This was one of the original townships, as reorganized by the Commissioners at their December session, in 1806.
     Its boundaries extend from the Southeast corner of Huntington township (now in Brown county), on the Ohio river; thence up the river to the mouth of Island Creek; thence north, so far that an east and west line will strike the line of Thomas Hill's land; thence west so far that a south line will strike the beginning.  This included all of Manchester and Liberty townships.
     The election was ordered to be held at the house of Seth Foster.

THE SURFACE.

     Of this township is diversified, consisting of hills and valleys, with the farm productions common to the southern portion of the county.

FIRST SETTLERS.

     It is difficult to ascertain with certainty, when the first settlers came.  It is probable that the first to settle in the township and William Leedom, a son-in-law of George, Joseph and Isaac Edgington and William Leedom, a son-in-law of George Edgington.  These parties located near where Bentonville now stands, not far from 1795.  Not far from the same time, but perhaps the next year - 1796, a settlement was made on what is known as "Dutch Run," by a company of Germans who came in a colony and settled some three miles southwest of the present village of Bentonville, on the run that now bears the above name.  The names of two lads named William and George Pence, Michael Roush, Phillip Roush and and George Cook.
     Samuel Starrett came and bought land in 1796.  In 1804, he settled on the farm now owned by his son, John Starrett.  In 1800, Daniel Henderson, Peter Conner and William Robinson, located about a mile and a half south of the Starrett farm.
     Among the other early settlers, were John McColm, in the southeast part of the township.  Van S. Brady, Joseph Beam and Peter Conner, who came about 1804, and settled near Bradysville.  Robert Simpson, who settled on the farm now owned by his grandsons, Will and John Simpson, on the Manchester pike, Samuel Swearingen came about the same time and settled adjoining Simpson.

EARLY SCHOOLS.

     It is difficult to obtain any definite account of the first schools in this township - one of the first, perhaps the first, was known as the Buckeye School House, about two miles southeast of Bentonville.  It stood on the line dividing the farms now owned by Harrison Pence and Joseph Lytle.  It was also used as a place for religious meetings.  An Irishman named Conn, was the first teacher.
     Another early school house known as the Jennings School House, was on the farm now owned by Cyrus Ellis, and stood where his house is now situated.  Schools where taught in it as early as 1804.  Allen Gates was one of the first teachers.

PRESENT SCHOOLS.

     This township is divided into fourteen sub-districts, in which schools are taught six months in the year, as required by law.  These districts have comfortable houses in each of them.

INDEPENDENT DISTRICT - BENTONVILLE

     This school has one of the best houses in the county.  It was built in 1871 - is a two story frame building with four rooms.  The enumeration in 1879, as 155.  In addition to the common branches, Algebra and United States History are taught

MILLS.

     The first mills were probably "horse mills,"  It is believed the first of these mills was built as early as 1800, by Michael Roush, in the "Dutch Settlement," and the first water mill was built on Island Creek, near the line between Sprigg and Monroe townships, known as the Bowman mill.
     There are at present three mills in the township, McColm' stream flouring mill or Little Three Mile Creek, known as Grime's ill, and a small corn and saw mill near Bradyville.
     This township contains three villages, six churches, three mills, and two post-offices.

VILLAGES

BENTONVILLE

     Bentonville is the principal village in the township.  It was laid out by Joseph Leedom, October 10th 1839, with nineteen lots.
     It was named in honor of Thomas H. Benton.  G. W. Leedom laid off an addition to it on June 9th, 1841, one nine lots, and on June 24th, 1842, he made a second addition of 36 lots.
     A third addition was made July 30th, 1845, by Joseph Leedom, of 62 lots.
     A fourth addition was made Aug. 1st, 1845, by Amos Duncan, of 8 lots.
     It contains two dry goods stores, three grocery stores, four millinery stores or shops, one drug store, one steam flouring mill, two wagon shops, one blacksmith shop, one shoe shop, one cooper shop, one chair shop, two harness shops, one gun shop, one hotel, one M. E. Church, one Christian Church, and a population of 400.

EARLY HOUSES AND BUSINESS OF BENTONVILLE.

     Some time before Joseph Leedom laid out the village, he sold to Lyman Perry one acre of land that is now within the limits of the town.  On this land Mr. Perry built a frame house and fitted up a room in it and opened out a store.  This was the first house built, and the first store started in the limits of the town.  This building still stands, and is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Hannah McCutchen, as a residence.  The carpenters who built it were Thomas Bowman and John C. Beasley.
     After Mr. Perry, Jeremiah Stewart kept the store, and then R. N. Edington was next.
     The first house built after the laying out of the village, was a hewed log building, put up by ____ Palmer, on the ground now occupied by F. M. Harover's store.

TAVERNS.

     The first tavern in the village stood on the site now occupied by the present steam mill.  It was kept by G. W. Leedom, and started about 1840.

BRADYSVILLE.

     This village was laid out by Van S. Brady, Jan. 25th, 1839, on a plat of thirty-one lots.  It was called Centerville, which is still its legal name.  In obtaining an order for a post-office at the place, it was found there was already an office of that name in the State.  Therefore the name of Bradysville was given for the post-office, in honor of the proprietor, and for this circumstance the place is everywhere known by the name of "Bradysville."
     The village contains two stores, one cooper and wagon shop, one blacksmith shop and one church, and a small mill near by for grinding corn, and being near the center of the township, the elections are held here.  It contains about fifteen houses an done hundred inhabitants.

CLAYTON

     This village lies in the north-west corner of the township.  The neighboring country looks poor and uninviting.  It contains some eight or ten houses - has two stores and one blacksmith shop, but no post-office.  Their mail is brought from Bentonville by private conveyance, as apportunity offers, and left at one of the stores for distribution to the community.  There was a store kept here as early as 1838 or 1839, by Vincent Cropper, and about 1840, George Bryan laid off a few lots for a village, but the plat was never recorded.  Mr. Bryan being an ardent Whig, called his new town Clayton, in honor of Henry Clay, or James M. Clayton, the distinguished Senator from Delaware.
     This place was somewhat notorious in its early years for the drinking and rowdyism of the community.  It is said to be improving of late years in that respect, however.

EVERTONVILLE.

     This place, usually known as "Nauvoo," was laid out Sept. 10th, 1845, by John Everton, who named it after himself, "Evertonville."  Eighteen lots were surveyed and sold.
     An old man named Bartley, settled in this locality before any one also had ever lived here, but wo learned nothing more of his history.
     Mr. Everton was an early settler, and kept a small store where the village is located, long before he laid off a town.  He appears to have been somewhat eccentric in his notions.  He at one time concluded to move to Nauvoo, Illinois, prepared his wagon, and loaded his effects in the evening, to make an early start next morning.  When morning came his mind was changed, and he unloaded his goods and remained.  From this circumstance the community called his village Nauvoo, by which name it is now everywhere known.
     This place is on the West Union and Aberdeen pike, who miles south of Bradysville, but has never amounted to much, and there is now neither store, post-office or shop of any kind in it.

POST OFFICES

     This township has two post-offices, Bentonville and Bradysville.

BENTONVILLE.

     This office was established about 1842, and has had the following postmasters: John S. Adamson, 1842-45; Asahel D. Keet, 1846-50; James Martin, 1851-56; E. D. Leedom, 1857-61; T. M. Downey, 1862-65; L. L. Edgington, 1866-67; W. B. Baird, 1868-71; James Bradley, 1872; J. G. Bradley, present incombent.

BRADYSVILLE

     A post-office was established at this place about 1839, with Power Campbell as the postmaster.  The second was William M. Greenlee; third, Robert Tucker; fourth James Truitt; fifth, Samuel Greenlee.

CHURCHES

     There are six churches in this township, as follows: 
     At Bentonville, one M. E. Church, one Christian, called "Union Church," one M. E. Church at Bradysville, one Christian Church at Nauvoo, McColm's Chapel, M. P., in the southwest part of the township, on the farm of the late David Bradford.

