BIOGRAPHIES Source:
A History and Biographical Cyclopćdia
of
Butler County, Ohio
with
ILLUSTRATIONS AND SKETCHES
of Its
Representative Men and Pioneers
Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Cincinnati, O
1882
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HISTORY CONTENTS >
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G.
W. ADAMS is a native of Butler County, having been born on a farm
in Oxford Township, in 1834, and continued there until twenty years of
age. He has large business experience, having been engaged in
trade during the war period in Springfield, Indiana. He has
brought experience, energy and ability to his aid, and has made a
decided success. He is doing the largest trade of any merchant in
Oxford. His store is located on the northwest corner of the Public
Square. His stock occupies two stories, and his business requires
six clerks constantly, and in the busy seasons, additional help.
Mr. Adams is in the prime of his life, active and energetic, and
applies himself closely to affairs; is a member of the Oxford Lodge of
Odd Fellows, and also of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and identified
with the best interests of the village. His wife is also a native
of Oxford Township, and a member of the Sadler family, who are
noticed among the early settlers of this township.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 528, Oxford Twp. |
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LEWIS ALEXANDER was born in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, May 29, 1811. His father,
Andrew Alexander, was a native of Pennsylvania, and was there
married to Sarah Montgomery in May, 1804. He came to Ohio,
and settled on what is now the Sample farm, dying soon after.
His wife was left with four boys and three girls. She died in
1845. Of these children but two are living, Lewis Alexander
and Mrs. Martha Tremley, wife of Amos Tremley. Mr.
Alexander has always lived on a farm, with the exception of sixteen
months, when he was engaged in the hardware business in Hamilton, in
1857 and 1858. He was married Jan. 25, 1838, to Rachel Burk,
daughter of Alexis and Mary Burk, who were among the pioneers of
this township. They have had four children. William J.
was a druggist in Connersville, where he died in 1867;
Henry T. was married in 1872 to Amanda Leffler, and lives at
home, carrying on the farm for his father; Sarah S. was married
in 1873 to Scott Roll, and lives in Hanover Township; and Amos
T. died Apr. 15, 1875, when sixteen years old. Mrs.
Alexander died Jan. 25, 1870. Mr. Alexander received
his start working by the month at from $4 to $11. His first
purchase was 35 acres at $30 per acre, and he has added to it by
installments till he now owns 254 acres. He was brought up a
Democrat, but in 1842 joined the Whigs and afterwards the Republican
party. His present home is half a mile west of Reily, where he
moved in 1865. He has a handsome gold-headed cane, which was
presented to him by his friends when he celebrated his sixty-ninth
birthday.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 417, Reily Twp. |
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ETHAN A. ALLEN,
the last of his family, was born in Massachusetts, on the 10th of
November, 1789, and came to Oxford in 1818. On the 10th of
January, 1820, he married Nancy Hazeltine. Oxford had been
laid out but a few years previously, and he used to recount the fact
that he cut wood where many a fine residence or business house now
stands, at twenty-five cents a cord. He afterward engaged in
making plows and other agricultural implements, being very ingenious and
an adept in the use of tools. He settled on a farm near the
village, where he passed his life until a few years since, when he
removed to the town, where he resided until the death of his wife in
1876, then removing to the house of Samuel F. Shook, a connection
by marriage, where he had an excellent home, and continued until his
death.
His wife, four children, and eleven brothers and
sisters had all been called away before him. In 1839 he united
with the Methodist Episcopal Church of Zion.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 528, Oxford
Twp. |
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JOSEPH ALLEN
was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, Sept. 11, 1822. He was the son
of Martin L. Allen and Susan Frasie, both natives of New
York. He attended the common school in Hamilton County, and
received a liberal education. He was trained as a farmer. He
remained in Hamilton County until he was twelve years old, then coming
to Butler County, and settling near Princeton. He worked on a farm
for three years, then going to Hamilton County, where he stayed until he
was twenty-four years of age. He was married Dec. 7, 1845, to
Miss Mary Thompson, born in Hamilton County in 1827. Mr.
and Mrs. Allen are parents of one daughter and four sons.
Lee F. was born Mar. 4, 1847, and is now a resident of Xenia;
Fanny J., now the wife of Luke Wyle, a resident of Liberty
Township, was born June 28, 1850; Henry D. was born Jan. 31,
1858; Joseph P., February 26, 1862; and Elwood C., Sept.
8, 1869.
After marriage Mr. Allen conducted a farm two
miles north of where he now lives, for one year. In 1847 he located at
his present home, which was but partially improved. It was then a
wild place. He cut off over a hundred acres, and otherwise made
improvements. He occupied a log house for a time, and afterward a
small frame house, which was used until the present mansion was erected.
