|
CLICK BELOW
TO
CHANGE TOWNSHIPS
 |
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
Page 274 -
ANCIENT WORK
EARLY SETTLEMENT
The first pioneers who penetrated the wilds of
Lanier three quarters of a century ago found
an interminable forest and dense undergrowth, the
home of the Indian and wild beasts. With their
axes and guns, and with sturdy arms and will they
began the work of carving out the grand civilization
which their descendants behold to day. We of
the present day who have witnessed the rapid
settlement of the west can form but a faint idea of
the slow and tedious process of settlement in the
beginning of the present century, nor appreciate the
difficulties by which it was attended. Our
western States have been opened by railroads and
water communication before the emigrant has been
invited thither to take possession of the open
prairie lands which are ready for the plow and the
reaper, and which, to a great extent, are offered
gratuitously to all who should desire to possess
them. There were but few wagon roads, even,
open to the emigrant when Preble county was first
settled. In fact, it was a common experience
for the travellers to cut their road as they
journeyed. Those who came with families had a
lumber wagon with a large box, over which was a
covering of canvas or cotton cloth spread over
hoops, into which were packed all the household
goods, beds, clothing, provisions for the journey,
wife, children, and other necessaries for furnishing
the log cabin the settler had in prospect of
erection in the woods. Many also who came
without families made the journey on foot, carrying
all the possessions they had on their back.
The early settlers were generally poor and but
little capital was brought into the new country; but
they possessed what was more necessary, brave hearts
and strong hands, and the wealth of to-day has been
drawn from a productive soil through the industry
and energy of the people.
Jacob
Parker
The first permanent settler in what is
now Lanier township was, without doubt, Jacob
Parker. There is much that was romantic
in the early life of this pioneer which we can only
briefly touch upon here. He was born Oct. 10,
1777, in Morristown, New Jersey. At thirteen
years of age he was left an orphan, without a home
or means of support. When about fifteen he
fled to the far west to escape from a hard and cruel
master to whom he had been bound out to learn a
trade. He found his way to Fort Washington,
Ohio, where he enlisted as a soldier, and
subsequently served under General Wayne in
the campaign which followed against the Indians.
During the march to Fort Greenville he was one of a
squad of men detailed by General Wayne
to capture a deserter from the ranks. They
started in pursuit, and the first night camped on
the west side of Twin creek, southeast of where West
Alexandria now stands. It was this
circumstance that determined his future settlement.
Struck with the beauties of the Twin creek bottoms
in their native state, young Parker resolved
that he would make at some future day this rich
valley his home. After his discharge from the
army, and before the lands came into market he
visited Twin creek, and as early as 1798 built him a
cabin on the spot where he had camped a few years
before. When the lands were offered for sale
he entered together with Martin Ruple
the east half of section three, Parker taking
the north quarter on which his cabin stood.
This is now the Motter farm.
Parker first settled near Middletown (now Butler
county), Ohio. His first wife died there, and
in 1803, he married Miss Mary Loy,
and the same year moved into his cabin on Twin
creek, where he spent the remainder of his life He
died February, 1848, and was buried in the cemetery
in West Alexandria, a part of the ground for which
he donated. His children by his second
marriage, most of whom grew up in this community,
were: Peter, Christian, Isaac,
Moses, George, Barbara,
Jacob, Nancy, and Joshua; four of
them are living, namely: Christian, near Fort
Wayne, Indiana , George, in Missouri;
Barbara (Brower), in Humboldt, Nebraska;
and Nancy, in Fort Wayne.
John Aukerman
settled
on the creek which has since borne his name, on what
is now the Focht place, in the fall of
1804. He remained here only a couple of years,
and in 1806 sold out to Samuel Teal,
and moved to Washington township, locating on the
farm near Eaton, a portion of which is now occupied
by his son, John. He lived there for
more than sixty years, dying in 1867.
Jacob
Loy, sr.
was born in Maryland in 1776, and in
1801 moved to Ohio and settled in Warren county.
In 1805 he came to Lanier and settled on the hill
across the creek from Jacob Parker’s.
He lived there until his death, which occurred in
185 3, in his eighty-seventh year. Of his nine
children only two are now known to be living.
Jacob, who lives in Pyrmont, Montgomery
county, was born in September, 1794, in Washington
county, Maryland. He married in 1816, in
Butler county, Ohio, Susannah Tem-
Page 275 -
ple, who died in 1855. In 1870 he married the widow
in Eaton during part of the time that he was a
resident of William King, of
Montgomery county. Conrad Loy,
son of Jacob, was born in 1815, and came into
Preble county when only six years of age. He
has been twice married.
Martin
Ruple
as previously mentioned, entered with
Jacob Parker the half of section number
three, and was one of the first pioneers of Lanier.
The farm on which he settled is now owned by John
Glander. Mr. Ruple
afterward moved to Darke county.
Christian Price
was
the original owner of the land where Mrs. Abraham
Black now lives. Mr. Price
sold the land to John Black, sr., about the
year 1812.
Moses Hatfield was
the first settler where the Bowers mill now
is. He lived there a few years, only when he
moved out of the township.
Peter
Van Ausdal was one of the
earliest pioneers of this part of Preble county.
