Page 844
LUKE SMITH
MOTE, farmer; P.
O. West Milton; was born Aug. 21, 1812. in Randolph Township,
Montgomery Co., Ohio; his parents were David Mote and Miriam
(Mendenhall) Mote; they settled first in Montgomery Co. in 1811, but
in 1822 moved to Miami Co. Persons bearing the surname Mote
(more correctly Motte) and those in marriage connection with the
family, were numerically large and born a conspicuous part among the
first settlers of Union Township, Miami Co., Ohio, not only in
clearing out farms in the forest, but also in making up its first
church and civil organizations; the first emigrants of this name
came over from England, near London, to Pennsylvania, soon after its
first settlement; they were three brothers, John, Jonathan
and William; John went into the Southern States, and settled
in Northern Georgia; William died of small-pox while in
service of the Colonial army (unmarried); Jonathan remained
in Pennsylvania, living in Chester Co.; the early settlers in this
township bearing the family name, were his descendants; his son
David, who married Dorcas Nichols, also removed to the
South and settled in Columbia Co., Ga.; they had ten children born
to them, six sons and four daughters; their names and relative ages
were as follows: Margaret, David, Rachel, Jonathan, Mary,
William John, Jeremiah, Dorcas and Jesse; all reached
adult age (except Dorcas, who died in childhood), and were
married and raised up families (except David, who died in his
27th year); David Mote, Sr., aforesaid, or Grandfather
David, as he was called, lived most of his days on the borders
of civilization, where much wild game abounded, and therefore became
very expert in the use of the rifle; he mentioned, among other items
of his experience in hunting, that he had killed two deer at a shot
thirteen times, and twice he had killed three; this expertness in
the use of the rifle was apparently handed down to some of his
descendants, a few of whom delighted in the chase, and could
number the slain of the wild herds of the forests by the score, and
even hundreds; in person, he was of medium height, of square and
rather heavy child, thoughtful and given to taciturnity; he and his
wife accompanied their children when they came to Ohio in 1802; his
mental and physical faculties were little impaired as ripe age
advanced, his step being elastic and his eyesight clear up to the
close of life; he died at his son John's of gastritis, on the
4th of March, 1817, aged 84 years, being the oldest of the first
emigrants in this township; his wife, Dorcas, died the
following November, in her 86th year. As above stated, said
David Mote, Sr., and his sons and daughters and their families,
were of the first emigrants in these parts: Jeremiah and
William, accompanied by their father and mother, came in
September, 1802, and the rest soon followed them. This part of
the county being noted for its many large cold springs, which
discharge their waters, tumbling over the rocks, into the time-worn
gorges some fifty or sixty feet on their way to the river, affording
many mill privileges, were early sought out and selected for homes
and sites for mills; Jonathan Mote took those on the farm now
owned by Mrs. Thomas Vore; he built the first brick house
there on this river, north of Dayton, in 1810, which is still
standing; he died there away in April, 1839, of gastric derangement,
like his father, in his 81st year; none bearing the family name of
his descendants remain in these parts. William Mote's
farm adjoined his brother Jonathan's on the southwest;
John's and Jeremiah's farms were three miles directly
south, on the Montgomery Co. line. John was a
physician, and widely known as Dr. Mote; the early settlers
were much afflicted with ague, chills and malarial fevers, from
impurities of the atmosphere caused by stagnant water and decaying
timber; he being the only doctor in these parts, his time was much
taken up in administering to the sick and afflicted; hence his large
practical experience in that day; there was a greater mortality in
his family, after his children had married and settled in life, from
pulmonary disease. Jeremiah was also accounted a good
nurse among the sick, and more of a ready writer than ordinary in
that early day; he was Clerk or Secretary of the Friends' Monthly
Meeting at West Branch in its first organization, and the old church
records are in his handwriting; his wife was Mary Butler, a
native of Durhamshire, England; they had the following children born
to them, viz., William, David, Aaron, Ann and Dorcas
(twins died in infancy), Jeremiah, Isaiah, Mary, Susanna, Sarah,
Miriam, Hannah and Enoch, all of whom grew to mature age,
were married and had families; he removed to Vigo Co., Ind., where
he died in 1820, aged 50 years; their sons and daughters nearly all
remained and lived in that State. Daniel Motte, Jr.,
son of Jeremiah, married Miriam Mendenhall, daughter
of Caleb and Susanna Mendenhall, and settled in Randolph
Township, Montgomery Co., adjoining Miami Co.; they had five
children (sons) born to them, viz., Luke Smith, Zeno, Marcus,
Linus and Enos, who all grew to adult age, married and
settled in life; in 1820, he removed to Vigo Co., Ind., but, on
account of malarial fevers, that attacked all the early settlers in
those Western prairies, he returned to Ohio in the fall of 1822, and
settled in the township; he was a prominent member of the old
Friend's Church at West Branch, as its records show; he lived on a
farm, but had a carpenter shop, being handy with tools; he made
house furniture, worked part of his time at the carpenter's trade
and in the machine-shop, setting up machinery for woolen-mills; he
taught, also, his eldest boys the use of tools; hence they always
had employment enough in rough weather in his shop; he often spoke
of the disadvantages he labored under by lack of more literary
knowledge; very few of the early settlers had any opportunity for
school learning, save in the common rudiments; he profited by what
little he did get, and was accounted competent to teach some of the
early schools, and was careful that his children should have better
educational advantages than he had; he died at his own homestead,
adjoining the church lot at West Branch, Sept. 23, 1862, in the 70th
year of his age; three of his sons live in that vicinity.
