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Biographies
Source:
History of Preble County, Ohio
H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers
1881
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Nathaniel Benjamin |
NATHANIEL BENJAMIN,*
esq., was born in Morris county, New Jersey, on the
twenty-fifth of June, A. D. 1795. His ancestry were from
Wales, his mother of the real Puritan stock. His younger
years were spent on the farm, until he arrived at the age of
sixteen years, when he was bound out as an apprentice to the
trade of house carpenter and joiner. He served faithfully,
under a hard master, for four and one-half years. His
apprenticeship being completed he went to New York city, where
he worked at his trade one year. Not being content with
the surroundings of the crowded city, he determined to go to the
far West (as Ohio as then regarded). Accordingly, the
autumn of 1817, with his staff in hand and a budget on his back,
he set out for a home in the new country with scarcely any money
in his pocket and without friends or companions. After a
long and tedious journey on foot and by stage, he arrived at
Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Here he undertook a pilot a
flatboat, with two families aboard, down the Ohio river.
His pay for his work and responsibility was his fire. He
arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October. Here he worked at
his trade until Apr. 18, 1818, when he came to New Lexington,
Preble county, Ohio.
Here he started as master workman, and followed his
trade for a number of years, and there are houses yet standing
of his construction.
On November 7th, of the same year, he married Miss
Hannah Johnson, with whom he lived for nearly sixty years,
she dying May 16, 1878.
His family consisted of only two daughters, though he
raised, unto full womanhood, four or five other children, giving
each one, as well as his own, a comfortable start in life. In
1819 he built a house at New Lexington, where he kept tavern
eleven and one-half years, and in connection with this business
he reared a nursery and supplied the county with fruit trees. In
1822 he sold his property in town and moved into the woods,
where he opened up a farm and planted an orchard. Here he
remained until 1851, when he sold his farm and removed to West
Alexandria, where he still resides, an honored and respected
citizen. Father Benjamin is a man of strong
convictions and determined purposes. When he undertook a
project nothing turned him from his purpose. When, in
1844, he was elected by his district as a delegate to the
convention at Baltimore which nominated Clay and
Frelinghuysen for the presidency and vice-presidency, he
accepted the appointment with the declaration that he would go
if he had to walk every step of the road.
His likes and dislikes are very marked. He hates
with all his soul and loves with equal power. He is a true
friend or no friend at all. No hypocrisy or deceit finds a
lodgement in his manly breast.
He has husbanded his earnings with care until he has
become a man of wealth, and is now enjoying his well earned
fortune in his old days. Yet, with all his getting, he was not
unmindful of the wants of others. He has been charitable
to worthy objects. When the project of founding an orphan
asylum by the Masons was inaugurated, he was among the first to
contribute one thousand dollars. He also gave liberally to
the churches of the place, and gave one hundred dollars to start
a library for the use of the public school at West Alexandria.
A few days before he was eighty-one years of age he
made a public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and was received into full communion with the Reformed church.
Father Benjamin is most generally known
as an ardent member of the Masonic fraternity, and is one of the
oldest Masons in the State. He united with St. John’s
Lodge, F. & A. M., at Dayton, Ohio, in 1824 or 1825 with eight
more, who comprised all the Masons in Darke and Preble counties.
He applied for a dispensation for Bolivar Lodge No. 82, Eaton,
Ohio, and, though he lived eight miles distant, he was not
absent a single meeting for three years. He was also one
of the charter members of Eaton R. A. chapter, and served as
high priest two years, and never missed a meeting.
He was exalted to the sublime degree of knight templar
at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1841.
He was also one of the petitioners for Reed Commandary
K. T., No. 6, of Dayton, and King Hiram Lodge F. & A. M., No.
88, West Alexandria, Ohio. He was first a member of
the Grand Lodge at Worthington, Ohio, in January, 1830, and has
been a constant attendant ever since. He now holds the honorable
position of president of the Masonic Veteran society, by the
unanimous voice of his brethren.
In civil life he has held many and responsible trusts.
He was commissioner of his county two terms, and was treasurer
of the Dayton and Western Turnpike company for several years,
during which he received and disbursed one hundred and thirty
thousand dollars of construction funds, and seven thousand
dollars of tolls without one word of fault or charge of
corruption.