He came out from Virginia in 1805, being then
unmarried. He commenced clearing up a farm in
section ten— the farm now owned by his son, James
M. His father, John Van Ausdal,
moved out a short time after, and settled upon this
farm, Peter then entering land in section
seventeen. He was born in 1777, was married to
Rachel Banta, and died Feb. 11, 1857.
His wife, Rachel, died in 1843, and he was,
subsequently, again married. Of his five
surviving children three are living in the west and
two— James M. and Cornelius - in this
county. James M., who lives in West
Alexandria, was born in January, 1813. His
wife was, before marriage, Martha Kitson.
John Van Ausdal,
father of Peter, died Feb. 21, 18126, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age. The Van
Ausdals, with Peter and Isaac Banta,
and a few others, are buried in the family
burying-ground on the old homestead.
Christian Van Doren,
a native of New Jersey, was the first of that name
who settled in Preble county. When a young man
he moved to Virginia, and there married Phebe
Van Ausdal. He resided in that
State several years, during which time three
children were born to him. In 1805 or 1806 he
moved to Ohio with his father-in-law, John Van
Ausdal, and settled in Lanier township, Preble
county, where he lived the rest of his life.
Soon after his death the land passed out of the
possession of his family. He was one of the
founders of the Presbyterian church in Eaton.
His wife survived him several years, and died at the
residence of her daughters, in Indiana. But
three of his children are now living—two in
Minnesota, and one in Dakotah territory. His
descendants in this county now number thirteen, all
of whom are the children or grandchildren of his
eldest son, John, who was the only one of
Christian Van Doren’s children who
passed his entire life in Preble county.
John Van Doren was born in 1806, and was
one of the first white children born in the county.
In 1834 he married Frances Spacht, a
daughter of Jacob Spacht, one of the
first settlers in this county. Jacob
Spacht entered a quarter section of land
adjoining Eaton on the west. His first wife
was a daughter of William Bruce, and
his second a daughter of Christian Van
Doren. He was a merchant in Eaton during part
of the time that he was a resident of this county.
In 1837 he sold his land to his son-in-law, John
Van Doren, and moved to Indiana, where
he died in 1864. The land he entered still
belongs to his descendants, having been in their
possession seventy years. John Van
Doren’s five children still survive him.
Abram, the eldest, was the first grandchild
of William Bruce, the proprietor of Eaton.
Jacob
Fudge, sr. was one of
the earliest pioneers of Preble county. He was
born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1779.
His father died when he was quite young, and when
about sixteen, he emigrated with his mother and
stepfather from Kentucky to Warren county, Ohio.
Soon after he became of age, he and his brother,
David, came to this township, and together
purchased five hundred acres of land in section
thirty-four, where Jacob, his youngest son,
now lives. Here he resided until his death in
1861. He was married in
1810, to Elizabeth, daughter of the pioneer,
Gasper Potterf. Mrs.
Fudge survived her husband several years, and
died in 1869, aged seventy-nine. Upon the
organization of the county in 1808, Jacob
Fudge was elected its first sheriff, which
position be occupied for several years. He was
the father of thirteen children, ten daughters and
three sons, as follows: Malinda Pence
(deceased); Susan, widow of Silas
Gregg, living in this township; Nancy Pence
(deceased); Lucinda (deceased); Sarah
Kesling (deceased); Eliza Ann,
wife of Daniel Christman, of
Washington township; David, who died in
California in 1849; Minerva Harlan,
living in Dayton, Ohio; Margaret Wieland
(deceased); Franklin N., who married
Susannah Markey, and resides in Lanier
township in section thirty-five; Seraphina,
wife of John T. Shaw, also in this township;
Ermina Gifford in Harrison township,
and Jacob, who married Barthena
Kincaid, and occupies the old homestead.
In 1805
Benedick Stoner,
who was born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1767,
moved into this township, and settled on Twin creek,
near where the bridge now crosses it east of West
Alexandria. He took up fifty acres of land in
Lanier, on which he built his cabin, and one hundred
and sixty acres across the line in Twin township.
During the War of 1812 he, with Judge
Nesbit, built a distillery just east of the
creek, near where he lived. The property was,
a few years after, destroyed by fire, and was
rebuilt by Stoner who carried on the business
alone until his death, which took place June 20,
1822. His wife, Keziah (Morris),
died July 2, 1850, at the age of seventy years.
They had a family of nine children: John,
Lewis and Elizabeth are deceased; Mrs.
Michael Loy lives in Jay county,
Indiana; Mrs. Nancy Black, widow of
Abraham Black, just south of West
Alexandria; Henry and Frederick in
Indiana; Mrs. Frank Ramsey on
Dayton pike, west of West Alexandria, and Barbara,
widow of John Oswalt, in West
Alexandria. Mrs. Black was born
in 1807, within about half a mile of where she now
lives, and she possesses an excellent recollection
of early events in this vicinity. She is now
almost entirely blind.
Christian Halderman,
his son Abraham, and son-in-
Page 276 -
laws, Jacob Shewman and
John Kaylor, and their families came
out from Botetourt county, Virginia, in 1805. There
were about two or three families within the limits
of Lanier township at that time, one of which was
that of Jacob Parker on Twin creek.
