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THE KAIN FAMILY.
Much pleasant mention has been made of James Kain and
his children as the first family to make a home in
the East Fork part of the Little Miami river.
James Kain, of Scotch-Irish origin, was born Feb.
13, 1749, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. The
maiden name of his wife, Catherine, seems lost.
Their eldest child, Daniel, was born May 7, 1773.
John was born Sept. 1, 1776; Mary, June 5,
1783, and Sarah, Nov. 5, 1787. This family
left Lancaster county, and, like others westward bound
at that time, stopped, because of Indian troubles, at
Old Fort Red Stone, where they raised a crop. They
boated down the Ohio the next spring to Columbia, where
their youngest son, Thomas, was born, July 2,
1790. After 1792 they moved out to Mercersburg, or
Newtown. In 1795 James Kain contracted with
General Lytle to clear the "Big Field" as told in
our general history. In 1796 the family moved out
to Williamsburg and built their cabins on Lot No. 43, by
the "Surveyor's Camp," and there began Kain's
Tavern, the most noted stopping place in pioneer times
between Cincinnati and Chillicothe. Through all
migration from Lancaster they brought a tall clock, now
owned by Mrs. Estelle Norris Ochiltree, of
Connersville, Ind. and a set of stone for a horse mill,
now probably owned by Enoch W. Smith, in
Williamsburg. These articles suggest a more than
usual pioneer outfit. James Kain was
appointed by the Hamilton county court as supervisor of
the road to Chillicothe, and he probably acted under
that authority in cutting the "Dug Way" as told on other
pages. He was elected coroner of Old Clermont.
There is good tradition that he brought his parents,
also named James and Catherine, to Williamsburg.
But there is no doubt about the large, strong, resolute,
energetic, useful, big-hearted man who founded a lasting
family. No dates can be given for his father
small, dark-eyed and active wife, of German descent.
He died Apr. 10, 1815, and is buried in Williamsburg
cemetery, near all his children, except Thomas
and the younger daughter, Elizabeth, who married
Sargeant Daniel Campbell, killed in the battle of
Brownstown in 1812. She then married Samuel
Cade and went farther west. Mary,
called Polly, married James Perrine, on
July 4, 1804, and their daughter, Catherine,
married John Jamieson, whence that family in
Batavia mentioned on other pages. Sarah Kain
married Stephen Smith, captain of the second
company from Williamsburg in the War of 1812.
Captain Smith born Oct. 20, 1781, was one of the
nine children of Israel Smith, born Dec. 15,
1745, and Catherine Smith (not akin), born June
12, 1756, who brought their children, born at
Elizabethtown, N. J., and first settled at Point
Pleasant. Among the children of Captain and
Sarah Kain Smith, who also had nine, were: Sarah,
wife of Adam Snell Walker, the parents of
Oliver E. Walker, the father of Spencer Walker;
Mary, the wife of William Walker, parents of
L. G. Walker; the father of Mrs. John C.
Fuhr; and Eliza, the wife of Philip
Chatterton, all three elsewhere sketched
in this work.
Daniel, eldest son of James Kain, married
Mary Hutchinson, who died leaving Mary,
James and Joseph. Mary married
Israel Foster and was the mother of Bishop
R. S. Foster, as told in our history.
Joseph, born Sept. 10, 1802, became the driver of
one of the tri-weekly stages to and from Chillicothe to
Cincinnati. As he came down the road within a few
miles of Williamsburg, the four horses all took fright
at a huge buzzard tied to swing and flap across the
road. In the sudden struggle for control, Joseph
was thrown from his place early on Thursday morning,
Aug. 28, 1828, and instantly killed.
On Dec. 1, 1805, Daniel Kain, for second wife,
married Elenor, a sister of his future
son-in-law, Israel, children of Thomas and
Nancy Trigg Foster, mentioned in the account
of the Old Stone Jail. Nancy Trigg was a
part in the ancestry of scores of people named in this
publication, yet living nearly a century, she died as
recently as July 2, 1855. The children of
Daniel and Elenor Kain were William L.
married to Mary West, Henry C. married to
Rebecca Homan, Thomas, Catherine married to
Samuel Ellis, Sarah married to Dr. William Gage,
Eliza married to Rev. John Miller, Paulina
married to George Davison, and Manora
married to Samuel G. Peterson. Thomas,
badly crippled, was still a very useful pioneer teacher.
Samuel and Catherine Ellis were the parents of
Thomas Kain Ellis, elsewhere sketched.
Elenor Kain was born Mar. 14, 1782, and
died July 25, 1842.
Daniel Kain was a soldier in Wayne's
victorious army; was commissioned a captain in 1801, by
Governor St. Clair; was a major in active service
in the war of 1812; and then a colonel of militia, but
was called "major," the rank in actual war. He was
sheriff of the county, a justice of the peace for
twenty-four years and postmaster from 1839 till his
death, Mar. 11, 1843. He was a zealous Methodist,
a faithful Mason and vice-president of the first
temperance convention held in Brown and Clermont.
In personal appearance he was tall, dark, and fine
looking, with a martial air. He was held in a high
respect, still surviving.
John, the second son of James Kain, was
married on May 4, 1797, to Elizabeth Raper, who
was born Apr. 6, 1783, and died Mar. 17, 1839. She
was the oldest daughter of Leonard Raper, the
British Revolutionary soldier, sketched in our history.