He was justice of the peace four terms, during which
time he married ninety-six couples and docketed two thousand
cases, of which only one was appealed, and his judgment was then
affirmed. In every department of life Father
Benjamin has proven himself true to the principles of
honesty and integrity. He enjoys in his ripe old age the
full confidence and esteem of his friends and acquaintances, old
and young.
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 329
* By Rev. H. M. Herman |
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CHARLES F. BROOKE.
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The father of the subject of the sketch, the Rev. John C.
Brooke, was for many yeares a resident of Eaton, and is
buried in Mound Hill cemetery. He was a native of
Virginia, and came from that State to Warren county, Ohio, as
early as 1820. For a number of years he was engaged with
the Rev. James Finley in teaching and caring for the
Wyandot Indians at the mission in their reservation.
Finley labored among them as a missionary and acted as
agent, and assistant in all temporal affairs. Mr.
Brooke came to Eaton in 1835, and was a resident of the
place all the rest of his life. He died at the home of his
son in Cincinnati, during the cholera epidemic of 1866.
His wife was Eliza H., the daughter and only child of the
pioneer of Methodism, James B. Finley. She died in
1863, aged about sixty-five years.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooke were the parents of eleven
children, viz.: James B., deceased; Charles F.;
Catharine R. (Taylor), now in New York; Eliza Jane,
deceased; Hannah M. (Clawson), a resident of
Indianapolis; Sarah Ann (Roberts), in
Wisconsin; Clifford N. (Fleming), resident
at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati; William M., in Denver;
John C., in Cincinnati; Thomas M., who was killed in
the army; and Ashbury Y., deceased.
Charles F. Brooke, the subject of this brief
biography and the representative of the family with whom the
people of Preble county are best acquainted, was born Nov. 17,
1826, in Warren county, Ohio. Nine years later he came to
Eaton with his parents, and in this place resumed his education,
and afterwards taught school, as he did also at Castine.
In 1851 he went to Cincinnati and took charge of the mailing
department of the Methodist Book Concern. Two or three
years later he went into the employ of J. M. Bradstreet &
Sons, commercial agents, and helped to build up their business,
succeeding signally, and ultimately having entire charge of the
firm’s Cincinnati branch, a position which he held from 1855 to
1867.
He was a member of the Cincinnati city council for six
terms, and resigned one year before his last term was to expire.
He was also a member for a number of years of the board of
health, and was in that position during one of the cholera
seasons which proved so disastrous to the Queen city.
As a member of the council he led the opposition against the Gas
company, which resulted in the lowering of the price of gas from
the exhorbitant figure of three dollars per thousand feet to
something like one dollar and seventy-five cents; a result which
saved to the municipality, and to individuals, millions of
dollars. From 1864 to 1874 Mr. Brooke was
engaged in the business of carrying on a private
banking house, being associated with W. M. and John C. Brooke,
under the style of Brooke Brothers, and occupying
the rooms now occupied by the Fourth National bank, on the
corner of Walnut and Third streets. After dissolving
partnership, Mr. Brooke, in 1867, came to Eaton,
and soon after took charge of the First National bank, in which
he and his brothers became largely interested, buying out the
interest of Valentine Winters and others.
Mr. Brooke acted as cashier for a number of years but
of late has been the president of the bank. Mr.
Brooke, and his brothers, W. M., and J. C., in
1873, bought out Joseph Walters & Company, and
organized as a joint stock concern, the Excelsior School Seat
Manufacturing company, which for several years conducted, an
immense business in Eaton. Our subject was also the
president of this company.
Mr. Brooke is a Republican in politics,
and though he never has been a place seeker in any sense of the
term, was much talked of in connection with, and came within two
votes of being nominated for Congressional candidate in the
Fourth district. He has been for many years connected with
the Methodist church, and the society in Eaton, through his
liberality, was aided materially in erecting the handsome church
which it now occupies.
Mr. Brooke has been twice married.
His first wife, whom he married in 1849, was Susan A.
Matthews, and his present wife, to whom he was joined in
1872, Mary E. Martin. Mr. Brooke has eight
children living, four as the offspring of each union.