THE FIRST CHURCH

     Organized in this township was Hopewell Chapel.  It was situated about three miles west of Bentonville, on the land of James Hook, who gave them an acre of ground for house and grave yard.
     The first house was built in 1812, of hewed logs.  After being used twenty-five years it was accidently burned.  In 1839 a new frame house 40x45 was built about half a mile east of the first one.  In 1845 this house was abandoned and finally sold, a part of the members uniting with others in the neighborhood of Clayton, formed a church there, while another portion united with the Bentonville church.  The old graveyard is still used.

M'COLMS CHAPEL, M. P.

     This church was organized in 1871.  In 1873 they built a neat frame house, 32x46.  It is situated on Cabin Creek road, Sprigg township, three miles west of Manchester.  It was named in honor of Mathew McColm, an old and esteemed citizen who donated over half an acre of land for the building lot.

RAVENSCRAFT'S CHAPEL - METHODIST PROTESTANT.

     This congregation was organized about 1844 as a Methodist Episcopal church, under the preaching of the Rev. ___ Perkiser.  They held their meetings for some years in the Kimble school house.  In 1851 they built a frame church, situated on the Manchester and Aberdeen road, in the southwest portion of the township, and called it Furgeson's Chapel.  In 1870 they changed the administrative forms of the church and adopted those of the Protestant branch of that denomination.
     About 1874, they replaced their old house with a neat frame building 32x40, and named it "Ravenscraft Chapel," in honor of an esteemed minister of that name.

UNION CHURCH - CHRISTIAN

     But little can be gathered of the history of this church.  It appears to have been organized about 1830, at what is known as the Buckeye school house, some two miles southwest of Bentonville.  In 1832, they built a brick house where the present frame one stands.  This house was used until about 1850, when it was replaced by the present frame.  Alexander McLane organized the church and preached for the congregation for some years.  Mathew Gardner preached here occasionally after its organization.

BENTONVILLE M. E. CHURCH.

     No history of this church found

M. E. CHURCH, EVERTONVILLE.

    No history.

MURDER OF SANFORD PHILLIPS

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     There was a living in Bentonville, in 1866, a widow lady named Susan Purdon. With her lived a daughter, who was a young woman, and a son in his teens.  This lady resided in the northwest part of the village, and on the 31st of December, she and her son went some two miles in the country, to the house of a friend, where they were gone nearly all the day, the daughter remaining at home.  But about noon, she too, left the house for an hour or more, to call on a neighbor or two.  On returning home she raised the alarm that a man was killed in the house.  People soon gathered to the place, and found Sanford Phillips lying in the house, murdered.  He had received two fatal blows with an axe about the head.  One hand half severed his head from his body, and a blow had been given in the forehead with the blade of the axe, extending down the face.  He had seemingly been sitting in a chair when he received the fatal strokes, and had apparently been dead some time when found.
     Although this murder was committed in a village in mid day and in a few rods of a school house with a school going on, no clue was ever found to the perpetrator of this crime.  The young lady was arrested, but nothing was elicited to criminate her.

REMINISCENCES.

     At a very early day, when Maysville was but a fort, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Mefford and Mr. Gunsaulus, or Kingslauly, as he is frequently called, where in the habit of crossing the Ohio and hunting in the wilderness back from the river.  This was before any settlements were made in Sprigg township.  A favorable hunting ground was in the neighborhood where R. S. Dailey and T. J. Shelton now live.  Licks were found in the vicinity where the wild deer resorted in large numbers, that made these favorable spots at which to kill them.  One of those licks was on the farm now owned by G. G. Games, and was known as Ellis' Lick, from Mr. Palmer's given name - Ellis.  The run of which this spring is the source, is called Ellis' Run.  Another lick known as Mefford's Lick, was located on the farm  of Thomas J. Shelton, and the branch of which it is the source, is known as Mefford's Run.
     These hunters were the old backwoods style of men, who lived mainly by hunting, never owned any land of their own, and shifted from place to place, as convenience and circumstances made it desirable.  There are doubtless many incidents in the lives of these early pioneers that would be interesting could they be gathered.
     Palmer and Gunsaulus came over and settled in the vicinity of their hunting grounds.  Palmer settled on the present farm of Wilson Case, while Gunsaulus built his cabin on the farm now owned by Robert S. Dailey.

ELLIS PALMER

     Was a Pennsylvanian, and had a brother most cruelly tortured and murdered by the Indians there.  He vowed vengeance against all Indians, whether friends or enemies.  It is probable that he has been the means of sending many a red man to the happy hunting ground.  It is related that on one occasion an Indian in passing through the neighborhood stayed over night with Will Gilbert, just over the Brown county line.  Palmer, learning the Indian's presence in the neighborhood, watched his opportunity and when near where Clayton now stands, shot him and threw his dead body into a sink hole and covered it from sight.

JOHN GUNSAULUS

     Was a man of unusual size, and had tremendous muscular power.  Tradition has it that on one occasion he crossed the river and anchored his canoe at the mouth of Fishing-gut Creek, and a party of Indians passing that way espied his vessel.  A part of them ambushed to watch the canoe, while five others went in pursuit of his trail.  The pursuers overtook him, one of whom he soon shot.  He then started on his retreat, loading as he went.  Another soon fell and perhaps a third one also.  The pursuit was then abandoned, and Gunsaulus made his way to a point opposite Brook's Bar, near Maysville, where he swam the river and escaped.
     After the country became settled and game began to grow scarce, Mr. Gunsaulus went further to find larger hunting ground in which to operate.  He died in Brown county, Ohio.

MEFFORD

     We are not advised that Mefford ever settled in Adams county, nor do we known what became of him.  (We are indebted to Robert S. Daily and lady for the foregoing particulars.)

A DUEL IN ADAMS COUNTY.

     The only duel ever fought in Adams county y- and so far as we know - in the State, was on the soil of Sprigg township.  For the honor of the township, we are happy to say, the participants in the affair were not citizens of Ohio.  This event occurred Feb.  12, 1812.
     Gen. Thomas Marshall, of Lewis county, Kentucky, and Charles Mitchell, of Mason count, of the same State, had some difficulty between them that they concluded could only be settled by the "Code of Honor."  They also decided to compliment Ohio by having the conflict of arms on her soil.  Accordingly they selected their seconds and surgeons and a few intimate friends to witness the affair.  With these preparations, they crossed over the Ohio, and landed at a secluded spot on the land now owned by the heirs of Washington Ellis, near the farm of the Hon. Jesse Ellis.  The distance was measured off and the parties took their places and the word given.
     Marshall fell at the first fire, having received a ball in his hip, which remained in his flesh and lamed him for life.  The honor of the parties being vindicated the company crossed the river and returned to their Kentucky homes happy and satisfied.
     The pistol that Mitchell used on this occasion, afterwards became the property of his brother-in-law, Vachel Masterson, who himself got into a difficulty with another party, and agreed to decide the dispute by the "code."  Masterson arranged for his family's support, and then instead of meeting his antagonist went up stairs and shot himself dead with the same pistol.  The formidable little weapon after passing through several hands, is now the property of the little son of Stephen Lawill, of Sprigg township, on the Cabin Creek road.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

DAVID M. BRADFORD.

