Oakland farm, and William Hamer, Jr., had a still on See- to 23. It was William Hamer, Sr., who built the first mill in the Miami Valley, I'th of the fourth range of townships. It was a small tub-mill for grinding corn, al stood just east of the eanal bridge, where Water street is now located in Day- t . The water was brought aeross from the mouth of Mad River by a small re and the tail raee followed the present course of the eanal. About the year 1)0, or soon after, Henry Robinson built a small flour-mill in Seetion 23, where Fries is now located, and this, no doubt, was the first mill erected inside the E sent limits of Mad River Township. Along about this time, a small overshot nl was built on MeConnell's Creek, in Section 23, immediately south of where t Cleveland, Columbus, Cineinnati & Indianapolis Railroad crosses the Springfield pe. In 1810 or 1811, Judge Isaae Spinning gave to John Rench and a Mr. Sley twenty aeres of land with water-power, on condition that they would build anill, which they immediately did, but were not able to earry it on very long, and Jathan Harshman took it off their hands. It was operated as a flouring-mill u il 1848, then changed to an oil-mill, and has continued as such to the present. Is business was carried on by Jonathan Harshman until 1840, then by his three s. s, George, Jonathan and Joseph, until 1859, when it went into the hands of the fi t-mentioned, and has ever sinee been operated by him, its present eapacity be- !! ) five barrels of linseed oil per day. In 1832, Jonathan Harshman erected a fine distillery having a eapaeity of 500 bushels per day, and in 1848 the build- it was remodeled and enlarged by George Harshman, and destroyed by fire in ( ober, 1878. In the year 1842, Jonathan Harshman built a three and a half s'ried briek flouring-mill, which he ealled " Union Mills," and this enterprise also bongs to George Harshman. The present saw-mill was erected by George Harsh- mi in 1866 ; it has a eapaeity of 3,000 feet of lumber per day. He has a large the-story briek elevator, built in the summer of 1879 for storing eorn, also an exten- się cooper shop where the barrels for the mills are manufactured. John Roberts bit a large grist-mill, three stories in height, on the Great Miami River, in the nethwestern part of the township, about the year 1820. It next went into the h'ds of John Shroyer ; then into the possession of William Reel, who paid for it an forty aeres of land, including water-power, mill privileges, ete., $5,000. Later vit fell into the hands of Grimes, Blaek & Shroyer, and was afterward owned by Jhes Grimes, who, in the summer of 1843. erected a saw-mill near by. About tt year 1819 or 1820, Joseph and Charles Bosson ereeted a eotton and weaving-

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 107

Author: W.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1214

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214