The place is now fully improved. It consists of one hundred acres.
He received no assistance on beginning life, but is wholly self-made.
He was township trustee about 1868 for one term and a director of the
county agricultural society for two terms. Mr. and Mrs. Allen
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is superintendent
of its Sunday-school. He took an active part in raising volunteers
during the Rebellion, for Company I, Eighty-third Regiment. He was
largely instrumental in raising the quota of the township.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 583, Union Twp. |
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ALFRED ANDERSON was born
in Wheeling, Virginia, Feb. 24, 1824. His mother, Mary Clark,
was a free woman, reared from early childhood by Mrs. Ralston,
the widow of an officer in the American Revolution. His father's
name was Shannon, the brother of Governor Shannon, of Ohio
and Kansas. When the boy was three or four years old, his mother
married Robert G. H. Anderson, who not long after removed to
Cincinnati. They remained there until 1832, when the Asiatic
cholera compelled a hasty retreat to the small towns in the
neighborhood, and the Anderson family were first in Hamilton and
afterwards in Richmond. They settled permanently in this place in
1837, where Alfred has ever since lived, with the exception of
twelve years spent in the South.
At the period when he first came to this city the State
made no provision for the education of colored children, and he
consequently never had abut three months' schooling in his life.
His constant study at home, with much reading, has, however, made him
well acquainted with English literature, and given him a good knowledge
of French and Spanish. He married the daughter of a clergyman when
still a young man, who bore him nine children, and died in 1863.
In 1865 he again married. Both of his unions were fortunate ones.
He was enabled to send some of his children to college and he gave them
all as good a training as he could.
He was early identified with the anti-slavery cause.
In 1843 he aided in editing the Palladium of Liberty, published
in Columbus, the first newspaper attempted by the colored men of Ohio.
A few years later he became interested in Colored Citizen, of
Cincinnati, and he was a regular contributor to the North Star,
published by Frederick Douglass, and the Liberator, edited
by William Lloyd Garrison. He prosecuted, at his own
expense, a case through the courts of Ohio, by which a large portion of
the colored citizens were enabled to vote, who previously had not been
allowed to exercise that privilege. He has also done much to aid
those to reach a place of safety who were escaping from slavery.
His name has of late been prominently spoken for the minister to Hayti,
a post for which he would be well fitted. He is an agreeable and
pleasant companion, an excellent racouteur, a man of keen
intellect and biting wit, and impressive and dignified carriage.
His memory is excellent, his knowledge of history and politics has been
sedulously cultivated, and his reasoning powers are good. He has a
fine command of the mother-tongue, both in writing and speaking, and is
a man of excellent private character.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 466a - Hamilton Twp. |
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ISAAC
ANDERSON was long and favorably known in Butler
County, having been a resident for more than forty years. He was
born in Donegal County, Ireland, Sept. 15, 1758, and was the youngest of
thirteen children. When he was about twelve years of age his
parents died within a short time of each other, and there being no legal
guardian appointed for him, he was left pretty much to his own control,
and in after life was often heard to say that until he was fourteen
years old he was a self-willed and very rude boy. At that time he
resolved to reform, and at once became industrious and steady. He
soon became ready in mathematics, and especially so in surveying, for
which he had a natural gift. At the age of sixteen he determined
to seek his fortune in America. He sailed from Donegal, in the
north of Ireland, and landed at Philadelphia in the early part of the
year 1774. During his passage he kept up his mathematical studies
by learning navigation under the tuition of the captain.
Several of the brothers and sisters had come to America
some eyars previous, and settled in Virginia, where many of their
descendants are yet residing. Isaac stopped in Pennsylvania until
the Spring of 1776, when the war with Great Britain commenced and he
entered the service. He was enrolled in Colonel Morgan's rifle
regiment, and from that time to the end of the war bore an honored and
distinguished part. The first, or about the first, active service
in which Anderson engaged was at Bemis Heights, between the
American army under General Gates, and the British army under
General Burgoyne. Colonel Morgan's regiment was detached to
observe the MORE TO BE TRANSCRIBED UPON REQUEST.
-
Sharon WickSource: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 460 - Ross Twp. |
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ISAAC ANDERSON,
a son of the old Revolutionary veteran, Isaac Anderson, of
whom a full account will be found elsewhere, was born in Cincinnati Aug.