     The Bradford family is of Irish origin, but we can learn little of the history of their ancestry.  As far back as we can gather anything authentic, is that two brothers, David and William, who came from Pennsylvania or Virginia and settled in Adams county.  David came at a very early date and settled at the mouth of Brush Creek, on the Ohio river.  He became a very prominent man is the county, serving as County Treasurer from 1801 to 1831, a period of thirty years.  When the county seat was removed, he was among the first to locate in the new town of West Union, coming here in 1804, as soon as the town was laid out.  He built the first hotel in the place and opened a tavern in 1806.  William Bradford, the other brother, was the grandfather of David M. Bradford, the subject of this sketch.  It appears that the father of William died when the son was but a child, and the little fellow was placed in a family of strangers, somewhere in Virginia, with whom he lived until he grew to the years of manhood.  In 1819 he left Virginia, came to Adams county and settled in West Union where he stayed a year, then moved to Sprigg township and settled in Fox's survey, No. 401, on the Ohio River, where he lived and died.  He married Margaret Parkinson.  They were the parents of twelve children, three boys and nine girls.  They all grew to years of maturity and married.  They were Eveline Kimble, Benjamin married Nancy Ann Burbage, David married Mary Ann Terhune, Samuel married Eliza Case, Sophia married Alexander Hutchinson, Eliza married Samuel Beam, Sallie married Thomas Batton, Jane married David Beam, Rebecca married Washington Carpenter, Polly married John McCauley, Margaret married Jacob Holmes.  David Bradford, the father of David M. Bradford, was born 1st 1806, and married Mary Ann Terhune, April 28th, 1830.  They raised a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters as follows:  William born May 17th, 1831, died July 21st 1832.  Samuel, born Oct. 22d, 1832, died Sept. 30th, 1862.  Amanda born Dec.23d, 1835, married John Brookover, Feb. 19th, 1832.  James, born Jan. 30th, 1838, died Jan. 29th, 1880, Benjamin, born Oct. 18th, 1840, married Margaret Brookover, Dec. 4th, 1870.  David M., born Aug. 17th, 1842, married Celesta Robinson, Nov. 5th, 1808.  Martha, born Jan. 19th, 1844, married James W. Campbell, Mar. 17th, 1864.  Eveline, born Jan. 21st, 1840, married Robert Stewart, Mar. 12th, 1868.  Ann Eliza, born June 7th, 1851, married James S. Lewis, Jul. 29th, 1880.  Three of these sons, Samuel, Benjamin and David all served in the army.  Samuel and Benjamin both enlisted in the 70th O. V. I., Co. G.  They were both at the battle of Shiloh.  Samuel was, after that battle taken with the mumps and returned to Aberdeen, where he convalesced, started to return to his regiment and got as far as Cincinnati, where he had a relapse, was brought back home and died a few days afterwards.  Benjamin continued in service longer.  He served through the siege of Vicksburg and started with Sherman on his march to the sea, but some where in Georgia, was take sick and sent to the Invalid Hospital at Evansville, Indiana.  He was, however, afterwards drafted in and served in the 142d Indiana regiment until the close of the war.  David M. Bradford enlisted Aug. 54th, 1864, in the 182d Regt. O. V. I., commanded by Col. Butler.  This regiment was assigned to duty in the engineer corps in which it did service most of the time.  It was in the battle of Nashville, where Hood's army was so disastrously defeated.  He served until the close of the war, was discharged at Nashville, July 7th, 1865, and mustered out at Camp Chase.  As stated bef___ Mr. Bradford married Miss Celesta Robinson, daughter of Wade Robinson.  They are the parents of seven children, five boys and two girls.  Their names are John Nelson, Elmer Ellsworth, Dora Deen, David Decatur, Samuel Preston, Elsie Ellwood, and Martin Lewis.  Mr. Bradford owns and occupies the old homestead.  It is a splendid farm of 350 acres, embracing a portion of the best river bottom, and extending back to the hills.  It is provided with good and substantial buildings of every kind, all tastefully arranged.  A beautiful spot, 40x40 feet, has been selected on the farm for a family cemetery.  It has been enclosed with a substantial stone wall of masonry.  There is a marble monument fourteen feet high, in the center of the lot, on which are to be inscribed the names and ages of the deceased members of the family as they are deposited there.  Five members of the family already repose in this cemetery.  There are situated on the road near the eastern side of this farm, a school house and church.  The church, which belongs to the Protestant Methodist denomination, is a neat frame building 40x30.  The congregation was organized in 1870 and the house built in 1874.  The society is in a prosperous condition and now numbers sixty members.  Mr. Bradford devotes considerable attention to the raising of bees.  He has the most approved style of hives.  A few years age he made what he called his "Centennial hive."  He somewhere in the woods found a hollow poplar tree which he cut down and sawed out a section seven feet long, with an inside diameter of two feet.  This he roofed and set on flat stone.  He then killed the bees (which was wrong) and took their stores, which required two years hard labor to collect.  This yielded two hundred pounds of marketable honey, which he sold for 25 cents a pound.  Mr. Bradford is stock holder and director in the First National Bank of Manchester.  He is a man of business habits and a good financier.

ROBERT C. BROOKOVER

     This gentleman's ancestors were of German origin.  His grandfather lived in Pennsylvania until after his marriage.  He first moved to Kentucky, then came to Brown county, where he lived and died.  Me reared a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters.  Richard, Nancy, Sallie, John, Matilda, James, Mary, George and Andrew Jackson Brookover.  John, the fourth child, was born September 13th, 1806.  He married Eliza Grimes, November, 17th, 1831.  They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to yeas of maturity, and all married but one.  Six still survive.  These children were, Martha Ann, born Aug. 17th, 1833, married David Pence.  They moved to Kentucky, and are both dead.  Samuel born May 9th 1835, married Tannar Shelton.  They live in Greenwood county, Kansas.  Mary Ann, born December 23d, 1836, married John Meek Leedom.  They live in Sprigg township.  Nancy Ann, born Dec. 6th, 1838, is dead.  William, born Dec. 9th, 1840, married Lizzie Frame.  He died in the army, at Nashville, Tenn.  Jane G., born Jan. 20th, 1843, married James Lang.  Mr. Lang died in the service at Nashville.  She married for a second husband, Henry Pence.  George W., born May 12th, 1845, married Mary Leedom.  They live in Missouri.  Isabel, born Jan. 27th, 1850, married Jeremiah Foster.  They are living in Missouri.  Robert C. Brookover, who is the subject of this sketch, was born Apr. 3d, 1848.  He married Ruth Pence.  Apr. 8th, 1869.  His wife was born Oct. 28th, 1848.   They are the parents of five children, four of whom are living.  Mr. Brookover owns an excellent farm, which is in a high state of cultivation, furnished with good buildings of all kinds.

THE GRIMES FAMILY

The Grimes Family is of Irish origin.  The paternal grandfather, whose name is not remembered, came from Ireland and settled in this country previous to the revolutionary war.  He served throughout that struggle; was engaged in many of its battles; was at the battle of the Brandywine, and participated in its closing scences at the surrender of Lord Corwallace at Yorktown, that ended the contest.  After the war was over, Mr. Grimes moved to Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, where he lived until 1800 when he crossed over to the Ohio side and settled about two miles above Aberdeen.  In 1804, he located 240 acre of land in Fox's and Stephenson's surveys, Sprigg township.  In the spring of that year he moved to the farm and settled.  He lived here until his decease, in 1828.  He reared a family of six children - all sons, one of whom when a young man was killed by the Indians on the waters of big three mile creek.  One of these children, who was named William, born in 1778, became the owner of the farm.  He married Nancy Ellis, after he came to Adams county.  They were the parents of seven children, two boys and five girls; Sally, Eliza, Hester, Jane, Margaret, Samuel E. and William.  All grew to years of maturity and married, but one.  Five of the children still survive, two of them, Sally and Hester are deceased.  Samuel E., the oldest of them, was born in Sprigg township, Dec. 11th 1803.  He married Sally Brookover, Jan. 20th, 1825.  She was the daughter of Asahel Brookover, and was born Apr. 19th, 1804.  They are the parents of ten children, five boys and five girls, named William H., Lewis, Eliza, Nancy, Asahel, Matilda, Mary M. and Darius C.  Two of these are deceased, the others survive and are all married.  The youngest, Darius C. Grimes, was born Apr. 14th, 1848.  He married Frances C. Myers, Dec. 19th, 1873.  They are the parentsof two children, Musa Gladys and Bertha May.  He resides on the old homestead, and takes care of his aged parents, and runs the farm.  Samuel E. Grimes now owns and occupies the old home of his father and grandfather, the home on which he grew up from his infantile years, with all the memories of the past clustering around  him, but bow changed the scene!  The wild beasts which used to prowl through the forests in countless numbers, a terror to his youthful imagination, have all disappeared, while the darkling woods with their massive trees, have given place to beautiful fields, that almost grown beneath the heavy crops that cover them.  Instead of the rude cabins of his forefathers that nestled among the trees, he now sees comfortable and substantial dwellings, with beautiful adornments surrounding them, while the beautiful Ohio, with its waters flowing onward as in days of old, no more carries upon its surface the clumsey log canoe or the rudely constructed raft or flatboat, but instead, the light and neatly made skiff gaily skims over the waters, and the grand and elegant steamboat plows through the waves with ease in its majectic strength.  But while these pleasant changes are presented to his view, the beautifully adorned family cemetery on this old farm, where, after "life's fitful dreams are over" these forefather's of the hamlet sleep beneath the monuments that speak their memory, admonishes him that all things earthly must pass away.  While the thick forests, as they appeared to those early pioneers, in their wild, rugged grandeur, have passed away and can never be restored again as they looked then, yet the fields, the flocks, the comfortable houses that have taken their place, can be preserved as they appear to-day, and be handed down to all future generations.  This Mr. Grimes has the enterprise and regard for the rights of posterity to do, as will be seen by the view of his old home which beautifies a page in our history.  In this engraving the venerable proprietor and his lady, appear in the scene, as they will look, when a thousand years have passed away.