Leonard Raper was born in England, Mar. 19, 1750,
and well educated in London. His wife,
Temperance Holly, was born in Wales, Nov. 22, 1764,
and died Nov. 28, 1841. The sons of Leonard and
Temperance Raper were Samuel, Joseph, Holly
and William H., and the daughters were
Elizabeth, Margaret, Sarah and Mary.
Margaret married John Randall, Mary married
James Kain, Jr., and Sarah married
Lieutenant Thomas Foster. William H. was the
noted Methodist minister. After serving as a
sergeant in Captain Boersttler's company, in
which his brother, Samuel Raper, was first
corporal, in the War of 1812, Holly served four
terms as sheriff of Clermont county. Joseph
raised a family and died on the home farm.
Samuel married Mary Jones, of a New Jersey
family, and died on his farm a mile and a half south of
Bethel, leaving the reputation of a strong minded man
worthy of his ancestry. His daughter, Sarah,
who was born Jan. 20, 1822, and died Nov. 22, 1896, was
married Apr. 25, 1839, to Robert Blair, who was
born July 22, 1816, and died Sept. 8, 1879.
Robert was the son of John Blair, who married
Antis, a daughter of David and Nancy Vaughan
White, elsewhere sketched. The children of
Robert and Sarah Raper Blair are Augustus C.,
Judith, Elizabeth, and Katherine. Of
these Elizabeth married Albion T. Kain,
elsewhere sketched.
The children of John and Elizabeth Raper Kain
were Margaret, Thomas, Sarah, Samuel H., James,
Daniel, Elizabeth, John Wesley, Caroline and
George W. Of these Elizabeth, who was
born Mar. 12, 1816, and died Nov 5, 1889, was married
Oct. 15, 1835, to Lewis Ellis, who are mentioned
in the sketch of Mrs. Estelle N. Ochiltree.
John Wesley Kain was born Nov. 7, 1819, and on Aug.
27, 1840, was married to Almira Hull, a daughter
of Thomas and Mary Wilson Hull, who came from
Pennsylvania, where he had been a soldier in the War of
1812. The children of John Wesley and
Almira Kain are Luther, Lorisa and Albion
T. Lorisa is the wife of Charles P.
Chatterton, sketched on other pages.
John Kain was a soldier with his brother,
Daniel, in Wayne's army. He was on much duty
for the county of Old Clermont, and was county treasurer
seven years. He was also a colonel of the militia.
After his father's death he built the tavern at the
northwest corner of Main and Third streets, in
Williamsburg, which was popular till his death, Feb. 6,
1846, and continued under the management of his youngest
son, John Wesley Kain, until his
death, Apr. 4, 1888. The house was the scene of
much historic action, of which the most dramatic was its
occupation as the headquarters of General John Morgan,
on July 14 and 15, 1863, in his famous Northern raid.
In person John Kain was a dark-eyed, swarthy,
broad-shouldered and stern visaged man, who tolerated no
loitering about his inn. Yet he was sternly kind,
and rarely devoted to friends. Masonry was his
chief ideal. From his initiation in the old jury
room, Apr. 19, 1819, to his last attendance, Apr. 18,
1845, just twenty-six years, Clermont Social Lodge held
415 meetings, at which he was present 383 times.
Besides other offices, he was elected treasurer for
sixteen successive years. During the thirteen
years of anti-Masonic excitement, he was present at all
but eleven of the 185 meetings of his lodge, and the
records of committee work show that his example of
punctual, efficient, resolute and prudent ways was as a
corner stone for the work of the craft.
Thomas, the youngest son
of James Kain, on Mar. 1, 1812, was married to
Mary Herbert, who was born in Trenton, N. J, Apr. 9,
1794, and died Nov. 5, 1864. She was a daughter of
James Herbert, who as the keeper, was then
residing in the stone jail. Some four weeks after
his marriage Thomas Kain answered the
first call for the War of 18121 as first lieutenant of
Captain Boersttler's Rifle Company.
After the captain was killed at the battle of
Brownstown, Lieutenant Kain was promoted
to be captain. When Batavia was fixed as the new
county seat,, in 1824, Captain Kain, who had come
to be colonel of militia, moved, and became a noted
innkeeper and was highly esteemed in Methodist, Masonic
and social relations until his death, on Aug. 17, 1856.
The children of Colonel Thomas and Mary Herbert Kain
were, as named and married, as follows: James
Herbert Kain to Margaret B. Ellis.
John Washington Kain to Mary Lukens, and then
to Caroline Moore. Daniel D. Kain to
Jane Tate. Caroline Kain.
William Milton Kain to Eliza J. Gerard, and
then to Eliza Robinson. Almira Kain to
David J. Clossin. Matilda Caroline Kain to
William Baum. Sarah Catherine Kain to Jesse
Ellis. George Forman Kain. Charles Henry
Kain to Jesse Ellis. George Forman Kain.
Charles Henry Kain to Laura Perrine Jamieson.
Mary Herbert, the mother of these eleven children,
was a daughter of James Herbert, who was born
June 6, 1765, and died Mar. 19, 1822, and was married
July 14, 1793, to Sarah Hendrickson, who was born
Feb. 9, 1772, and died July 22, 1828.
Source: History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio
- Vol. II - by Byron Williams - Publ. 1913 - Page 84 |