29, 1799. His mother was Euphemia Moorehead, eldest
daughter of Fergus Moorehead, who had also been a soldier
in the war of the Revolution. They were married in November, 1788,
and had eleven children, of whom Isaac is the sixth. They
came to this county in 1812. Mr. Anderson was
married on the 18th of August, 1825 to Margaret Morris,
daughter of William and Sarah Morris. They came to this
county in 1798. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have had seven
children. The eldest, William Morris Anderson, who was born
Aug. 10, 1826, is dead. He served in the Mexican War, under the
command of John B. Weller, and also in the late Rebellion.
He was wounded in the battle of Chickamauga. Susan
Bailey was born Feb. 17, 1829, and Joseph Anderson,
Feb. 7, 1831. He is dead. Eliza Anderson, Feb.
23, 1837. Isaac E. Anderson, who was born Sept. 5, 1840,
was in the service of the United States during the late war, and was
killed at the fight of Chickamauga. Willson Anderson
is the youngest, and was born July 1, 1845. Mr. Anderson
cultivates a fine farm. He has been justice of the peace in Ross
Township for twenty years, and is a man of many fine qualities.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 463,
Ross Twp. |
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JOHN ANDERSON was born
in Kent County, Delaware and was married in Butler County, about 1811,
to Maria Hagerman, who was born in New Jersey. They had ten
children. One died an infant, seven reached maturity, and two died
at seven and nine years. George lives in Indiana;
William is in Liberty Township, and Adrian lived in Miami
County. Jane, the widow of Daniel Brower, is in
Missouri; Simon is in Miami County; Sarah Anne is the wife
of David Staats, and lives in Miami County. Mr. Anderson
came to Ohio from Delaware about 1809, and settled in Liberty Township
on ninety-two acres belonging to his wife in Section 7, where he resided
until his children were all grown up. He had very little means
when he came here, and the land was in the woods. There was not a
stick cut. He was a man of good common sense, and for the time had
a very good education. He was a school director for many years. He
was also very quiet and unobtrusive, and consequently did not push
himself forward, but worked hard to clear his farm and rear his large
family respectably. All the clothes worn by the family for many
years were grown and spun or woven on the premises by his wife.
She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many
years. Mr. Anderson was drafted for the War of 1812, but
sent a substitute. His son William was born in Liberty
Township, Feb. 10, 1816, and married Feb. 6, 1839, Maria
Elliott, born in Liberty, in October, 1817. They had five
children; one died in infancy and four are living.
Elmore S. was born in July, 1841; the others are John, Elliott,
William, and Caroline. The latter is the wife of
Louis C. McLean. Mr. Anderson learned the carpenter's trade in
Bethany under Charles C. Legg, being bound in apprentice to him
and serving for five years, from sixteen to twenty-one. He then
launched out for himself, and carried on his trade for about fourteen
years. He then bought sixty acres and went to faming, also working
more or less at his trade. He has held the office of township
trustee for about twenty-five years, with the exception of two years;
also serving on the school board. He has been connected with
educational interests since 1840. He was a member of the Odd
Fellows for some years, and passed some of the chairs, but drew out
during the war.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 491, Liberty
Twp. |
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MRS. SUSAN ANDERSON, of Excello,
was born in Maryland in 1883. When but an infant her grandfather,
Samuel Hughes, and her father, Vincent Hughes, with their
families and a few others, came to Butler County, where she has lived
since that time. Mrs. Anderson obtained a good education when
young, and spent eleven yeas of her life in teaching in public schools,
mostly in Butler County. Her father was a farmer and died in 1849.
In 1855 she was married to Benjamin F. Harrison, and in 1861 he
entered Co. D, Thirty-fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and spent
three years in the war; afterwards in the government service, but went
to Illinois, where he was injured by a fall, and died from its effects,
May, 1867. Mollie Anderson, her daughter, is a teacher
also, and at this time has charge of a school in Butler County.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 645 - Lemon Twp. |
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WILLIAM
ANDERSON, miller, and vice-president of the Second National Bank
of Hamilton, was born in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia, January
6, 1812. He is the son of Jacob and Jane (Summerville)
Anderson, both of whom were natives of that State. William
Anderson was sent to the schools of his native county, receiving
only a meager education. At the age of twenty-four he came to what was
then the far West, and settled in Hamilton. He was first occupied in the
saddlery business, but in 1844 engaged in the dry goods and grocery
trade with his brother-in-law, George Louthan, which
continued till 1847, when he bought out his partner. In 1850, in company
with Mr. Snively, he erected and put into operation a tannery, at
a cost of $20,000. In connection with the tannery business they also
established a boot and shoe factory, employing about thirty hands, which
at that time was one of the largest enterprises of the kind in this
section of the country. They also opened a retail store, for the sale of
their productions.
