Source:
A History & Biographical Cyclopaedia
 of
Butler County, Ohio
With Illustrations and Sketches
of its Representative Men and Pioneers
Publ. by Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Cincinnati, O
1882
Pg. 439

HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

     HANOVER is a township six miles from the south and west lines of the county, bounded on the north by Milford, on the east by St. Clair, on the south by Ross, and on the west by Reily.  It is made up of thirty-six sections.
     The justices of the peace have been:  1812, James Johnson, John Rainey; 1815 to 1818, Matthew Heuston, John Rainey; 1815 to 1818, Matthew Hueston, John Rainey; 1821, Matthew Heuston, Reuben Blackford; 1819, Andrew Lester, John Rainey, Reuben Blackford; 1832, John Morse, John Rainey; 1833, Reuben Blackford; 1834, John Morse; 1835, Reuben Blackford, daniel rumple, M. Bowerman; 1841, Reuben Blackford, Abraham Bercaw, John Morse; 1842, Henry Dillon; 1844, R. Blackford, John Morse; and since that date  Henry Dillon, Reuben Blackford, John Morse, William Hueston, Samuel Snell, Jacob Bottenburg, Joseph Hileman, Robert Moore, Frederick Shaffer, Michael Kumler, Henry A. Strawhaver, Wm. R. Cochran, George B. Tobias, I. M. Warwick, J. M. Johnston, W. B. Davis, Henry Keller, and J. W. Boatman.
     The early settlers in the township were named Ayres, Anderson, Alexander, Beaty, Beaver, Bell, Blackford, Beckett, Brozier, Carr, Coomb, Caldwell, donor, Delaplane, Dodd, Earhart, Gray, Hazlet, Hueston, Hall, Irwin, James, Lewis, Lister, Lintner, Moore, McVicker, Marshall, McKinstry, McCullough, McGonigle, Nixon, Nichols, Roll, Rinehart, Reese, Rainey, Rumple, Sample, Salmon, Smiley, Stephens, St. Clair, Thorn, Tracy, Wickard , Wason, Willis, Yeakle, Zeigler, and others.  In 1844 there was but one postoffice in the township - at Jacob Stillwell's corner.
     The climate, soil, and surface is pretty much like that of the other adjoining townships.  There are no villages within the borders of Hanover.  The first settlements were generally made in locations favorable to farming.
     The climate, soil, and surface is pretty much like that of the other adjoining townships.  There are no villages within the borders of Hanover.  The first settlements were generally made in locations favorable to farming.  A dividing ridge extends across the township from the south-east to the north-west, causing the water to flow either towards Four-Mile, which passes diagonally through the north-east corner, or into Indian Creek, which also cuts the south-west corner in a very similar manner.  Both these streams are of considerable size, and have numerous small tributaries.  The most important branch of Indian Creek is Salmon's run, which derived its name from William Salmon, an early settler, who lived on its bank and carried on distilling.  Another stream of considerable size, a tributary of Indian Creek also, is Zeigler's Run, taking its name from Samuel Zeigler, who settled on its head waters three-quarters of a century ago.  Four-Mile has for its main inlets Stony Run and Beckett's Run, the latter from Robert Beckett, a man who settled here in the woods far back in the beginning of the century.  The dividing ridge from which these and other lesser streams flow is a table-land of deep, rich loam, where all the staples are grown in abundance.  The south side of the township is a fine rolling bottom, which gradually reaches up to the higher lands, except the south-east corner, where the surface is hilly.  In the north the surface is more broken, and, if any thing, the soil is less fertile than anywhere else in the township.
     One of the old landmarks in the township is an elm, four feet in diameter, with all head and spreading limbs, at the original voting precinct at Hanover Station.  It is at least one hundred and forty years of age, for when the first settlers knew it, its size was the same as today.
     In 1809 Andrew Lewis killed one of the largest deer ever seen in this section.  Its horns were enormous, and old hunters pronounced them the largest they had ever seen.  Game abounded here between 1800 and 1820.  Mr. Lewis says he could have killed fourteen deer one morning going from his home to Millville - all broadside shots.  "I have caught hundreds of wild turkeys in turkey-pens, and have seen this country fairly alive with squirrels, ground-hogs, opossums, raccoons, fixes, wolves, and deer."  He also says, "I have often caught as many as a dozen turkeys in a single day, and I remember once that I took out of my pen twenty-seven large gobblers at one time; the smallest would not weigh less than fifteen pounds.

MILLVILLE

STILLWELL'S CORNERS.

     Jacob Stillwell's corner was known far and wide in Butler County fifty years ago.  In the forks of the road, one of which takes the direction of the State line and the other toward Oxford, in Section 7, was a frame steam grist and saw mill and still-house.  The still-house was built about 1830, and the mills in 1835 or 1836.  The flouring department was three stories high.  For many years this mill ground the grain for a large section of country.  Mr. Stillwell was also engaged as a tavern and storekeeper, the former about 1854.  Richard Martindale afterwards rented the property of Mrs. Thomas McCulloch, and carried on the tavern-keeping business for twenty-five or thirty years.  The old tavern stand is now occupied by Thomas Roll.
     In 1837 Thomas and John Nichol had a horse-mill on Stony Run, which lasted for a considerable length of time.
     Near the Zeigler grave-yard, in 1805, James Ray carried on blacksmithing.  He is supposed to have been the first resident blacksmith in the township.  By birth Ray was a Pennsylvanian.
     After 1825 1825, when Bethel Church was in her prime, William Calloway carried on blacksmithing near the mouth of Salmon's Run.  Daniel Sortman and Michael Emrick were early blacksmiths on Section 29, in the north-west quarter.  John Reese, in 1815, was a black-smith on Section 21, in the south-west corner, where he owned twenty-eight acres of land.  In the east end of the township, a Mr. Murphy carried on the same trade along in the twenties.