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terror to his youthful imagination, have all disappeared, while the darkling woods with their massive trees, have given place to beautiful fields, that almost groan beneath the heavy crops that cover them.  Instead of the rude cabins of his forefathers that nestled among the trees, he now sees comfortable and substantial dwellings, with beautiful adornments surrounding them, while the beautiful Ohio, with its waters flowing onward as in days of old, no more carries upon its surface the clumsey log canoe or the rudely constructed raft or flatboat, but instead, the light and neatly made skiff gaily skims over the waters, and the grand and elegant steamboat plows through the waves with ease in its majectic strength.  But while these pleasant changes are presented in his view, the beautifully adorned family cemetery on this old farm, where, after "life's fitful dreams are over" these forefather's of the hamlet sleep beneath the monuments that speak their memory, admonishes him that all things earthly must pass away.  While the thick forests, as they appeared to these early pioneers, in their wild, rugged grandeur, have passed away and can never be restored again as they looked then, yet the fields, the flocks, the comfortable houses that have taken their place, can be preserved as they appear to-day, and be handed down to all future generations.  This Mr. Grimes has the enterprises and regard for the rights of posterity to do, as will be seen by the view of his old home which beautifies a page in our history.  In this engraving the venerable proprietor and his lady, appear in the scene, as they will look, when a thousand years have passed away.

GRIMES' MILL

     Although the history of this mill runs back into the past, more than half a century, it is still a prominent and useful institution of Sprigg township.  It is located on Little Three Mile creek about a ile above its confluence with the Ohio river.  It was built by William Bradford, in the summer of 1826.  It is the old fashioned heavy frame, of hewn timber throughout.
     It was run by water power three or four years, when steam was applied.  Bradford run it until 1832, when he sold the Wm. Carpenter.  Carpenter sold it to Richard Grimes, who died and his heirs sold it to Daniel Reeder, who became insane and was taken to the Insane Asylum, where he has since remained, now some twenty-five or thirty years.  It was next sold to E. B. Hill, for taxes; he sold it to Peter Cooper, who in 1858 sold it to Samuel E. Grimes.
     In 1859 Grimes put in a new engine and other modern machinery.  It finally passed into the hands of Mr. Grimes' son, Francis M. Grimes.  There are three pairs of burhs in it, two for wheat and one for corn.  The corn burhs are those originally put there in 1826 and are still propelled by water power.  In short, this old mill is sound in every part and joint, from bottom to top, and doing good work, with the prospect of being good for fifty years more.

WILLIAM ROUSH

     This gentleman's ancesters were of Dutch descent.  His grandfather, Michael Roush, together with Philip Bowman, Peter Pence and John Pence, removed from Pennsylvania at a very early day and settled about three miles west of Bentonville, in what has from that circumstance been since called “The Dutch Settlement.” Grandfather Michael Roush, had a son named Parmenus, born in Adams county, who married Catharine Smith.  They reared a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, named, William, Michael, John, Squire, Samuel, Rachael, Cassander, Mary Ann and Elizabeth.  William, the oldest of these children, is the subject of our sketch.  He was born April 16th, 1824; was married in 1849, to Margaret Edgington.  They have reared a family of nine children, all living, to-wit: Laura Ann, Nancy Jane, Mary Catherine, Alexander, Frank, _anghurn, Aaron, Robert and Sherman.  Two of the sons are married, the other four remain at home.  The daughters are all married. Mr. Roush owns 255 acres of land, well improved and in a high state of cultivation.  He owned , the old homestead of his father, which includes a part of his grandfather’s homestead.  Mr. Roush in his farming operations acts on the principle, that “what is worth doing at all, is worth doing well,” therefore his farm is kept in first class condition, and with it systematic cultivation, pays well.  His stock, being of good blood, well kept and cared for, always brings the highest market price and, ready sales.  He has made all his fine property by persevering industry.

JAMES STARRETT, of Sprigg.

We can only trace back Mr. Starrett's ancestors to his grand-father, John Starrett, ho left Londonderry, Ireland, at the age of sixteen, came to America and settled in Chester county, Pa., where he engaged in farming and tanning. While living there he married a lady named Mary Webb.  After his marriage he removed to Westmoreland county, in the same State, where he also carried on a farm and a tannery.  Here he lived and died.  He reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters.  One of the sons, named Samuel, came to Adams county at an early day, perhaps as early as 1794 or '95.  While prospecting the country, he became acquainted with and married Miss Mary Shoemaker, daughter of Peter Shoemaker, who then lived on Ohio Brush creek, some two miles below the Friste bridge, near Jacksonville, on the farm that now belongs to Robert Spronll. After his marriage Mr. Starrett returned to Pennsylvania, with his wife, who soon after died with small-pox.  About 1796, he came back to Adams county and bought the land in Sprigg township on which he afterwards settled, and  where he lived and died.  After making his purchase he returned to Pennsylvania, where he married Elizabeth Coppel.  After his second marriage Mr. Starrett left Pennsylvania, and came to his land in 18804 and settled.  With him came his father-in-law, Daniel Coppel, who settled near Fairview, in Liberty township.  Mr. Coppel was a revolutionary soldier, who had fought under Washington and Wayne, and had seen much service in that struggle.  Samuel Starrett, by his second marriage reared a family of fourteen children, John, Margaret, Catherine, Samuel, Moses, James, Betsey, Mary, William, Elijah, Sallie, Nancy, Daniel and Jacob, all of whom grew to years of maturity, except James, who was killed at the age of fifteen, by falling from a tree.  Of this family seven still survive.  Those living are William and Catharine (now Mrs. Wallace, a widow) who lives in Pike county, O.  Daniel lives in Iowa, Jacob lives in Meigs and Elijah in Monroe township.  Sallie (now Mrs. Edgington, a widow) is living in Kansas.  John, the oldest of these children, and who is the subject of this sketch, now owns and occupies a portion of his father's old homestead in Sprigg township.  He was born in Pennsylvania, Sept. 18, 1802, and was brought by his parents to Ohio when they removed in 1804.  He grew to years of manhood on the old homestead, where he has lived all his life.  He married Emily Hudson, Sept. 27, 1825.  They reared a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters, Angeline, Elizabeth, Martha, Samuel, Sarah, Mary, John and Elijah.  Angeline, born Aug. 15, 1826, married Albert Pence; she is deceased.  Elizabeth, born Oct. 29, 1827; is deceased. Martha, born Apr. 19, 1829; lives at home with her father, never marrying.  Samuel, born May 6, 1831; married Sarah P. Truitt, lives in Merrick county, Nebraska - engaged in farming.  Sarah, born Mar. 12, 1833; deceased.  Mary, born Jan. 3, 1835, married Samuel B. Truitt; lives in Sprigg township.  John was born Nov. 9, 1836.  He enlisted in Co. F., 7th O. V. C.; was taken prisoner at Duck River, and kept in the South some time, then was paroled and started home on the ill-fated steamer Soltana, which blew up below Memphis, Tenn., by which several hundred men lost their lives.  John Starrett was among the lost.  The youngest son was born Apr. 19, 1839, and married Sophronia C. Miller, of Ottawa, Ill.  He lives in Grand Ridge, Lasalle county, of that State.  He also, was in the army during the rebellion.  He enlisted in the 15th Illinois Cavalry, served over three years, and was honorably discharged at the close of the war.  Mr. Starrett, in his earlier years, while game was plenty, was fond of hunting.  Many a deer he has killed, besides turkeys and other smaller game.  He still retains his old gun and powder horn, but as the game he used to hunt is all gone, they are not used any more, though he occasionally delights to put on his pouch and shoulder his gun, as he used to do, to remind him of  his early sports in hunting.  He is seen in the engraving of his home, which adorns our pages, with his old equipments on, as he used to appear in them in his hunting expeditions.  Mr. Starrett, now in his 78th year, is as active and sprightly as most men of 50 or 55, and is able to do as good a day's work in the field as most of them.  This, however, he has no need to do, as he owns a ood farm and has an abundance of this world' goods to keep him comfortable the remainder of his date, with a portion to leave behind at his departure.