In 1853 Mr. Anderson, with B. W.
Tanquary, engaged in the milling business, in what was known as the
old Hamilton River Mill, but their facilities not being large enough for
their rapidly increasing business, they erected a new mill soon
afterward, at a cost of from eighteen to twenty thousand dollars.
After ten years of very successful business, a disastrous fire in the
month of April, 1864, swept it all away, involving a loss Thirty-one
thousand dollars, on which there was an insurance of eleven thousand.
Nothing daunted, Mr. Anderson purchased another milk then owned by
Lewis D. Campbell, having made arrangements for the Campbell Mill
the very morning the other was destroyed. In June, 1866, Mr.
Tanquary withdrew from the business, and since that time the firm
has been known as Anderson & Co.
Mr. Anderson is one of the largest stockholders
in the Second National Bank of Hamilton, and occupies the position of
vice-president. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church, in the
year 1862, and has been a ruling elder in that organization for eight
years. He was married, on the 29th of March, 1836, in Millwood,
Virginia, to Rachel C, daughter of James Carter,
who was proprietor of the Red Bird Paper Mills, of Frederick County,
Virginia. Mr. Carter was a prominent and influential man
of that county, and belonged to one of the oldest families in Virginia.
As a result of his marriage with this lady, Mr. Anderson has had
two daughters, only one of whom survives. Alberta J., who became
the wife of the Rev. H. M. Richardson, a Baptist
clergyman, of Rochester, New York, died in 1864. Virginia C, the
daughter now surviving, is the wife of George K. Shaffer, of
Hamilton.
John W. Benninghofen, one of the most
highly respected citizens of Hamilton, and a prominent woolen
manufacturer, was born on the 12th of March, 1812, in Wuelfrath, in
Prussia. His parents had six- children, of whom he was the eldest. Their
names were John P. Benninghofen and Wilhelmina
Riffeltrath, and the occupation they followed was that of weavers of
silk. When he had reached fifteen years of age his school education
ceased, and he was apprenticed to the dry goods trade. He remained in
this till he was twenty-nine years of age, or the year 1841, and came to
the United States in 1848, landing in New Orleans. No sooner had he
arrived there than he took passage for Cincinnati, coming immediately to
Hamilton. Here he peddled for three years, and then acted as clerk for
John W. Sohn in his leather and brewery business, staying in this
occupation for about seven years. At the expiration of this time he
entered into partnership with Asa Shuler as a woolen
manufacturer, and remained in that occupation, under the firm name of
Shuler & Benninghofen, until his death, which occurred on the 19th
of April, 1881. He was then aged sixty-nine years, one month and seven
days.
Mr. Benninghofen was twice married. The
first marriage was to Gertrude Hiss in Germany, in 1832,
who bore him two children: Robert, who died in 1872, and
William, who died in 1867. His second marriage was to Miss
Wilhelmina E. Klein, on the first of October, 1854, at Cincinnati.
She was born in Wirtemberg, Germany, December 14, 1832, but came to
America when a child with her parents, John U. and
Wilhelmina Klein. The father died in Stark County, in
November, 1859 aged seventy-three years, and the mother, whose maiden
name was Niss, died in March, 1876, aged eighty-two years. Mr.
and Mrs. Benninghofen had five children. Christiana
was born September 25, 1855; Wilhelmina, March 29, 1858; Peter,
September 29, 1860; Pauline, March. 11, 1863, and Caroline,
April 8, 1866. In the late war Robert, his son by the first
marriage, served three years, and Mrs. Benninghofen had a
brother Christian in the hundred days' service.
Mr. Benninghofen was very highly
esteemed. He was a Democrat in politics, and voted first for Franklin
Pierce. In appearance he was above the medium size, and somewhat
inclined to obesity. He had a large head and a very prominent forehead.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 352 - Hamilton Twp. |
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ALLEN ANDREWS
was born at Muncie,
Indiana, on August 11, 1849. He is a son of George L. and
Margaret Andrews, and is the fifth child in a. family of five sons
and two daughters. His father, George L. Andrews, was a native of
Connecticut. He was a graduate of Vale College, and after leaving that
institution, came West, and was one of the pioneer educators in this
State and Indiana. He married Miss Margaret Rodebauch, of Dayton,
Ohio, while teaching in that city. Some time afterward he removed with
his family to Muncie, Indiana, and was in charge of the public schools
there for .some time, when his health becoming impaired, he removed to
his farm in Jay County, Indiana, where he died, May 28, 1854, from the
effect of an injury received some months before in a mill.
Margaret Rodebauch, who became the wife of
George L. Andrews, was the daughter of Adam Rodebauch.