Halderman entered section thirty-two, and
settled on the southeast quarter, his sons and
son-in-law, Shewman, taking the other three
quarters.
John
Halderman. his son, came out
with his family the next year, accompanied by
Samuel Teal and family, who
located on Aukerman creek. Abraham
Halderman was unmarried at the time of his
settlement here, but he afterwards married Sally
Neff. He died about the year 1811, and
his death was one of the earliest in his
neighborhood. He was buried on his farm.
The family seem to have been rather a remarkable one
for longevity. Christian Halderman
died at the age of about ninety, and John
Halderman at about the age of eighty-seven, Dec.
28, 1858. His wife was Mary Kinsey,
by whom he had nine children. There are six,
at present, living, viz: Abraham, John,
Cornelius, Mrs. Elizabeth Stiles,
Allen and Mrs. Chloe Andrews.
Abraham who resides in this township, and is
one of its oldest inhabitants, was born in Botetourt
county, Virginia, Sept. 9, 1797. His father,
John Halderman, was one of the first
surveyors of Preble county, and Abraham has
followed surveying more or less regularly ever since
he was seventeen. In 1825 he was married to
Elizabeth, daughter of John Fisher, sr.,
and has had six children, three of whom are living,
viz: Catharine, widow of John H. Gale,
in West Alexandria; Eli in Lanier, south of
West Alexandria, and Allen at New Paris.
John Kaylor settled in
section thirty-four. He died there many years
ago, and the property fell to his children, but has
since been sold.
Samuel
Teal, a native of Maryland,
and afterward a resident of Virginia, came to Ohio
in the fall of 1806, with John Halderman
and family. He settled at the mouth of
Aukerman creek, buying out John
Aukerman. He was one of the first Dunkards
in the county. He died on the place where he
settled in 1819, about fifty-seven years of age.
There are only two children now living of Samuel
Teal: the aged widow or Christian Sayler,
in Gasper township, and Joseph N., in Noble
county, Indiana.
John
Clawson, familiarly known as
“the great Indian fighter,” was one of Lanier’s
earliest pioneers, having settled on Banta’s fork as
early as 1805. He was a native of Virginia,
born about the year 1765. Reared in the midst
of the Indian depredations upon the white settlers
in his native State, he formed, early in life, an
intense autipathy to the race, which clung to him
through life. About the year 1788, he came
down the Ohio and settled at the mouth of the Little
Miami, where he lived until his removal to this
township. While residing there he became a
great hunter, and was somewhat celebrated as an
Indian spy. He would often lease the small
settlement on the rivers, and go off into the
wilderness with his rifle and remain for weeks at a
time. He would shoot an Indian at sight.
He had frequent encounters with them, and had many
narrow escapes, but always came out victorious.
He seemed bent upon the extermination of the race,
and believed in inflicting the same cruelties
practiced by the savages, and always scalped his
victims. He was a man of great personal
courage and great physical strength. He
resided in this township a few years, and then moved
down on Four Mile creek, in Dixon township. In
1818 he removed to the State of Indiana where he
died three years afterward.
David
Osborn
was one of the early settlers. He
located on the little stream named for him -
Osborn’s branch—an eastern tributary of Twin.
John
Price
came at an early day and settled on the
farm, just west of where Alexandria now stands,
which
was afterwards owned by Jacob Hell, and later by
Michael Klinger.
David Fouts
emigrated to Preble county from North Carolina, in
1806, and settled on Banta’s fork in Lanier
township, in section five. He resided there
until his death, in 1848, at the age of
eighty-eight.
Frederick Fouts,
the father of David, emigrated from Germany.
He was a coppersmith, and his great grandson,
Harvey Waymire, of West Alexandria, has a
piece of his handiwork, consisting of a spoon molds,
which are supposed to be one hundred and fifty years
old.
David Fouts
was the father of seven
children, as follows: Michael, John,
Catharine, Elizabeth, Sarah,
Jonas and David. All are now dead
but David, who lives in Wayne county,
Indiana. Catharine was the wife of
George Miller, Elizabeth married
George Whitesell, and Sarah was
the wife of Andrew Waymire.
Andrew Waymire and wife lived and died in
Lanier township, on a part of the old Fouts
homestead. Of their seven children five
are residents of this county, namely: Mrs.
Rosanna Siler, on the pike near Eaton;
Mrs. Huldah Sherkey, in Twin township;
Mrs. Catharine Quinn, in
Washington township; Mrs. Elizabeth
Lesh, on a part of the old Fouts place;
and Harvey, in West Alexandria. John.
lives in Indiana, and Mrs. Sarah
Kinser, in Montgomery county.
The Wolf
Family were among the earliest
pioneers of the township. Michael
Wolf, born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in
1771, was married to Christine Wheland,
and with four children they removed to Ohio in 1805,
and to Preble county in 1806. They settled on
Banta’s fork in this township, entering a
quarter section of land. Michael Wolf
died there in 1856, surviving his wife some eight
years. As early as 1820 he built a saw mill on
Banta’s fork, which he carried on for
twenty-five or thirty years. Of a family of
ten children all are now dead but Samuel, who
lives in Twin township. The other children who
grew up were: David, Jonas, Mrs.