WILLIAM HARRISON SIMPSON.

     The grandfather of William Harrison Simpson was Robert Simpson, a native of New Hampshire.  He served in the revolutionary war, and received a yearly pension in his latter years.  At an early day he came to Washington, Ky., and  engaged in the mercantile trade; was the first merchant to engage in business in the place.  He afterwards married Mrs. Mary Daily, then bought 1,000 acres of land in Brooks' Survey, No. 1,688, Sprigg township, to which he removed in 1797 or '98, where he lived and died.  He, his wife and a son are buried on this old homestead.  Robert Simpson reared a family of nine children, Martha, who became Mrs. Moore; Sarah, (Mrs. Chambers); Isabel, (Mrs. Crusan); Ann (Mrs. Borbage); Lydia, (Mrs. Chambers); Elizabeth, (Mrs. Cunningham); Jane, (Mrs. Fowler); Ruth, (Mrs. Smith; two sons, Robert and Thomas.  Robert died at the age of fourteen.  Thomas was born on the old homestead, Feb. 1, 1810; married Miss Mary Degman, Apr. 15, 1832, and settled on the old farm, which he afterwards bought.  Here he continued to live to the time of his decease.  He reared a family of twelve children, two sons and ten daughters, all of whom grew to years of maturity, and all married but two daughters, though four of them are now deceased.  These children were Lavina, (now Mrs. Baldwin); Eliza Ann, who is now dead, never married; Minerva R. (Mrs. Robert S. Daily); William Harrison, who married Diana Moore; Maria Louisa, who married Rev. J. P. Bloomhuff; John Dorbin, married Helen Snediker; Nancy Ellis, died single; Susan Helen, married William Games, of Brown county, O.; Martha Armine, married Isaiah Little, she is now dead; Lucy Adalinle, married Robert McChester, but is now dead; Cynthia McKee, married Isaiah Little; Emily Eleanora, married George W. Harding.  Of these children, William Harrison, who is the subject of this sketch, was born Feb. 13, 1838, and married Diana Moore, Mar. 2, 1865.  They are the parents of seven children, Mary C., Sallie M., Idella A., Thomas H., William Loyd, Emily L., Fannie F.  Mrs. Simpson was the third daughter of Shary Moore, who came from Mayslick, Ky., to West Union, and after living there some time removed to Huntington township, Brown county, O., where Mrs. Simpson was born.  Mr. Moore died in Cincinnati, Feb. 28, 1880.  Mr. Simpson now owns 200 acres of the original 1,000 acres bought by Robert Simpson, which was the old homestead of his grand-father, and also of his father, where he himself was born, and has always lived.  It is a good farm, and has one of the best groves of sugar trees on it to be found in the county, from which he manufactures large quantities of maple sugar and molasses.  Mr. Simpson and his wife have both long been members of the Protestant Methodist church, and are respected by all who know them.

THOMAS J. SHELTON

     The ancestors of Thomas J. Shelton were Irish.  The maternal great grand-father, William Cochran, with two brothers, came over to America with the British Army during the revolutionary war, soon became attached to the country and its people; remained and became citizens.  William Cochran married in Pennsylvania and settled, where he remained until 1797 or '98, then moved to Washington, Ky., where he stayed through the winter, during which time became over to Sprigg township, and built a three-faced cabin on the farm now owned by Robert S. Daily.  This house stood about forty rods south of Mr. Daily's barn.  In the spring he moved into his little cabin in the wilderness.  Mr. Cochran was fond of hunting, and the lonely wilderness was his paradise.  He lived the usual backwoods-man's life, and finally died at the house of his son in Brown county, O.  What became of his brothers who came over with him we don't know.  Mr. Cochran reared a family of four children, two sons and two daughters.  His second son, John C. Cochran, became a prominent man in his day; he served in the war of 1812, and was everywhere known as Gen. Cochran; he twice represented Brown county in the State Legislature, once beating the Hon. Thomas l. Hamer for that position.  He married Miss Tamar Howard, by which marriage he reared a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, Joseph, John, Elizabeth, William, Tamar, James, Jefferson, Sarah, Malinda and Lydia.  They all grew to years of maturity and married, all of whom, except one, still survive.  The oldest daughter, Elizabeth, married William Selton.  They are the parents of ten children, Tamar, Thomas J., Jeptha, Sarah, Margaret, Joseph, Ann, Chase, Little and Hattie Shelton.  The second of these children, Thomas J. Shelton, is the subject of our sketch.  He was born in 1840, and married Miss Susan Dragoo, Feb. 22, 1865.  They are the parents of nine children, Samuel, William, Cora, Grace, Earnest, Thomas Hanson, Richard and Amanda.  They are all unmarried.  Thomas Shelton, the paternal grand-father of Thomas J. Shelton, was a native of Virginia.  He removed from there to Kentucky, where he remained a few years, then came to Brown county, O., and settled at an early day.  Here he lived and died.  Thomas J. Shelton owns a beautifully located farm of 212 acres of land, in Surveys 1,688 and 1,690, with nice surroundings.  He is a prominent, active citizen, well and favorably known throughout the county.

THE TRUITT FAMILY

     About the year 1760, three brothers of the name of Truitt, emigrated from England to America.  One of them settled in Pennsylvania, one in Delaware and the other, the youngest of three, whose name was Benjamin, went to the eastern shore of Maryland, where harried Margaret Kellum, and settled on a farm near Snow Hill, the county seat of Worcester county.  They were the parents of four sons, Benjamin, Samuel, John K. and William.  The latter, who was the progenitor of the Truitt family of Adams county, was born in 1778.  He married Elizabeth Gootee, of Accomack county, Virginia.  They, with five other families, left their native State on the 20th of March, 1817, to seek  new homes in the West, and arrived at Manchester, Adams county, O., on the 24th of April.  Mr. Truitt settled near Clayton, where he lived until his decease in 1846.  He reared a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, James, Henry P., Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth.  James, the eldest son, was born Dec. 24, 1806, and married Elizabeth Campbell on the 19th of January, 1830.  They live near Bradysville, and celebrated their golden wedding on  the 19th of January, 1880.  There were born unto James and Elizabeth truitt nine children, two sons and seven daughters.  The two sons and three daughters are dead.  Margaret married James W. Taylor.  She is dow deceased.  Mary never married and is now deceased. Elizabeth married John P. Leonard.  They live near Wrightsville.  Henry P., the second son, was born Nov. 16, 1809.  He married Carlena, daughter of Abraham Bloomhuff, Jan.  24, 1832.  She was a sister of the Rev. J. P. Bloomhuff, and was born Oct. 26, 1808.  Mr. Truitt died Oct. 18, 1847, and is buried in Ebenezer cemetery, Brown, O.  Mrs. Truitt died Nov. 9, 1878, and is buried in the Odd Fellow's Cemetery, New Haven, Allen county, Ind.  Henry P. and Carlona Truitt were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, Eliza Jane, Sarah P., John W., Samuel B., James H., Thomas S., Maria B.  Eliza Jane married Geoerge W. Taylor and lives at Clark's Hill, Tippecanoe county, Ind.  Sarah P. married Samuel Starreff.  They removed to Allen county, Ind., where she died Feb. 7, 1878.  John W. is single, and now lives in Allen county, Ind.  James H. never married; died June 6, 1866, aged 25 years.  Thomas S.