Luke Smith the eldest married Charity Jones, daughter of
Elisha Jones from South Carolina, in October, 1834; their
children are Elisha J., Arenah E., William Alden, Celestia S.,
Mary M., Arrie L., M. Benson and Cordelia B., three sons
and five daughters; the eldest, Elisha J., is a photographer,
in all its branches, in Richmond, Ind.; William A. is a
portrait painter in the same place, both claiming to do no work of
the ordinary class; the daughters are handy in floral and ornamental
work. L. S. Motte is the originator of some very choice
seedling apples and some other kinds of fruits; the love of the fine
arts and the culture of the finer fruits and flowers, with him,
appears to be innate in his children; having studied and practiced
medicine when younger in his life, Doctor is often prefixed to his
name, but of later years he declines following this occupation
except in certain cases in women and children. Marcus Motte,
third son of David, Jr., is a portrait painter of note, also
paints in superior style fruits and flowers; the choice of this
occupation was innate in him, having followed it from boyhood.
The family was rather noted for longevity, also for that trait of
drawing conclusions and arriving at a judgment free of all bias of
mind, by external pressure. There are but few of this large
family connection bearing the family name, living in the township at
this writing; the greater part emigrated westward in Indiana and
further westward. Some families are in Delaware, Montgomery
and Parke Cos., Ind., and a few in Illinois. Mary lies
interred in the old graveyard at West Branch.
Great-grand-father David and wife and their sons Jonathan,
William, Jesse and John, and daughters Mary and
Rachel, besides many children, grandchildren, etc., rest in
profound repose beneath its grassy mold. The Mote family
in the early settlement, and its family connections, owned a large
body of land south of Milton to the county line, and for half a mile
over the line, and considerable west and north of the village also.
But at this time the major part has passed out of their hands.
The families of Samuel and Francis Jones,
from Georgia, Wallace Jones, and all those of the Pattys
and some others are related to the Mote family.
Caleb and Joseph Mendenhall, who lived near
West Branch, were the sons of Phineas Mendenhall, who was the
son of James Mendenhall who was the son of Aaron who
was the son of John Mendenhall, the emigrant from England.
This brief statement is made to shorten a long
genealogical account, running back through four or five generations
of this family in America. A book of history and pedigree of
it lies before me, running back to the thirteenth century. The
name was recorded, at that remote period, Mile de hale,
afterward Mildehall, and more recently, Mildenhall.
Some branches of the family in England retain the last named mode of
spelling up to the present time; but the American families spell it
Mendenhall. The family residence in Great Britain was
in Wiltshire, and, the town and vicinity where they lived, took the
family name of Mildenhall.
Those two brothers, Caleb and
Joseph, married sisters - Susannah and Rachel
Gardner.* The Mendenhalls emigrated to Pennsylvania
about the same time William Penn came to America, and were
residents of Chester County. Phineas, father of the
afore named brothers, went south, where his wife and part of his
family were killed by the Indians in Georgia, during one of the wars
with the Creeks† Caleb Mendenhall
came out prospecting in the Northwest Territory early in 1801, and
passed through the Miami Valley; he came to Ohio the next spring.
Stopping awhile at Waynesville, Warren Co., he removed into what was
afterward Miami County, the following September (1802) and settled
on the farm now owned by Thomas Jay. His brother
Joseph came out the next spring (1803).
The children of Caleb Mendenhall were Miriam
(wife of David Mote), and mother of the writer of these
notes) Griffith, William, Susan (Wisener), Grace (Thomas),
Tamar (Thomas), Caleb, Charity (Watts), Rhoda (Dulin) and
Kirk; the sons all removed to Indiana and died there, and part
of the daughters; only two of the last are living, of all the
family, at this writing.
Joseph Mendenhall's children were Mary
(Brown), Tamar (Russell), Thaddeus, Lydia (McDonald), Anna (Macy),
Ruth (Bolinger), Eunice (Kendall), Rachel (Compton) and
Joseph; all deceased except three daughters.
The characteristics of those two brothers above named
were quite dissimilar in many points. Caleb was more
disposed to study, quietude and retirement, spending considerable of
his time in reading and acquiring information, although he only had
a limited education. Joseph, on the other hand, was
stirring and more noisy, running around, seeing to his farming and
other business. Caleb was a lover of the finer fruits,
and brought with him from North Carolina some choice, selected
apple-seed; from these he raised threes for his orchard, which
produced many choice varieties.‡ His apples, in that early
day, were known far and near as the finest in the country; so it was
an easy matter for him to dispose of his surplus. Joseph
was noted as the first tanner in those parts, through perhaps he
knew little more about the trade than his brother Caleb; he
generally hired his work done, and, when ready for sale, it had none
of the finish or completeness about it that leather has in our day,
neither was it devoid of that plentiful liquid called water, in that
kind termed the "sole." But people were impatient of delay in
the drying process, and, as this was the only tan-yard in ranch,
they would risk paying 50 cents a pound for tincture of oak bark.
Hence, Joseph was enabled, from time to time to add acreage
to his landed estate, from this certain income.
_____________
* Emigrated from Nantucket.
† The Indians,
surrounding their premises in the evening, shot and killed Abia,
the eldest son, turning the grindstone for his father, who was
grinding an ax, and the mother out in the milking-lot, where she was
milking the cows. The family left, scattered, fled and
secreted themselves. The darkness of the evening coming on
assisted them in making their escape, all except Joseph; he
was knocked down and taken prisoner, and was kept by the savages
some months, till ransomed by his father.
‡ From one of these, the "Stillwater Sweet," his grandson, L. S.
Mote, reproduced those two noted seedlings described by Dr.
Warder, viz., "Mote's Sweet" and "Celestia."
Source:
The History of Miami County, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1880
- Union Twp. |