Susannah Guntle, Mrs. Sarah
Sallee, Mrs. Catharine Wolf,
Mrs. Samuel Widner. The
widow of David Wolf, whose maiden name
was Elizabeth Shaffer, is still living
with her son, William, in this township.
Abraham and Albert Banta
came from Virginia in 1806. They were the
first settlers on Banta’s fork, which
circumstance gave the name to the stream.
Abraham settled in this township on the
Erhart farm, and Albert in Twin
township, on the Lexington and Eaton
road.
Susan Gregg is betw. pages 276 and 277 -
Mrs. Susan
Gregg
The subject of this brief
sketch is the second child of Jacob
and Elizabeth Fudge, a
sketch of whom will he found in another
part of this work. Her parents
emigrated from Virginia at an early day
and settled in Lanier township, where
their daughter Susan was born
Nov., 9, 1812. She received the
best education which that early
community afforded, in a little log
school-house of the true pioneer type.
Though her father and mother had a
family of thirteen children, ten of them
were girls, and not until the seventh
child was born was there a boy in the
family. On this account much of
the heavier work fell to the lot of the
girls. Mrs. Gregg
has vivid remembrance of assisting her
father in the work of clearing away
brush, going to mill and the like.
Nor was she idle in the domestic circle.
The spindle and shuttle were her
companions in the manufacture of linen,
flannel and cloth for home use.
She was also accustomed to braid her own
straw hats and bonnets.
Thus she continued busily employed until Jan. 27, 1833,
when she was married to Silas
Gregg, who was born in Georgia, Jan.
4, 1801, and when but four years of age
came to Ohio with his parents, who
settled in Gratis township about one
mile and a half south of
Winchester, residing there until their
death. Mr. Gregg's
father, Silas Gregg, was born
Apr. 29, 1759, and his mother, Rhoda,
was born Mar. 6, 1764. They had
eight children, three girls and five
boys, of whom Jacob Gregg
is the only survivor. The old
people were of English descent.
They both died about the year 1850.
Silas and Susan Gregg
went to housekeeping upon the old home
farm, where they lived five years.
In 1838, they removed to the present
farm of one hundred and sixty-three
acres, in section twenty-seven of Lanier
township. At the time of their
removal to this place about seventy
acres were cleared, and since then the
area of plowed land as become over one
hundred acres. The residence into
which they moved consisted of what is
now known as the old brick part, which
was erected in 1830 by Jacob
Brown, the building assuming its
present dimensions in 1852, when Mr.
Gregg built the frame addition.
The barn, which is seen in the view of
Mr. Gregg's residence, was
erected in 1840, and received an
addition ten years ago. Feb. 27,
1856, Mr. Gregg was called
away by death, and his widow has
occupied the place ever since.
Mr. Gregg left a family of
seven children, four boys and three
girls, one of |
|
whom is deceased.
The eldest, Nancy, was born May
25, 1834, and married Washington
Ozias; she died in 1861, leaving
two children, Eliza A., born Jan.
6, 1836, married Noah Coler,
and resides in Montgomery county.
They have five children.
William, who was born Apr. 17, 1837,
married Lavina Smith, and
after her death, married Catharine
Smith. He has one child by
his first wife. Mary A.,
born Jan. 21, 1841, and resides with her
husband, Robert H. White,
just west of Mrs. Gregg's;
John, who was born Mar. 13. 1843,
married Sarah A. Young, by whom
he has two children. He resides on
the home place with his mother, having
the care of the farm; Elijah,
born Jan. 5, 1847, married Eliza
Momingstar by whom he has had one
child. They reside in this county.
Mr. Gregg at his death left his family in
comfortable circumstances. He was
a faithful member of the Christian
church at New Lexington, to which church
Mrs. Gregg still belongs.
Mr. Gregg, by an upright
course through life, marked by many kind
deeds. established for him self an
unsullied reputation and won the esteem
and honor of his fellow citizens.
His widow, finding herself in charge of
the large farm, did not flinch from the
responsibilities which were suddenly
thrown upon her, and it is greatly to
her credit that, instead of allowing the
property to decrease, as is so often the
use under similar circumstances, she has
largely added to its value. She
purchased, subsequent to her husband's
death, eighty acres across the pike,
just west of the home place, which is
now occupied by her son-in-law.
Mr. White, and one hundred
and sixty acres of land in Wabash
county, Indiana. She has bought,
also. with her son John, the old
Dennison mill, on Twin creek.
Mrs. Gregg, in the management
of the property, has had the cordial
assistance of her children, whom she
raised to habits of industry and
economy. Her son John has the
management of the home farm, which
consists of rich bottom land and
productive upland.
Considerable corn and tobacco are
raised. Being bordered on the east
by Twin creek, the low lands are well
watered. Stock raising, though not
made a specialty, is an important
industry on the Gregg farm.
Looking at the surrounding country from
the point from which the view is taken,
the scenery is beautiful and the farm is
one which any one might well be proud to
own. |
Page 277 -
Peter
Banta
came subsequently, and settled on the farm
north of Abraham Halderman. He
was a preach er of the Christian denomination, and
one of the earliest of the neighborhood. He
died in 1836, in his sixty-sixth year, and is buried
on the Van Ausdal farm.