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z. Williams &
Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 151 |
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WILLIAM BRUCE, The
Founder of Eaton.
A high type of pioneer life and character was
exemplified in William Bruce, the founder of Eaton.
He was of Scotch descent, and in him were preserved many of the
distinguishing and admirable traits of the people to whom he
belonged. His father and five brothers Highlanders, came
to America during the Scottish rebellion of 1746, and located
upon the waters of the Potomac in Virginia. Here the
subject of our sketch was born on the twentieth of September,
1762. When he was nine years of age his father removed to
Redstone, Pennsylvania, near Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg).
Young William Bruce sought employment and was engaged
while a mere boy as packer of goods across the mountains.
In this vigorous and perilous occupation he developed that
physical vigor and fearlessness as well ad the sturdiness of
character which fitted him for the life he was to lead.
When of age Bruce abandoned the toilsome vocation at
which he had for several years labored, and, with a
brother-in-law, emigrated to Kentucky, where he settled in the
famous Cane Ridge locality, included in the civil division of
territory now known as Bourbon county. In Kentucky
William Bruce married, about 1791, Francis Lewis,
born in 1771. They emigrated in 1793 to Warren county,
Ohio, and for six years lived near Shakertown. They then
moved into Butler county, and from there to Montgomery county,
from which locality they moved to Eaton, their permanent place
of residence, in June, 1806. Prior to this time Mr.
Bruce had prospected for lands along Seven Mile, and,
doubtless, had then conceived the idea of founding a town, for
he purchased three sections, or nearly two thousand acres of
land, including the site of Eaton, the "Old Garrison," and all
of the ground between, being led to this measure, very likely,
because of the general attractions of the lands and the
particularly fine mill site which the falls of the creek
afforded.
Mr. Bruce built a cabin on the hill south of the
site of Eaton, laid out the town, and built a saw- and
grist-mill, which proved of great convenience to the settlers in
the surrounding country. The village fast gained
population under the proprietor's generous scheme of management,
and, in a few years, almost entirely through his influence, it
excelled in good morals and in true prosperity many of its young
rivals which had better natural advantages. Mr. Bruce
made liberal donations of land for public buildings, churches,
and schools, and also gave lots to a number of settlers, besides
encouraging the worthy poor by various other methods. It
is related of him that he seldom took any "toll" for grinding
the poor man's grist, and that he frequently gave outright to
those who needed it, quantities of flour, meal, and the
other simple provisions which were in use among the pioneers and
early settlers. He was a very humane man, kind-hearted
and, if such thing is possible, generous to a fault. His
life was a long and constant exercise of a very unusual energy,
and his labors redounded as much to the good of the general
public as to himself or immediate family. With all his
earnestness of purpose, his unswerving devotion to the right and
scrupulous regard for morality, he was original in his ideas,
and refused to be governed by popular opinion- a trait of
independence which gained for him in some quarters the
reputation of being eccentric, and in others created positive
ill-will.
He was once a member of the Christian or "New Light"
church, and a very consistent one indeed, with the exception
that he could not be persuaded from the idea that it was not
wrong to grind corn on Sunday for the poor, and in some cases
absolutely destitute settlers. Being remonstrated with by
some members of the church he withdrew from their fellowship.
His creed was that the great practical good to be obtained was
superior to the harm of nominally infringing a law of the
church, and he continued to run his mill down by Seven Mile on
Sundays as well as week days, when there was necessity for so
doing, and the water was high enough. This circumstance
served well as an illustration of the character of William
Bruce. He was a plain matter-of-fact man, a
utilitarian, very decided in his views, and direct in giving
them expression. He wished to infringe upon the rights of
now man, and would allow no man of infringe upon his. He
preferred to do good in his own way, and always
unostentatiously. His donations were usually accompanied
by some provision enjoining the recipient to perform to some
work for himself, and thus he secured to the community and
individuals and the fullest benefit, both directly and
indirectly of his benevolence.
Mr. Bruce's sterling traits of character gained
and maintained for him the universal and unqualified respect of
the people, a fact that was evidenced when he was made the first
treasurer of Preble county, and in later years by the number of
private trusts reposed in him.