SCHOOLS.

CHURCHES.

McGONIGLES'S.

MATTHEW HUESTON

was a native of Pennsylvania, coming from what is now Franklin County, where he was born on the 1st of May, 1771.  His father's next neighbor was a Scotchman, named Buchanan, who afterwards became better off in the world, and moved to Mercersburg, where he became a justice of the peace.  His son James was sent to Dickinson College, afterwards entering upon the practice of law.  He was successively a member of the United States Senate, minister to England, and President of the United States.  When Matthew Hueston was two years of age his father, William Hueston, removed to the backwoods, and settled on the Monongahela, in Ohio County, Virginia.  The Indians becoming troublesome, Mr. Hueston removed his family to Taylor's Fort, twenty-four miles from the town of Wheeling.  The family remained most of the time at the fort, but occasionally went to the farm when it was deemed safe.  Mr. Hueston went back and forth to cultivate his place, but on one of these trips he as shot, killed, and scalped by the Indians, at the door of his own cabin.  Mrs. Hueston was left a widow with six small children.
     As soon as Matthew Hueston was able he began working around the farm, and at fifteen went as an apprentice to learn the trade of a tanner and currier, continuing at that employment for several years.  When he became a journeyman he saved up his money, and, in 1793, made a small venture of stock, with which he went down the Ohio River.  On the 175h of April he landed at Cincinnati, but after a few days went down to the falls of the Ohio.  He returned by the way of Maysville, again floating down to Cincinnati, where General Wayne's army had arrived in the mean time.  Soon after arriving he sold out his goods to a man named McCrea, who, however, decamped without paying him.  He then went to work in a tannery, being the one afterwards owned by Jesse Hunt, and afterwards went with Robert and William McClellan, who were engaged in driving a brigade of pack-horses from Cincinnati to Fort Jefferson.  Completing his first trip, he drove a number of beeves from Fort Washington to Fort Jefferson, and then superintended the killing of the cattle and putting up the beef, which was designed to subsist the men the next Winter.  There being no salt at the garrison, the meat had to be hung up in the open air around the fort to prevent it from spoiling, until salt could be procured.  This caused a delay in the business for some time.  Soon after Mr. Hueston was appointed commissary at this post, at the pay of thirty dollars a month.  The next Summer he returned to Fort Washington, and went out  with Wayne on his expedition, being issuing commissary until the Summer of 1795, when he resigned.
     He then furnished himself with a stock of groceries and other articles, and began as a sutler, following this up until the year 1796.  He had one store at Greenville and another at Cincinnati, in the latter having a partner.  The business was very profitable, and he soon accumulated twelve to fifteen thousand dollars.  In the latter part of 1796 Mr. Hueston was taken sick, remaining in his bed for three or four weeks.  When he had sufficiently recovered, he set out for Cincinnati, but  found his affairs were in a wretched condition.  His partner had become dissipated, had squandered most of the property by gambling, and had finally sold out the stock, going down the river, and leaving Mr. Hueston to pay the debts of the firm.  This he did, and found that, after exhausting all his means, he still owed four hundred dollars.  Undiscouraged, he persevered in his industrious way, and again embarked as a drover.  He drove a large number of cattle from Cincinnati to Detroit for two dollars and fifty cents a head, and was successful in delivering them all, although the route was a complete wilderness.  He returned in forty days.  This business he followed till the year 1800, when he had paid off all his old debts and had accumulated fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars in hard cash.  This he lad out in land.
     He bought a tract of two hundred acres, four miles south of Hamilton.  It was then altogether in the woods, but now the railroad, the canal, and the Cincinnati turnpike pass through it.  In a few years he had a large farm under cultivation.  He built a hewed log-house, in which he lived and kept entertainment for travelers a number of years.  At the United States land sales in 1801 he purchased, or entered, three sections of land and two fractional sections, on the west side of the river, comprehending in all about two thousand six hundred acres.  To these purchases he added from time to time, so that he eventually became the largest owner of land in this county.
     On his farm south of Hamilton he began to reside in the year 1802, and on the 15th of April married Miss Catherine Davis.  He remained here till 1813, when he removed to his farm on Four-Mile Creek, in Hanover Township.  Here he built a large stone mansion, and attended to his agricultural interests for many years.  He then removed to Rossville, taking up his abode there in October, 1834.  This is in the house now occupied by his son-in-law, Robert Harper.
     At the beginning of the century the militia was better organized than it is now.  Mr. Hueston became captain of a company of light-horse, from which he was afterwards advanced to the office of colonel of the Second Regiment.  When Hull surrendered Colonel Hueston volunteered his services, and went with a number of others to Fort Wayne, which was then besieged by the enemy.  After serving two or three months, he was made purchasing agent for the contractor of the Northwestern army, acting in that capacity until the conclusion of the war.
     In 1808 he became a justice of the peace in Fairfield Township, remaining so till he removed to Hanover, where, after a few months, he was again elected.  In this position he served until his removal to Rossville, holding this office for twenty-three years.  In no case was his judgment reversed on appeal.  He was a commissioner of Butler County from 1826 to 1835.  He died on the 16th of April, 1847, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and was buried near the Presbyterian church in Collinsville.  The service were conducted by the Masons.

ANDREW LEWIS.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.