John
Neff
settled in this township in 1806, coming
from Virginia. He settled on the farm where
widow Eikenberry now lives. He died
in Randolph county, Indiana. The only member
of the family now living in Preble county is Mrs.
Isaac Eikenberry.
James
Dennison, sr, and family came
from Pennsylvania about the year 1807 or 1808, and
settled where the Gregg mill now is, which
mill his son, James, erected. The
father died in the early settlement of the township,
and his widow became the wife of William Swisher,
one of the early settlers, who afterwards moved on
to "Four Mile creek" in Dixon township.
Thomas Dennison now living in Niles, Indiana, is
the only survivor of nine children. James
resided at the mill, which he erected, until a few
years before his death, when he removed to Eaton.
He died in February, 1863, aged about sixty-two or
sixty-three years. His wife was a daughter of
William Eidson.
The Eikenberrys
were among the earliest
settlers in the southwest part of the township.
Henry Eikenberry and family,
consisting of his wife and five children, and his
father, Peter Eikenberry, came out
from Virginia in 1807. They settled where
Isaac Eikenberry now lives. They
camped there for the first six weeks after their
arrival, during which they built a small log house
and moved into it. For a year after their
settlement there were, it is said, no other settlers
nearer than three miles of them. Peter
Eikenberry died in the year 1800, and his was
the first burial in the church graveyard near by.
Henry Eikenberry
was born in Pennsylvania in
1772. He removed to Virginia, where he
afterwards married Mary Landee.
He died in 1828, and his wife survived him many
years. They raised seven children, named as
follows: Elizabeth, Samuel, Henry,
Peter, Isaac, David, and
Benjamin. Elizabeth, Samuel,
Peter, and David are deceased.
Henry was born in Virginia in 1800, and has
resided in the county ever since his settlement in
1804, a period of seventy-six years. He
married Polly Holdaman, now dead.
Isaac was born in 1804, and was less than a
year old when the family moved here from Virginia.
He married Sally, daughter of John
Neff. Benjamin resides in Iowa.
Peter Eikenberry was born in Preble
county in 1804. He married Eliza
Morningstar, who was born in Maryland in 1806.
After his marriage he settled where John
Brubaker now lives, which farm he eventually
sold and moved to the place now occupied by his
widow and son Peter. He died there in
1862.
David Eikenberry
married, in 1828, Hannah Cloyd, and
first settled about a mile north of where his widow
now lives. Some years afterwards he removed to
the old Cloyd homestead, which was
settled by Stephen Cloyd in 1809.
He died here in the spring of 1880.
William
Campbell, Sr. was born in
Greenbrier county, Virginia, July 27, 1780.
His father removed to near Lexington, Kentucky, when
William was but a lad. He came in 1807
or 1808, then a young man, to this county and
located in Lanier township. He had learned the
tanning business in Kentucky, and soon after his
arrival here - in 1808 or 1809 - he established a
tannery near Twin creek, southeast of where West
Alexandria now stands. The vats of this rude
establishment were made of hewed puncheons.
Mr. Campbell followed the business for a number
of years. He, afterwards, with two others, run
a line of stages from Hamilton to Eaton, and also
bought and sold horses, driving them to South
Carolina. About a year or two after he came to
Lanier he found a wife in the person of Elizabeth
Van Ausdal, daughter of John Van Ausdal,
and began housekeeping in a cabin where he had
established his tannery, in section eleven. He
died in Eaton June 16, 1837. His wife survived
him and died Feb. 3, 1800. They raised five
children. Maria, the eldest of the
children and only daughter, became the wife of
Hon. Francis A. Cunningham, and is now a widow
residing in Eaton. James is the present mayor
of West Alexandria. John V., attorney
and ex-probate judge, resides in Eaton.
Isaac is deceased, and William a
prosperous farmer in Twin township. James
Campbell, the only member of the family now
residing in Lanier, was born in this town ship Aug.
29, 1812. In 1844 he married Caroline
Dennison, daughter of James Dennison.
Mrs. Campbell died, after a brief illness,
Sept. 7, 1880, aged fifty-seven.
Jacob Lesh
was born in Berks county, Virginia, in the year
1793. When three years of age he removed with
his parents to Bedford county, Virginia, and in 1808
came to this county. He was united in marriage
to Mary Lautes, and shortly afterward settled
in section eighteen of this township, and resided
there until his death. His widow is still
living at the advanced age of eighty-seven.
There are six children living, to-wit: John,
Aaron, and Mrs. Albaugh in this
township, the latter on the homestead; Jacob
and Susannah in Missouri, and Daniel
in Indiana.
Joel
Young came to Preble
county from Maryland with his parents in 1809.
His father, Henry Young, set tled on
Aukerman creek, near Winchester. Joel
married Maria Swihart, whose parents
were early settlers in Gratis, and located where his
widow still lives. He died in 1869, aged about
sixty-five. He had twelve children, eight of
whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Josiah
Eikenberry, Mrs. Christian Eikenberry, Isaac,
David, Josiah, and Flizabeth in Lanier,
and Mrs. Brubaker and Amos in
Gratis. Daniel married Martha E.