Her great-grandfather, Adam Rodebauch, came from Germany
about the middle of the eighteenth century, and' settled in
Pennsylvania. She is still living, seventy years old, and resides at
Lancaster, Indiana. When the civil war commenced, her two elder sons,
John and William, enlisted under President Lincoln's
first call for troops, and served the Union cause till the close of the
war.
In the early part of 1863, her next two sons, Furman
and Allen, tendered their services in answer to the call for
volunteers. The former was accepted, went with Sherman's army on
its march to the sea, and was discharged after peace was restored ; the
latter was rejected on account of his youth, and remained at home to
care for his widowed mother and the other members of the broken family.
After the close of the war, Allen. Andrews applied himself
to study, having already enjoyed the advantages of the very excellent
common school system of the State of Indiana. He engaged in teaching in
1867, previously having been a student at the National Normal, at
Lebanon, Ohio. He is a graduate of Liber College, Indiana, and was
selected by the faculty to deliver the valedictory address to the
graduating class. He was superintendent of the public schools of New
Madison, Ohio, during the years of 1871 and 1872.
He read law with the Hon. William Allen, late of
Greenville, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of
Ohio, March 16, 1874, and on May 23, 1874, associated himself with J.
K. Riffel in. the practice of his profession, in Greenville. He
removed from that place to Hamilton on February 29, 1876, and engaged in
practice in this county. He was in partnership with J. C. McKemy
from January, 1877, to October, 1880, when the firm was dissolved. On
October 18,1880, he associated himself with H. L. Morey and J.
E. Morey, under the firm name of Morey, Andrews & Morey.
On January 29, 1879, he was united in marriage with
Miss Belle Davis, second daughter of John P. Davis, of
Hamilton, Ohio, by his first wife, whose maiden name was Blair. He is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also a member of the
Masonic order. He is the W. M. of Washington Lodge, No. 17, Free and
Accepted Masons, in which position he has acted for the last three
years.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 366b - Hamilton Twp. |
| |
ISAAC ANDREWS
(Madison Twp.) was born
in Wayne Township, Butler County, in 1848. His parents were
Henry Andrews and Eleanor Long. He was married in 1873 to
Emma Hellebrecht, daughter of Henry and Mary Hellebrecht,
born at Walnut Hills, and has had two children, Harry and
Alfred, the former being dead. Joseph Rogers, a
member of his family, was in the Mexican War, and his half brother,
Samuel Knees, served during the late struggle.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 600 - Madison Twp. |
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JAMES CAMPBELL ANDREWS
comes
of one of the oldest families in Ross. His parents came to this
township in 1811, and his father the next year after. His name was
James, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Rife.
She died in 1875. James C. Andrews was born in West
Virginia, Nov. 15, 1809. He was married Nov. 26, 1840, to Lydia
Dunn. She was the daughter of John Dunn, who died in
1835, being then sixty-five yeas old, and Letitia McCluskey, who
was born in 1779, and died in 1847. They came to this county in
1805. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews have had four children:
Martha was born Aug. 18, 1841; Letty, July 16, 1844;
William, Oct. 25, 1847, and Albert, May 22, 1850.
Letty died May 9, 1869. She was married to Jacob Kohler.
Martha married John Bercaw, Feb., 1860. William,
married Lizzie Pollock. By these unions Mr. Andrews
has seven grandchildren living. At the age of sixteen he began
work at the blacksmith's trade, following it for sixteen years.
Since that time he has paid all of his attention to the farm, and has by
industry and good management made for himself and family a good home.
His son William was in the hundred days' service, and his
uncle, Robert Andrews, was in the War of 1812, and died soon
after his return.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 464,
Ross Twp. |
| |
ROBERT NEWELL ANDREWS, the son
of William Andrews and Harriet Newell, was born September
16, 1839, in Ross Township, in this county, and was brought up on a
farm. He received a common school education. . His mother died when he
was but nine years of age. " In the Spring of 1861, he came to Hamilton,
and worked at milling for Tanquary & Anderson, until the Spring
of 1862. He spent the year of 1862 and part of 1863 in Preble County, at
work in the mill for Barnett & Whiteside. He came back to
Hamilton in the Summer of 1863, and worked for John Lamb
in the West Hamilton Mills. He went into the sheriff's office as deputy
sheriff under A. J. Rees, in May, 1864, and remained with him
until his term of office was closed. He was elected sheriff of Butler
County in October, 1867, and was reelected in 1869, making a total
service of four years.