The subject of our sketch was a jovial man, of high
spirits, enjoyed life, and was very fond of association with his
fellow-men. He was good humored, fond of conversation, and
a man of far more than ordinary mind.
His personal appearance was prepossessing, at once
commanding and benign.
Mr. Bruce died in 1832, and was buried in Mound
cemetery, where an appropriate monument, formed in part of the
grinding stones of the old mill, marks his resting place.
Mrs. Bruce's death occurred prior to that of her
husband, in 1827.
This pair of pioneers were the parents of nine
children, nearly all of whom grew to maturity and reared
families, whose members have, as a precious legacy, the good
name and fame of the patriarch William Bruce. All
but three are now deceased, viz: George, who for
the past fifty-three years has lived in Indianapolis;
Washington and James, residents of Preble county.
The eldest of the family, Hannah, married Jacob Spacht;
Charles, the second child, born January 15, 1796,
married Eliza Lease; Hardin was born July 1, 1798.
He married for his first wife Jane Cook, and for his
second Susannah Danforth (Swihort). Mary
(familiarly called Polly) was first married to James
Holliday, and after his death, to Levin T. McCabe; George,
born July 27, 1802, married Dove Regan; John L., born
November 4, 1804, died unmarried; Washington, born in
1809, married Sarah Redmond; James and
Alexander, twins, were born April 15, 1815. The latter
died in infancy, and the former is now living in Washington
township.
Charles Bruce was the father of nine children:
George, a physician, in Winchester, Indiana; Jerusha
(Morgan) in Eaton; William, deceased; William C.,
in Eaton; Melvina (Avery) in Indiana; Mary (Danford)
in Eaton; Josephine (Williams) in Indiana; Julia
(Minor) deceased; and John H., physician in Eaton.
Hardin Bruce had several children by his first
wife, of whom Margaret A. (Redmond) in Cincinnati,
is the only one living. By his second wife his children
were: John, Ervin, Mary (Deem), Frances (Deem),
Catharine, Emma and Laura, all resident in Eaton.
Mary Bruce, wife of James Holliday, had
four children by her first husband, viz: Sarah, deceased;
Caroline, wife of the late W. H. H. B. Minor,
M. D.; and Frances, wife of Alfred Denny, both
resident of Eaton; and James P., deceased.
George Bruce had three sons: William,
deceased; John W., and James, in Indiana.
Washington had one son, Charles W.
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 141 |
William Bulla
Residence
Jackson Tp.,
Preble Co., O
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Jackson Twp. -
WILLIAM BULLA. William Bulla, the
eldest son and second child of Thomas and Susan Bulla,
was born in Wayne county, Indiana, Apr. 30, 1810. Rapidly
reviewing the history of his family, the reader will note that
the family originated in Ireland. A strange and rather
romantic circumstance cast the lot of this family upon American
soil. About one hundred and fifty years ago three boys,
not more than thirteen or fourteen years of age, might have been
seen playing along the sea shore. Attracted by the
unwonted sight of a ship, and induced by the pressing invitation
of the captain, the boys stepped on board the vessel to satisfy
their boyish curiosity, and ere they knew it they were sailing
away from their native land to distant America. The
anguish of the boys upon learning that they had been duped by
the wiley captain, and the agony of the bereft parents is hidden
by the veil of forgetfulness. The boys had to work their
passage, and upon their arrival at the foreign port they were
sold by the captain “to pay their passage money.” What
became of two of these misused lads is not known. Of one,
however, there is a history, for he was none other than the
great-grandfather of William Bulla. It is
probable that the little outcast found a home in Pennsylvania.
Upon attaining his majority the love of his kindred and mayhap
the tender remembrance of some girlish face, induced him to seek
the home from which in childhood he had been so ruthlessly torn.
After remaining in Ireland a short time, long enough to find his
wife, he returned to this country, and the young couple settled
in Pennsylvania. Here William Bulla’s
grandfather, Thomas, was born, and in due time was
married, first to Sallie Wallace, who died without
children, and afterwards he was married to Esther
Widows, of Chester county, Pennsylvania. They had
three girls and nine boys, all of whom, except one little girl,
lived to maturity. Thomas Bulla was a. member of
the Society of Friends, and on this account did not take an
active part in the Revolutionary war. After the war the
family removed to Randolph county, North Carolina, where, Apr.