Longstreet, and resides on the pike west of West
Alexandria.
Daniel Adney
came from
Virginia about the year 1808 or 1809, and entered
the farm now owned by Harvey Heckman.
Adney afterwards sold to Jacob
Harter, and Harter to John
Clawson. Clawson was called the
“great Indian fighter,” deriving this soubriquet
presumably from his brushes with the Indians.
Samuel Mitchell, in
1808, settled on the farm now owned by Henry
Rinehart, northeast quarter of section
twenty-nine.
Page 278 -
William Smith entered
the southeast quarter of section twenty in 1807,
which he subsequently sold to
Luke Vorhis.
James Cloyd
came from Botetourt county, Virginia,
with his family, consisting of his wife and seven
children, in the fall of 1810. They wintered
on Bear creek, in Montgomery county, and the next
spring moved to Preble and settled on section
twenty-six, where the widow of Eikenberry now
lives. He died in 1816, and four of the
family, one son and three daughters, are now living,
of whom Stephen, now aged eighty-two, and
living in the northeast part of Lanier township, is
the oldest. One of the daughters, Mrs.
Leslie, lives in Darke county; Mrs.
Swihart in Montgomery, and Mrs. David
Eikenberry in this township, where her father
settled in 1810.
Jacob Deardorff
was born in York county,
Pennsylvania, Dec. 27, 1781. When about nine
years of age he moved with his father, Peter
Deardorlf, to Botetourt county, Virginia.
While yet a young man he came to this county, and on
the twenty-sixth day of January, 1811, he married
Elizabeth Lesh. They began their
married life in a cabin on the Joseph
Potterf (now David Ockerman) farm,
in section eight, and lived there until their own
cabin in section eighteen was erected, where they
took up their abode in the spring of 1812.
Mr. Deardorff was a millwright by trade,
but was skilful in woodcraft, being able to make
almost any article of household utility. He
also made plows having wooden mould-boards, fanning
mills, and other farming implements. He
assisted in the carpenter work of the, old Nesbit
building at Lexington, built in 1811. He lived
to be about seventy-four years old, dying Jan. 27,
1856, on the farm on which he first permanently
settled. His wife died previously. He
was the father of nine children, six of whom
survive, viz.; Peter, a silversmith in
Philadelphia; Jacob, in this township;
Samuel, in Washington township; Benjamin,
on the pike east of Eaton; Rebecca, in
Dayton, and Silas, in Miami county, Indiana.
Jacob married Sally, daughter of
Daniel Hatter, and is a prosperous
farmer; Benjamin was married in x854 to
Miss Sarah R. Trout, who died two years
afterward, and two years subsequent to her death he
was married again to Miss Susannah
Harter. He began teaching school soon
after he became of age, and taught regularly and
irregularly for a number of terms until his
marriage, when he purchased and commenced farming on
the old homestead. During the period of his
school teaching he held the office of county school
examiner, and after he began farming he served
several years as county commissioner.
Isaac Banta
was born in Lanier township, Ohio, in the year 1812,
and came to Preble county at an early date with his
parents, Peter and Effie Banta. They
settled in Lanier township on Banta creek. His
wife was Anna Reed, who bore him ten
children, only two of whom survive: Hannah M.,
wife of George Harter, of California, and
James Banta. Before his death, which
occurred in the year 1847, Mr. Banta was a
minister of the Christian church.
James Banta,
eldest son of the above, was born in 1831, and is
now residing in Washington township. His first
wife was Eliza Jane Halderman, by whom he had
two children, one of whom still survives.
Mrs. Banta died in 1861 at the age of
twenty-five. In 1865 he married Elizabeth
Chrisman, who was born in 1839. Five
children were born them, all of whom are living.
After his first marriage, Mr. Banta
settled in Lanier township, where he lived for ten
years. He then moved to Twin township.
In 1876 he moved to Preble county and settled in
Washington township. He is the owner of a fine
farm of over one hundred and forty acres.
While in Twin township he held the office of
township trustee for several years, and has for
several years been president of the school board.
Joseph Harter
entered the land where Jacob Deardorff
now lives, and after making an improvement sold to
his brother, Daniel, about 1812, and moved
away. Daniel resided here until his
death.
Jacob
Heckman, who was born in
Pennsylvania in 1771, emigrated from Virginia to
Ohio in the winter of 1811. He settled where
his son, Isaac Heckman now lives, and
died there in 1854. Mary Heckman,
his wife, died some fifteen years before. They were
the parents of six children, viz: Anna, Helen,
David, Catharine, Isaac and Barbara.
Anna was the wife of Henry Brower,
and Helen the wife of Abraham
Wimmer; Catharine is now the widow of
Joseph C. Harter, and resides in Indiana;
Barbara became the wife of John
Werhley. Isaac, who has ever since
occupied the old farm where his father settled in
1811, was born Jan. 9, 1803. He married in
1825 Mary Young, who was born in
Maryland in 1807. Mr. and Mrs. Heckman
have had ten children, nine of whom are still
living. Christian Siler was born
in Bourbon county, Virginia, in 1794. In 1811
he emigrated to Preble county and settled on a farm
now owned by Eli Fisher. In 1823
he married Miss Hannah Nichum,
who was born in Kentucky, in 1801, and came to this
county with her parents in 1812. John
Nichum, her father, was in the war of 1812.