During his administration occurred the only execution
for murder or other crime that has ever happened in this county. John
Griffin was tried for the murder of Usile Prickett, and
convicted at the January term of court in 1869, and was executed July
29, 1869. Alfred Anderson was born in Wheeling, Virginia,
February, 24, 1824. His mother, Mary Clark, was a free
woman, reared from early childhood by Mrs. Ralston, the widow of an
officer in the American Revolution. His father's name was Shannon,
the brother of Governor Shannon, of Ohio and Kansas. When
the boy was three or four years old, his mother married Robert G. H.
Anderson, who not long after removed to Cincinnati. They remained
there until 1832, when the Asiatic cholera compelled a hasty retreat to
the small towns in the neighborhood, and the Anderson family were first
in Hamilton and afterwards in Richmond. They settled permanently in this
place in 1837, where Alfred has ever since lived, with the exception of
twelve years spent in the South.
At the period when he first came to this city the State
made no provision for the education of colored . children, and he
consequently never had but three months' schooling in his life. His
constant study at home, with much reading, has, however, made him well
acquainted with English literature, and given him a good knowledge of
French and Spanish. He married the daughter of a clergyman when still a
young man, who bore him nine children, and died in 1863. In 1865 he
again married. Both of his unions were fortunate ones. He was enabled to
send some of his children to college, and he gave them all as good a
training as he could.
He was early identified with the anti-slavery cause. In
1843 he aided in editing the Palladium of Liberty, published in
Columbus, the first newspaper attempted by the colored men in Ohio. A
few years later he became interested in the Colored Citizen, of
Cincinnati, and he was a regular contributor to the North Star,
published by Frederick Douglass, and the Liberator,
edited by William Lloyd Garrison. He
prosecuted, at his own expense, a case through the courts of Ohio, by
which a large portion of the colored citizens were enabled to vote, who
previously had not been allowed to exercise that privilege. He has also
done much to aid those to reach a place of safety who were escaping from
slavery. His name has of late been prominently spoken of for minister to
Hayti, a post for which he would be well fitted. He is an agreeable and
pleasant companion, an excellent raconteur, a man of keen intellect and
biting wit, and impressive and dignified carriage. His memory is
excellent, his knowledge of history and politics has been sedulously
cultivated, and his reasoning powers are good. He has a fine command of
the mother-tongue, both in writing and speaking, and is a man of
excellent private character.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 366a - Hamilton Twp. |
| |
ABEL APPLETON, a pioneer of this
valley, came from New Jersey to Morgan Township, with his wife and
family, about 1807. His wife's maiden name was Betsey Reeves.
She died about 1860, and her husband about 1832. This union
produced five children, now all dead: Jane, wife of George
King; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Otto; Pearson;
Catharine, wife of Enoch Larison, and John. Pearson
Appleton was born in New Jersey about 1803; he married Margaret
Mahaffey, of this county. They had eight children:
Nancy, wife of David Morris, of Hamilton County; John,
now a resident of Okeana; Elizabeth Ann, wife of John Morgan,
- dead; Isabelle, wife of John Arkenbyer, now of Kansas;
Sarah, wife of Josiah Deen, of Marion County, Indiana;
Mary, widow of Michael Milholland, of Hamilton County, Ohio;
Abel, married and lives in Iowa; Phoebe, wife of Amos
Cann, lives in Kansas.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 435 - Morgan Twp. |
| |
JOHN L. APPLETON
was born
November 12, 1824, and married Esther Ann McHenry December 16,
1846. His wife was born in Delhi Township, Hamilton County, Ohio,
June 11, 1826. This marriage resulted in ten children:
Pearson, born November 6, 1847, died July 6, 1848; Lindsay,
born July 10, 1849, married and residing in this township; Rhoda,
born September 12, 1852, wife of Amos Van Loo, of Preble County,
Ohio; Pearson E., born July 31, 1855, married and a citizen of
Morgan; Margaret A., born August 7, 1857, and wife of
James Freiling, of this township; William W., born April 1,
1859; Wallace W., born May 2, 1862; Charlotte R., born May
22, 1866; Canowels, born September 14, 1868, and Enoch McHenry,
born July 23, 1871. Mr. Appleton is one of the
representative men of Butler County. His family moves in the best
circles of society.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 436 - Morgan Twp. |
| |
ELBERT ARMSTRONG, M.D., was born
Aug. 22, 1849, in Franklin County, Indiana. He studied medicine in
Cincinnati under his brother, Clinton L. Armstrong, police
surgeon, and graduated at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, in 1875,
practicing in Sandborn, Knox County, Indiana, for one year. In
1876 he came to Butler County, settling at Symmes's Corners, where he
still remains. His great-grandfather on his mother's side,
Henry Case, and his two brothers, were soldiers in the Revolution,
Henry being wounded in the thigh. He died in Springdale,
Hamilton County, years afterwards. John Armstrong, his
grandfather on his father's side, was in the War of 1812. His
brother, Clinton L., was in the war of the Rebellion, in the
Eighty-second Indiana Regiment, Company D, and was wounded in the thigh
at the assault on Vicksburg, while placing the ladders for the scaling.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 478,
Fairfield Twp. |
| |
WILLIAM M. ARMSTRONG was born in this
county November 19, 1843, his father being James Martin Armstrong,
and his mother Elizabeth Patterson. They came to this
county in 1830. Mr. Armstrong enlisted in 1862 as a
private, remaining until the end of the war. He was also captain
of the Tytus Guards, Company D, Fourth Regiment Ohio National Guards,
taking command August 9, 1877. He has been mayor for a year,
councilman two years, captain of the firs department six years under the
Holly system, and five years under the old Miami volunteers. He
was married in Middletown Aug. 26, 1878. to Catherine J. Leibee,
daughter of Daniel Leibee and Sarah Enyart, who came herein 1820.