14, 1779, Thomas Bulla, the father of William,
was born. He was a jovial young fellow, very fond of
dancing and music, and was the center of the social life of his
community. When about nineteen years of age he married
Mary Foutz, born in North Carolina, and of German
descent. She died about seventeen years ago, leaving three
children, two of whom lived to maturity. In 1804 Thomas
Bulla and family started for the west. He stopped
for a time near Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, at which
place his first wife died.
Deciding to go further west, he went to Indiana by
himself, and entered land in the wilderness which is now
the fair territory of Wayne county, Indiana. He remained
in the wilderness for six weeks, never hearing a human voice or
seeing anything homelike. After building a cabin he
returned to Germantown, where a short time previously he had
married Susie Mowry, who was born in Pennsylvania, and of
German descent. They proceeded to their new home.
The Indians were plenty, but fortunately they were friendly.
The wolves made weird music around their cabin at night, but
they never did any serious damage. There was no settlement
farther west than that of Thomas Bulla, and consequently
he endured every hardship incident to pioneer life.
Thomas and Susan Bulla had fifteen children, of
whom twelve lived to maturity. Their little daughter,
Betsey, was drowned in Elkhorn creek when only two years
old.
William Bulla, the subject of this sketch, had
few educational advantages, but managed to get a fair education
by dint of hard study. He remained under the parental roof
until about nineteen years of age, when, imitating his father's
example, he took a wife. His young wife, Mary Edwards,
whose parents came from Gilford county, North Carolina, in 1807,
was born in 1811, and died in 1864, leaving no children.
For nearly three years after his marriage Mr. Bulla lived
in Wayne county, Indiana, and in 1831, near the close of the
year removed to Preble county and settled on his present farm,
consisting of the southwest quarter of section twenty-one, of
Jackson township. He settled literally in the woods, and
worked many a day clearing his land. The first house, a
hewed log cabin, is still standing north of Mr. Bulla's
born. He was married on the fourteenth of October, 1866,
to Martha A., the widow of George W. Green, of
Logansport, Indiana. She was born near Indianapolis, Mar.
3, 1831. By his marriage Mr. Bulla had five
children, four girls and one boy, viz: Ida M. and
Ada L., twins, born Sept. 8, 1867; Dora V., born
Jan. 7, 1870; Jennie born Oct. 2, 1871, and William
Thomas born Nov. 28, 1873.
Since his first vote, which was cast for Jackson, he
has voted for every Whig and Republican candidate for President.
HE has missed voting only three or four times, and these
occasions were spring elections. He is by no means
radical, and has always voted for principles, which to his mind
are best represented by the Republican party. He has never
desired office, though at times he has been a township officer.
He highly respects Christianity, but is naturally skeptical.
Below is appended a phrenological description of the forty-two
"bumps" on Mr. Bulla's head. The relative sizes are
indicated on a scale ranging from one to seven:
Amativeness, 3; parental love, 5; friendship 4, to be
cultivated; inhabitiveness, 4; continuity, 6; vitality, 7;
conjugal love, 3; combativeness, 6; destructiveness, 4;
alimentiveness, 5; acquisitiveness, 6; secretiveness, 3, to be
cultivated; cautiousness, 5; approbation, 6; self esteem, 5;
firmness, 7; conscientiousness, 4; hope, 6; spirituality, 5;
veneration 2, to be cultivated; benevolence, 5; constructiveness
4, to be cultivated; ideality, 5; sublimity, 5; imitation 4, to
be cultivated; mirth 3, to be cultivated; individuality, 5;
form, 4; size, 4; weight, 6; color, 5; order, 5; calculation, 4;
locality, 5; eventuality, 5; time, 6; tune 4, to be cultivated;
language, 5; casuality, 6; comparison, 4; human nature, 6;
suavity, 4; vital temperament, 9 degrees; motive temperament, 9;
and mental temperament, 10.
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Pages 454-455 |
Samuel Bunger, Sr. |
SAMUEL BUNGER, SR. - ok
Source: History of Preble County, Ohio - H. Z.
Williams & Bro, Publishers - 1881 - Page 218 |
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