There have been born to Christian and Hannah
Siler eight children, two of whom are deceased.
The survivors are Margaret, Chloe, Catharine,
Nancy Jane, Susan B. and Clementine.
John Black
and his family, consisting of his
wife, Catharine, and children, John
(his wife and one child), Frederick, Sarah,
Susan, Jacob, Elizabeth, Polly and Abraham
emigrated to Preble county from Rockingham county,
Virginia, in the year 1812. The father
purchased some four hundred acres of land in
sections number three and four, a short distance
south of where West Alexandria now stands, and this
land has always remained and is now in possession of
the family. John Black, sr., was born
Dec. 13, 1756, and died in 1826. He was a
Revolutionary soldier. His wife died in 1853.
They raised a family of nine children, the youngest
of whom, Catharine, was born after the
settlement of her parents here. She now
resides in Wabash county, Indiana, and is the wife
of Solomon Oswalt. Sarah
(now the widow of Samuel Moore)
resides in Montgomery county, O., and is now in her
eighty-eighth year. These two are the only
survivors of the family.
Page 279 -
John, jr., married Barbara and raised
six children, three of whom are now living, viz:
John in Illinois, Joseph in West
Alexandria, and Mary Ann, wife of
Joseph Jones, in this township also.
Frederick Black
was born in 1793; was married in 1815
to Susannah Montle whose father,
Christopher Montle, came from Augusta
county, Virginia, in 1810 or 1811, and settled in
the south part of Lanier township.
Frederick Black died in 1861, and his
wife in Feb. 23, 1869, aged seventy-seven.
They raised but two children, Samuel and
John. The latter died in Darke county, in
1877. Samuel resides in West
Alexandria, where he has been engaged in
merchandizing for the last thirteen years. He
was born in 1817, and has been twice married, first
to Mary Ann Caton, and for his
second wife Harriet Johnson.
Frederick Black served six months in the
War of 1812.
Abraham Black
was born July 30, 1807, and was
married to Nancy Stoner, Apr. 16,
1830. He entered the service of the Government
in October, 1861, in the Thirty-fifth regiment Ohio
volunteer infantry, and was discharged at
Chattanooga, Tennessee, in September, 1864. He
died May 17, 1875. His widow is still living.
She is the mother of three boys and three girls,
three of whom are living, viz: David, who
married Mary Ann Porter, and lives on
a portion of the homestead; Catharine, widow
of J. L. Cupp, in West Alexandria, and
Samuel S., where his grandfather settled.
Abraham Brower
emigrated from Rockingham county,
Virginia, to Montgomery county, Ohio, about the year
1801. He resided in Montgomery county until
1815, when he moved to Preble and settled on Banta’s
creek, south of West Alexandria, on what is now the
Potterf farm. He cleared this farm, or
a considerable part of it, and erected a saw-mill on
the creek near by. He lived there until his
death, in 1821. He was born in Rockingham
county, Virginia. His wife, Elizabeth,
survived him many years. Her maiden name was
Hatter. They were the parents of twelve
children. The survivors are Catharine,
wife of John Hart, Nancy, widow
of George Teal, Joseph,
George, Susannah (Parker),
Abraham, Elizabeth, wife of Isaac
Hart, Henry, and Christina,
wife of William Campbell. Mrs. Hart,
Joseph, George, Henry and
Mrs. Campbell reside in this county.
The rest live in the west.
Joseph Brower
was born in 1807; married Maria Spatty
in 1838, and resides one mile east of West
Alexandria. He has been, with the exception of
a few months, a resident of the township since 1815.
A daughter is the wife of Dr. Tillson,
of West Alexandria. George Brower
resides in Euphemia, Harrison, township. He
was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1810, and
was married to Christina Swihart in
1837, and after her death again married. Henry,
who lives in this township, was born in 1819, and in
1839 was united in marriage to Catharine Nevinger,
who died in 1865. His oldest son, Albert,
was married to May Black in 1877,
daughter of Joseph Black, and occupies his
father-in-law’s farm near West Alexandria.
Jacob Brower
moved in in the year 1815. He was born in
Virginia in 1772, and died in this township in 1822.
His wife was Anna Rudy, who was born
in 1789 and died in 1876. They had eleven
children born to them, of whom the following named
are now living: Daniel, John,
Sarah (Fouts), Jacob, and
Susannah, wife of Daniel Dillman.
Daniel Brower was born in the State of
Virginia in 1803, and came to Ohio with his father
in 1815.
Jacob Sorber,
born in Pennsylvania in 1785, came to Preble county
with a family of wife and four children in 1816, and
settled on Twin creek, where the grist-mill
southeast of West Alexandria now stands. Sorber
was a millwright by trade, and soon after his
settlement put up a saw-mill on Twin, and sawed the
lumber used in the construction of most of the
buildings in the neighborhood. In 1832 or 1833
he built the grist-mill now owned by Mr.