She was born in Middletown, Mar. 4, 1840. They have four children:
Harry B., Fred M., Paul and Ada.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 645 - Lemon Twp. |
| |
AMOS ATHERTON, born in
1793, married Mary Francis, born in 1797, daughter of Davis.
The result of this marriage was a family of ten children, four of
whom were twins: David F., born 1817, a resident of Morgan;
Phoebe, born 1819, widow of Andrew McCoy Wakefield, of New
Haven, Hamilton County, Ohio; Elijah, born 1821 - dead; Abner,
born 1823, married and lives in Iowa; Francis, born in 1823 -
dead; Mary, born 1827 - dead; Elizabeth, born 1830, wife
of David Pottenger, of New Haven, Ohio; Amos W., Born in
1832 - dead; Mary, born in 1835 - dead; Rachel, wife of
Joseph McHenry, of New Haven, Ohio. Amos
Atherton came to Hamilton County, Ohio, about 1808, where he
acquired a large body of land near the Shaker village, living there at
the time of his death. He was a man of deep religious convictions,
and distinguished for his liberality in Church matters.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 435 - Morgan Twp. |
| |
DAVID F.
ATHERTON married for his first wife Jane Gwilym, daughter
of Morgan Gwilym, of this township. Mrs. Atherton
was born in 1819, and died February 5, 1867. This marriage
resulted in two children, both of whom are dead. For his second
wife Mr. Atherton married Jane, daughter of Hugh Price,
born in Franklin County, Ohio, 1840. The fruits of this union were
two children, one of whom still lives. Mr. Atherton came to
Morgan Township in 1844, and settled on the Morgan-Gwilym
estate, in sight of New London, where he still resides, respected by
every body.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 435 - Morgan Twp. |
| |
WILLIAM
ATHERTON. Among the most prominent of the old pioneers was
William Atherton, born May 21, 1808, in Boston, Mass., and
married in 1830, to Elizabeth Wiley, who was born in Hamilton
County, Colerain Township, June 24, 1810. This marriage brought
forth nine children, as follows: George, born October 30,
1831, married and lives in Terre Haute, Indiana; Henry, born
October 21, 1833, and died February 28, 1839; Amos, born December
27, 1835, married, and lives in Missouri; Olive, born September
21, 1837, the wife of B. F. Clark, of Venice; Naomi, born
March 1, 1840, unmarried, at home; Mary, Born June 21, 1842, now
dead; Belinda, born January 5, 1845, died March 12, 1876;
William, born January 5, 1845, died March 12, 1876; William,
born May 26, 1847, met his death by an accident November 9, 1861;
Jane, born February 22, 1850, wife of Austin Scott, the son
of William H. Scott, of Crosby Township, both men of many
excellent parts. These last named live near Harrison, Ohio.
Mr. Atherton was brought when a child ten years of age to
Hamilton County, and in 1836 purchased two hundred acres of land in this
township, on which he took up his residence. He met his death from
cholera, June 21, 1858. His widow still resides on the old farm.