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married Amanda R__y.  He lives in Allen county, Ind.; engaged in farming.  Mariah B. married Harvey Stoneman.  They live in Kansas.  Samuel B. Truitt, the fourth child in the family of Henry P. and Carlena Truitt, was born in Sprigg township, Adams county, Feb. 21, 1839.  He grew up and worked on a farm, receiving s___an education as the country schools generally gave at that day.  He married Miss Mary Starrett, daughter of John Starrett, Dec. _6, 1859, Rev. J. P. Bloomhuff being the officiating minister.  On the 8th day of September, 1862, he enlisted in the 7th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry,  Colonial Isaiah Garrard, Co. F., Captain J. R. Copeland.  His regiment performed meritorious service throughout the war.  Major General Upton in General Order No. 21, issued at Edg_field, Tenn., highly compliments this regiment for its bravery and eminent services in the last campaigns of the war, reciting the achievements of the division of which the 7th O. V. C. was a part, by saying: "In thirty days you have traveled six hundred miles, crossing six rivers, met and defeated the enemy of Montevall_, Ala., capturing 100 prisoners, routed Forrest, Buford and Rhoddy in their chosen position at Ebenezer church, capturing two guns and 300 prisoners, carried the works in your front at Selma, capturing thirteen guns, 1,100 prisoners, five battle flags, and finally crowned your success by a night assault upon the enemy's entrenchments at Columbus, Ga., where you captured 1,500 prisoners, 24 guns, eight battle flags and vast munitions of war.  April 21, you arrived at Macon, Ga., having captured on your march 3,000 prisoners, 39 pieces of artillery and thirteen battles flags.  Whether mounted with the sabre or dismounted with the carbine, the brave men of  the 3d, 4th, 5th Iowa, 1st and 7th Ohio and 10th Missouri Cavalry, triumphed in every conflict.  With regiments led by brave Colonels, and brigades commanded with consummate skill and daring, the division in thirty days won a reputation unsurpassed in the service.  Though many of you have not received the reared to which your gallantry has entitled you, you have nevertheless received the commendation of your superior officers and won the admiration and gratitude of your countrymen.  You will return to your homes with the proud consciousness of having defended the flag of your country with honor in the hour of the greatest national peril while, through your instrumentality, liberty and civilization will have advanced, the greatest stride recorded in history."  After his return from the army Mr. Truitt bought a farm of 168 acres which he has improved, put in a high state of cultivation, and adorned with beautiful buildings, as may be seen by the view given in our pages.  Mr. Truitt devotes considerable attention to raising good stock.  His cattle brought from Kentucky are among the best in the country.  Mr. Truitt and his wife are both members of the M. E. church.  They have a beautiful home, and are blessed with an abundance of this world's goods to keep them comfortable the remainder of their days.

GEORGE S. WILSON - FRUIT AND VEGETABLE FARM

     The ancestors of George S. Wilson, first lived in the valley of Virginia, but finally moved to Pleasant county, W. Va., where his father, Charles Wilson, was born Dec. 25, 1822, and where he grew up to manhood.  He here married Matilda Haynes, in  1866, he moved to Mason county, Ky., and settled on the banks of the Ohio.  He reared a family of 8 children, 3 boys and 5 girls.  George S. Wilson, who is the subject of this sketch, was one of these sons.  He was born in 1850, and in 1877 married Miss Ella Parr.  In the fall of 1879, he bought the farm on which he now resides.  It is situated in Sprigg township, and known as the McCall farm, widely celebrated as a vegetable and fruit growing place, a business that has lost nothing under Mr. Wilson's management.  On this farm are grown all the most useful varieties of fruits adapted to this latitude, the greens in the orchard having just reached good bearing age, are in healthy condition.  Mr. Wilson devotes special attention to the cultivation of the sweet potato, and the raising of plants for setting, for which purpose he has the best hot-bed in the country.  It is a platform 18x60 feet, constructed of stone, in solid masonry work, arranged for flues beneath to supply warmth, with a thermometer to regulate the heat.  By this arrangement, Mr. Wilson says plants can be grown large enough for planting in three weeks.  This one bed alone will produce 200,000 plants in a single season.  In connection with his business, Mr. W. has a well constructed house for preserving his sweet potatoes, and tender plants through the winter.  This building is 18x36, with a capacity to hold 1,000 bushels of potatoes.  It is made of double walls, and the space between filled with charcoal.  By this means he can keep sweet potatoes all the year.  He can, therefore, fill orders at all seasons.  This is a very pretty farm, with neat buildings as can be seen by the engraving in this work.

JOHN Y. FRANCIS

     The subject of this sketch is of Irish descent.  His grand-father Francis, was born in the county of Cork, grew to years of manhood, married there, and raised a family of children.  His wife died, and about a year afterwards emigrated to America, bringing with him six children, the oldest of them being sixteen.  He landed at New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, thence came direct to Adams county, where a sister, who had come over the previous year, had located.  Mr. Francis had bought land in Liberty township, on Briar Ridge, and settled on it.  He lived but a few years.  The children he brought over with him were John L., Thomas, Abraham, Isaac, Jane, Mary and Margaret.  These children, after their father's death, remained together and carried on the farm, receiving assistance from the kind counsels of their aunt.  Here they grew up, and all married but Isaac.  They finally separated after marrying, and located in different sections.  They are now all dead but Thomas.  John L. Francis, the oldest of the family, married Margaret, a daughter of Judge Needham Perry.  They had born unto them nine children.  Two of them died in infancy, the other seven,  Needham Perry, John Y., Wellington, James, Margaret and Jane L., all grew to years of maturity and married; but three of them, Needham P., William and Jane L., have since deceased.  Of these children, John Y. Francis, the subject of our sketch, is now the only one living in the State.  He was born Feb. 4th, 1831, and married Miss Malinda J. Smith, Sept. 7th, 1857.  She was the daughter of James Smith, and was born Oct. 8th, 1812.  They are the parents of thirteen children: Nelson B., born June 21, 1858; John L., born Jan. 9, 1860; George B., born Nov. 17, 1862; William S., born June 2, 1864; Andrew J., born Feb. 28, 1866; Dyas, born Dec. 6, 1868; Annette A., born Mar. 14, 1870; Laura Bell, born Oct. 12, 1872; Margareat C., born Mar. 16, 1874; Harvey G., born Oct. 10, 1875.  They are all living, and remain under the paternal roof.  Besides these living children, there were three that died in infancy or early years.  Mr. Francis has been the pioneer in introducing machinery in all branches of farming pursuits.  He was the first man in the county to introduce and use on his farm a combined reaper and mower.  He uses in farming the latest improved machinery of all kinds; grain drills, that at one and the same time sow the wheat, the grass seed and the fertilizers; he uses the sulky rake and horse power hay fork.  In buildings his new barn this spring, he employed S. S. Tucker who has invented a horse power borer, for framing buildings.  With this machine, a man with one horse, will do all the boring for a building faster than a mechanic can lay out the work.  While thus intently engaged providing for his convenience on the farm, he is not unmindful of women's rights and conveniences in the household labors.  He was the first man in Sprigg township that bought a sewing machine for his family, as well as providing other conveniences to lighten the household work.  He is a devotee to the raising of good stock and has spent his whole life in efforts to procure and improve all the best breeds for his farm.  His cattle and Cotswold sheep were purchased from the best herds and flocks in Kentucky, and his Poland-China hogs in Butler county, O.  How he has succeeded is attested by looking at his stock, as shown in his farm view, given in our book.  Mr. Francis owns and occupies the old homestead of the Rev. William Williamson, who first settled on it, about 1806.  Mr. Francis owns some 300 acres, which is kept in a high state of cultivation.  He is a believer in Franklin's maxim, that what is worth doing at all should be done well.  With his enterprise it is needless to add that with him - farming PAYS.