William Atherton was a hard-working farmer; and in all his
undertakings was a man of probity and intimate success.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 435 - Morgan Twp. |
| |
JOHN
AUER was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 7, 1834, and landed in
the United States in 1844. He went to work in a tobacco factory at
the age of twelve, and worked in it till 1864, beginning a manufactory
in that year in Cincinnati. His place of business was moved in
1869 to Middletown, Ohio, where he still remains, conducting a large and
extensive business.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 645 - Lemon Twp. |
| |
In the
year 1819 CHRISTIAN AUGSPURGER
and family,
and his brother JOSEPH AUGSPURGER, and his second
cousin, JACOB AUGSPURGER and family, and others,
immigrated from near Strasbourg, France, to Butler County, and settled
near Collinsville, Milford Township, where Christian Augspurger
bought a farm of about three hundred acres of land, of which there was
about one hundred acres improved; but as the other Augspurgers
were short of means they rented farms. Tings looked very gloomy
then, however, for farmers, and to make money was almost an
impossibility, as the prices for produce were very much depressed, and
there was no money scarcely to be had for any thing. Corn was ten
cents per bushel; wheat, twenty-five cents; butter three cents per
pound, and pork one dollar and a half per hundred pounds, net.
Whisky, however, was fifty cents a gallon, but people did not know how
to manufacture it then as well as they do now, and beer was scarcely
known in Butler County. Whisky, however, was the most profitable
product, as it could be transported to the market with less expense, as
there were no turnpikes, canals, or railroads, to facilitate travel; in
fact, there were nothing but mud-roads. The farm implements, also,
were very inferior to those now used, and grain separators, reapers,
self-binders, and mowers were not known. Grain was cut with the
sickle, and here and there a cradle was used.
The change for the Augspurgers from Europe to
America was very great, and especially for Christian Augspurger,
as he lived on one of the finest and best improved farms in France,
consisting of about five hundred acres of choice land. The farm
was leased for a number of years, and belonged to Charles
Schulmeister, who served as a spy under Napoleon the First, and was
considered to be one of his best. His property was very valuable.
The farm on which Christian Augsburger lived was so well
improved, that princely personages and generals in the army frequently
paid their visits there. Schulmeister also lived on the
farm. It happened, however, that Marshal Bertrand received
a large territory from Napoleon the First, on which he wished to
introduce farming according to French style, and sought advice or
information in regard to it; for which purpose he requested Christian
Augspurger to come to Paris, where Bertrand lived.
Christian Augspurger complied with the request, and, in the company
with his cousin, Nicholas Augspurger, were there for the purpose,
to the satisfaction of the marshal. They were shown through all
the parliamentary buildings and saw the throne. Later,
Christian Augspurger received the medal of the Legion of Honor,
which is now in possession of his children as a memento. The medal
consists of a ruby in the form of a star, with gilded points, and a
ribbon affixed thereto, with a description, and signed in the name of
the emperor.
In 1827, however, Christian Augspurger's family
had increased to twelve in number, six sons and six daughters. The
names of his sons were Joseph, Christian, Jacob, John, Samuel,
and Frederick; and the names of his daughters were Catherina,
Magdelina, Barbara, Mary, Jacobina, and Anna. In 1829
Christian Augspurger bought another farm, about two and a half
miles south of Trenton, in Madison Township where he moved in 1830; and
later the other Augspurgers followed him to the vicinity of
Trenton also.
In 1846 Christian Augspurger's wife died, and in
1848 he also died. The property that Christian owned
consisted of nineteen hundred and seventy-five acres of choice land in
Butler County, besides a large personal estate, which was all divided
equally among his children. The number of the descendants of the
Augspurgers now living is about one hundred and eight, of whom
about one hundred and fifty are living in Butler County; the others have
moved to Illinois and Iowa, and two, C. Kinsinger and F.
Kinsinger, are now living in Cincinnati with their families.
The amount of land now owned by the descendants of the Augspurgers,
in Butler, Warren, and Preble Counties, is about three thousand six
hundred and sixty-three acres. The Augspurgers nearly all
belong to the Mennonite denomination, as their fathers did.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 600 - Madison Twp. |
| |
MOSES G. AUGSPURGER was born in Madison Township Feb. 23, 1845, and was married Mar. 19,
1874, to Anna Schlumeger, born the same day as her husband.
His parents were Nicholas Augspurger and Magdalena Gautsche, who
were born in 1819, and hers were Peter Schlumeger and Jacobina King.
They have three children. Albert was born May 23, 1875;
Alma Magdalena, May 25, 1877, and Barda, July 10, 1880.
Mr. Augspurger was reared on a farm, working with his father
until he was twenty-five years old, when he began to do for himself,
renting land of his father. He remained thus until February, 1879,
when he bought the place he now occupies, of one hundred and three
acres, which is under a good state of cultivation. Mr.
Augspurger is a Mennonite, as is also his wife, and their parents
before them.
Source: A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio -
Cincinnati, O. - 1882 - Page 600, Madison Twp. |
NOTES:
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