THE PENCE FAMILY

     The ancestors of Alfred Pence were of German descent.  They emigrated to  to this country at an early day and settled in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, but we can gather little of their history, till we come to the groat grand-father, Michael Pence. He married in the Valley and raised a family of children.  He, with all his family, left the Valley and came to Adams county, and settled in Spring township about 1796.  He bought 1,400 acres of land in Hopkins' Survey, No. 915, on which he immediately settled, and commenced to clear up his farm.  One of his sons, Peter, had married, while living in Virginia, Susan Roush, and had two children, but they came with the family to Ohio.  with Michael Pence also came two families of Roush's, a family named Bryan and Mr. Crook, who settled in the same neighborhood.  All, except Mr. Bryan, were Germans, and used the Dutch language, from which circumstance the neighborhood was called the "Dutch Settlement," a name it retains to the present day.  A few years after Mr. Pence settled, perhaps about 1808 or '9, he was drowned in the Ohio river while crossing with his team in a ferry flat at Henry Gilman's ferry, which was situated just below the residence of David Pennywitt, at the lower end of Manchester.  His body was afterward recovered, brought back and buried on the old homestead, the first interment in what has since become the family cemetery, which now contains many graves.  In crossing the river, from some cause not know known, Mr. Pence and his team precipitated into the waters, and all perished.  After Mr. Pence's death his property was divided among his children, and most, if not all, yet remains in the hands of his descendants.  Peter Pence, previously mentioned as having been married before he left Virginia, was the grand-father of Alfred Pence.  He raised a family of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, besides one that died in early years.  Of these children but four now survive.  One, Lucinda (Mrs. Lany) lives in Brown county; another, Eleanor (Mrs. Thompson) lives in Indiana.  The other two,  Andrew and Benjamin, live somewhere in the West.  One of the sons of Peter Pence, named Aaron, born about 1798, married Elizabeth Moore. These parents raised eight children, seven sons and one daughter.  They were named Alfred, Nathan, David, Daniel, Jacob, Francis S., Peter and Harriet  Two of these children are deceased, Nathan and David; the latter was drowned in the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of Crooked creek, July 1, 1853, while bathing.  Daniel and Harriet (now Mrs. Gilbert) live in Huntington township, Brown county, O.  Francis S. lives in DeWitt county, Illinois.  The other three, Alfred, Jacob and Peter, live in Adams county.  Alfred, the oldest of those children, is the subject of this sketch.  He was born May 17, 1823, and married Hannah Evans in 1847.  These parents have reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters, Elizabeth, who married Zevorus Roush; Ruth married Robert Brookover, Rufus, who is unmarried; Dyas married Ada Parr, Mahala married Lafayette Roush, and Ida, who lives with her parents, unmarried.  Alfred Pence, by industry and economy, has accumulated a handsome property.  He now owns the old original homestead of his great grand-father, Michael Pence, and has built a neat residence not far from where the first cabin stood.  He grew up and has always lived in the neighborhood where he was born, and has the confidence of his fellow citizens, who have elected him Justice of the Peace two terms, besides filling other township offices.  The Pence and Roush families were among the first, possibly the very first settlers in Sprigg township, though the probability is the Edgington families preceded them a year at Bentonville.  When they settled there was not a road or path in the country, but an unbroken wilderness, which swarmed with wild animals of every kind.  Bears, wolves and panthers lurked in every covert, while the wild deer, the turkey and small game roamed at will over the land.

HON. JESSE ELLIS

     Nathan Ellis, the grand-father of the Hon. Jesse Ellis, was a native of Pennsylvania.  He lived and married at Redstone, now Brownsville, that State, but left there about 1794 or [95, and came Westward, stopping a short time at Limestone, now Maysville, Ky.  He then crossed the Ohio river and settled where Aberdeen now stands, being one of the proprietors of the town, or making an addition to it.  Here he lived and died, and lies buried on the hill north of the village.  He reared a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to years of maturity, and all married but one.  These children are now all deceased but one daughter, Mrs. Ellen Higgins, who lives in Missouri.  One of the sons named Jeremiah, was born at Redstone, Pa., Dec. 8, 1780, and married Anna Underwood, who was born in "Old Virginia," Apr. 6, 1782.  They both lived and died in Adams county.  Mr. Ellis died Nov. 26, 1857.  Mrs. Ellis died Apr. 20, 1867.  They were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, three of whom are now deceased.  Jesse, the ninth in the family, and the subject of this sketch, was born Dec. 19, 1823.  He married Miss Maria Baker, daughter of Gen. Simon R. Baker, of Mason county, Kentucky.  She died Mar. 15th, 1850.  By this marriage were born two children, one of them now deceased.  Mr. Ellis married for a second wife, Anna Maria, daughter of William Richards.  They are the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter- all remain with their parents.  Mr. Ellis is a prominent and influential citizen, - has served as County Surveyor several terms, and represented the county two terms in the Ohio Legislature.  He owns a farm of over 200 acres in Sprigg township, some four miles northeast of Maysville, Kentucky.  This farm lies on a high plateau, which by his elevation, is fanned by pure, healthful breezes, that makes it a delightful place of residence.  From the southern part a full view of the Ohio river is seen for a distance of ten miles, while the city of Maysville lies spread out beneath the spectator.  Though his farm is elevated land, the soil is of an excellent quality, and produces well, all kinds of grain fruit of superior quality.  The whole is in a high state of cultivation, and all kinds of stock are of good blood.  there are on this elevated surface, several ponds or little lakelets, into which Mr. Ellis has commenced the breeding of fish.

DAILY FAMILY

     Robert S. Daily, the subject of this sketch, is of Irish descent, but we are unable to trace his ancestors back farther than to his grandfather, James Dailey, who was born near the city of Cork.  At an early day, while yet a young man, he emigrated to America, landed in Philadelphia, from whence he at once made his way to Ohio.  He first stopped in Gallia county, where he remained several years.  While living there he married Mary Fort and settled on the French grant.  He finally left that section of country, and went to Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky.  On his arrival at that place, he accidentally fell out of his pirogue into the river and was drowned, at a place then known as "Beaslely's Whirlpoo."  The family settled in Limestone, where they lived some three or four years, when the widow married Robert Simpson, of Washington, Kentucky.  Mr. Simpson afterwards bought one thousand acres of land in Sprigg township, Adams county, Ohio, in Brooks Survey, No. 1,688, to which he removed and settled.  He lived on this farm until the infirmities of old age required him to retire from business.  He sold his land to his son, Thomas Simpson, and resided with a daughter in Brown county, the remainder of his life.  He reared a family of twelve children, whose history will be found elsewhere in this work, in the biography of Wm. H. Simpson.  He died on his birth day, in 1844, being just eighty-six years old; and with his wife and his son Robert, lies buried upon the old farm where he first settled.  The other son, Thomas, died May 26, 1863, and the old homestead became the property of Thomas' two sons, William Harrison and John Simpson.  Mrs. Simpson, by her first marriage, became the mother of three children, a boy and

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two girls, Peter, Polly and Margaret Daily.  Peter Daily was born in 1791.  He married Lydia Dobbins, daughter of Rev. Robert Dobbins, a well known minister of the Protestant Methodist denomination.  Mr. Daily, after his marriage, settled in Sprigg township, where he lived until 1812, when he removed to Jefferson county, Illinois, where he died soon after.  He reared a family of six children, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane, Robert S., Joel B. and Margaret Daily.  Mary married Wm. Bartholomew and lives in Badax county, Wisconsin.  Elizabeth married Wesley Richmond, and emigrated to Jefferson county, Illinois, in 1842, where she died Aug. 22d, 1843.  Jane is unmarried and lives in Wisconsin.  Joel B., never married.  He went to California, in 1854, and from there to Nevada.  Margaret married James M. Calloway.  They live in Wisconsin.  Robert S., the subject of our sketch, was born Mar. 25, 1822.  When Peter Daily removed to Illinois, in 1842, his son, Robert S. Daily, accompanied him there, where he remained, some three years after his father's death, then went to "Mineral Point," Iowa county, Wisconsin, and from there to Highland, in the same county, and worked in the lead mines five years.  While engaged in the lead mines, the California gold excitement broke out and Mr. Daily joined a company that crossed the plains in 1850, reaching the point where Placerville now stands, on the 3d day of August, after a tedious journey of eighty-seven days.  After working in the gold mines eighteen months, he returned to his old Adams county home, in Sprigg township, after an absence of ten years, spending two years on his California trip, going there by the overland route and returning by the Isthmus of Panama.  After his return, Oct. 31st, 1854, married Miss Minerva R., third daughter of Thomas and Mary Simpson.  They are the parents of six children, Lillie B., Mary W., M. Durbin, Robert S., Gabrielle and Amy L.  They are all unmarried and remain under the parental roof.  Robert S. Daily is a gentleman of the strictest integrity, highly esteemed and respected by all who know him, and although he never desired or sought places of public position, he has been called to fill several important public trusts, among which was that of County Commissioner.  He owns a farm of nearly two hundred acres in the western part of Sprigg township, beautifully adorned with substantial and handsome buildings, as is shown by the engraving in this volume.  This farm is in a high state of cultivation.  Surrounded by his intelligent family and all these worldly comforts about him, he is prepared to enjoy every earthly blessing that man can desire.

MORRIS POLLARD

     The subject of this sketch is of Dutch origin, but at what period his ancestors came to this country we can not learn.  The earliest trace we can get of them, is his grandfather, John L. Pollard, who was a native of Maryland.  He, while a young man, came to Fleming county, Kentucky, and there married Mahala Strode.  In 1825 he came to Adams county, and settled on what is since known as the old "Pollard homestead" in Sprigg township.  On this farm he lived and died and lies buried in the family grave yard near by.  He was a good man, a Methodist minister, and died Feb. 19th, 1846, in the 69th year of his age.  Mr. Pollard was twice or thrice married, but we know nothing in regard to either of his wives.  We learn, however, that he reared a family of 12 children in all, their names being William S., Elisha, Benjamin, Samuel G., Elizabeth, Mahala, Genettie, May, Malinda, Nancy, John L., and one that died in infancy.  John L., the eleventh in this family, was born June 6th 1846?? and married Drusila, daughter of Elijah Pence, June 29th, ___.  They are the parents of the present Pollard family of _____ county.  They reared a family of eight children, six sons ___ daughters, named Nnncy, John, Kilby, Harriet, Elijah Co., ____ G., Harvey Simmons, Morris and James Hiram.  Nancy ______ on May 22d, 1841.  She married W. T. Hook.  They live ___ Brown county, Ohio, where Mr. Hook is engaged in the mercantile business.  They have a family of five children, _____Sallie D., John, Irene, Ira, and Islea May.  J. K. Pollard, the oldest of the sons, enlisted in the army in the late rebellion, at the age of eighteen, at Camp Harner, West Union, Ohio, Oct. _th, 1861, in Co. G., 70th O. V. I., Capt. Watson Foster's company, the regiment commanded by Col. J. R. Cockerill.  He was discharged at Memphis, Tennessee, Dec. 22d, 1864, on account of disability.  He re-enlisted July 24th, 1864, in Co. I., 182d O. V. I., Capt. W. H. Shriver's company, regiment commanded by Col. Butler.  He was commissioned Lieutenant, Oct. 13th, 1864, and served until the close of the war, and was discharged at Nashville, Tennessee, July 7th, 1865.  After his return from the army, he married Miss Annie W. Watson, Sept. 4th, 1867.  They are the parents of two children, Lulu E., and William Simmons.  In 1875, Mr. Pollard was elected Sheriff of Adams county, and re-elected to the same office in 1877.  In 1879, he was chosen to represent the Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Adams, Scioto, Pike and Jackson, in  the Ohio Legislature, which position he now holds.  Harriet was born May 11th, 1845, and married John F. Games, July 25th, 1866.  They are the parents of three children, two of them are living - one is dead.  They are Harvey B., Elmer - dead, and Omar.  Elijah C. was born Jan. 24th, 1847, and married Ella Hill, in February, 1872.  They are the parents of two children, Eva Myrtle and Ora.  He is a minister in the M. E. church, and lives near Sand Hill, Lewis county, Kentucky and is engaged in ministerial duties on the Concord circuit.  Samuel G. was born Feb. 26th, 1849, and married Cora Hamrie, Sept. 4th, 1874?.  There has been born unto them four children, Gertrude, who died at the age of three years.  Mary Ethel, Hettie and Jesse A.  The last three are living. Samuel G. Pollard is a minister in the M. E. church.  He is stationed at Somerset, Kentucky, engaged in the discharge of his duties in the ministry.  Morris was born May 6th, 1861, and was married Apr. 6th, 1876, to Ella J., daughter of Rev. J. P. Bloomhuff.  They are the parents of a son, named John Early, born Sept. 13th, 1878.  Morris Pollard remained with his parents until he grew up to manhood.  He then carried on the farm for his father, who had for several years become an invalid - receiving a share of the proceeds.  He also dealt considerably in stock, and by his untiring industry, perseverance and economy, saved enough to buy a farm of nearly one hundred acres.  This farm is pleasantly located, on the Cabin creek road, in Sprigg township, near the old Pollard homestead.  Its high, elevated position, with its cool, healthy air, and the beautiful Ohio in full view at a distance of some two miles, makes it a delightful place for a home.  Mr. Pollard has put his land in a high state of cultivation, and adorned it with neat and tasty buildings, as will be seen by reference to the engraving of it, that appears in this book.  Mr. Polard and his wife are both members of the M. E. Church.

MRS. ELLA J. POLLARD

as already stated, was the daughter of the Rev. J. P. Bloomhuff.  She was born Mar. 1, 1854.  Her ancestors were of German origin.  Her grand-father was born in Germany, emigrated to America at an early day, and came to Mason county, Ky., where he married a lady, who was a native of Virginia.  He afterwards moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., where he died at the age of 97 years.  He was blind the last twenty years of his life.  His wife died there also, aged 65 years.  They reared a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, Abraham, William, Polly, Carlena, John P., Sally, Sydney, Nancy Jane, Samuel H.  These children all grew to years of maturity and married, though three of them are now deceased.  John P., the fourth n this family of children, was born Oct. 16, 1805.  He has been three times married.  His first wife was Rachel Hutson, who only lived a few years.  He next married Maria Warner, who also died.  His third wife was Louisa Simpson, who still survives.  By his first marriage, Mr. Bloomhuff had born unto him two children, Martha Ann and Marion F.  Martha married Henry L. Phillips who served throughout the war  of the rebellion.  He was Colonel of the 7th Regt. O.V.I.  He died July 25th, 1866.  Mrs. Phillips is Postmistress at Manchester, where she now resides.  She has three children named Cora, Dudley and Fannie.  Francis Marion married Tamar Cochran, and lives on a farm one mile from Ripley, Brown county, O.  They have eight children,, William, Samuel H., Frank S., John P., Lida J., Mattie, Dudley and Ada.  By his second marriage he had five children, Isora I., who is dead; Samantha Viola who married Charles Galbraigh.  They live in Manchester and have two children.  Ella J. (Mrs. Pollard) before stated.  Minnie Irene married William Cropper.  they live in Sprigg township, and have one child, a daughter, named Lola.  John F. married Irene Stewart, and lives on the old homestead.  By the third marriage were born three children, Essie Ruth, Dora P. and Edgar C., all at home with their parents.  In his early days, Mr. Bloomhuff united with the M. E. church, of which he has remained a consistent member through life.  He has for the last forty years been a minister in that denomination.  He was in his day a prominent citizen of Adams county; represented it in the Ohio Legislature in 1846, and has held other minor offices of public trust.  He is now enfeebled by age, and almost blind, but is solaced in his declining years by the good wishes of kind friends and loving children, and after a long and useful life, awaits the summons that will soon call him hence.  But to return to the Pollard family; Harvey S., the next after Morris, was born Mar . 18, 1859, and died Sept. 30, 1860, in his fourteenth year.  James Hiram was born May 15, 1855, and married Susan Hutchinson, Oct. 7, 1879.  He lies buried in the Pollard lot in the Odd Fellow's Cemetery at Manchester.  The widowed mother still remains on the old homestead,  in the enjoyment of good health, surrounded by plenty of this world's goods to make the remainder of her days comfortable and happy.  They were truly good and pious parents, who brought up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  They were from early years members of the Methodist church, and set a good Christian example by always being prompt at church when able.  Mr. Pollard held the office of steward and trustee of his church for many years.  His children loved to obey his wishes.  Whatever father said, was, with them, always right.  He lived to see them all embrace the faith he loved so well.