Brower, and carried on the milling business for
many years. He died June, 1848, aged
sixty-three years. His wife, Catharine
(Wescoe), died in 1863, aged seventy seven.
Of nine children, four daughters are now living, as
follows: Mrs. Anna Potterf,
widow of David Potterf, in West
Alexandria; Mrs. Judy Coover,
in Greenville, Ohio; Mrs. Sarah
Brower, in Crawfordsville, Indiana; and
Susannah, wife of Lewis Drayer, in
West Alexandria.
Henry Eidson, sr.,
was a native of Bedford
county, Virginia, and removed to Preble county in
1816. He settled near where Enterprise now is,
in section fourteen and resided there until his
death. He was a zealous and prominent member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and is regarded as the
father of Methodism in the community in which he
lived. His house was for many years a preaching
place and a home for the preachers of his church,
and the first meeting-house erected by the
denomination in the township was on his farm. He
died Feb. 2, 1847, aged sixty-nine years and ten
months. He had four sons and several
daughters. The sons were Shelton, Boyce,
Henry and William. Only two of the
children - one son and one daughter - now survive,
viz.: Mrs. Nancy Borden, in
Olney, Richland county, Illinois, and Dr. William
H. Eidson, in Liberty, Jasper county, in the
same State. Henry Eidson, jr., who
occupied the homestead, was a justice of the peace
for some time in this township, and a leading
citizen. Two sons of Boyce Eidson, who
died in Johnsville, Montgomery county, G. H.
Eidson and W. A. Eidson, reside in Eaton.
John Fisher, sr.,
emigrated to this township from
Virginia in the fall of 1817, and settled on the
farm now owned by his son Eli. He was
born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, Feb. 23, 1770,
and died at the homestead in this township, Jan. 25,
1844. His wife, Catharine (Humbert),
survived him some twenty years, and was eighty-four
at the time of her death. Mr. Fisher
was an industrious, hard-working man, and died
possessed of a large property, which he divided
among his children. The most prominent trait
of his character is said to have been his
benevolence. He was the father of twelve
children, eight of whom survive, as follows:
Elizabeth, wife of Abram Halderman,
and Jacob H.
(who married Lavina Holsman), living
in this township; Mrs. Jacob
Dillman and Mrs. Henry Rupsam
and Eli, who married Phebe Kesler,
in Eaton; David, in West
Page 280 -
Alexandria, married Margaret Sample;
Susannah Switzer, and Joseph, who married
Christina Harter residing in Washington
township.
Peter Rinehard,
Elijah Pappaw, George Morningstar, and
others came from Boteourt county Virginia, in the
year 1817. They came by way of Cincinnati, and
were two days in effecting a passage across the Ohio
river, being obliged to construct for the purpose of
raft out of logs and boards to carry their wagons
and stock across. Peter Reinhard
settled in section twenty-one on the farm now owned
by William Wright. He died in the fall
of 1850, at an advanced age.
Elijah Pappaw
settled in Gasper township, but moved, in 1833, to
Darke county.
William Wright, sr.,
came at this same time, being then a mere
boy. He worked for Abraham Rinehard
for a number of years and afterward married
Eva Rinehard, daughter of Peter
Rinehard, and moved onto the farm where Henry
Rinehard now lives. He subsequently
settled on the farm now owned and occupied by
John T. Shaw, and resided there until his death,
which took place in 1864, at the age of sixty-three
years. His wife died a few months before.
They had eight sons and three daughters, two of whom
are dead. The others are: James, living
in Illinois; Peter, Jacob, John,
and Mrs. Elizabeth Gill, in
Indiana; Andrew, in Darke county, Ohio;
William, who married Anna Heckman,
in 1857, and occupies the old Rinehard
homestead; David and Mrs.
Thomas Morningstar, in this township.
George F. Zitzer
was born in Baden, Germany, Aug. 5, 1782. He
married, in 1818, Mrs. Catharine Frey,
whose maiden name was Mangold. Their
acquaintance was formed during their passage across
the ocean to this country in 1817, and were married
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mr.
Zitzer was by trade a cabinet maker, and in 1824
he came to Ohio and established himself in that
business in West Alexandria, and continued in it for
many years with great success. His wife died
Jan. 24, 1860, aged sixty-seven, and he seven years
subsequently, in his eighty-fifth year. They
raised a family of seven children. The son,
Mr. John Zitzer, of West Alexandria, came there
with his parents in 1824, and has continuously
resided in the place ever since, a period of
fifty-six consecutive years. He has lived in
the town a longer period than any other inhabitant,
with the exception of Mrs. Alexander.
Mr. Zitzer continued the business
formerly conducted by his father and it is now
carried on by his son George L. The
other surviving children of Frederick
Zitzer are: Mrs. Elizabeth Heister,
who lives in Montgomery county, Ohio; Mrs.
Sally Singer, in Lewisburgh; Mrs.
Susan Coplentz, in Springfield, Ohio,
and Mrs. Louisa Ridenour, in Indiana.
Samuel
Gregg settled in West
Alexandria in 1828. He was born in
Pennsylvania in 1797, and was married in October,
1821, to Sarah Miller, who died in
West Alexandria July 23, 1829. In March, 1831,
he was married by N. Benjamin, esq., to
Sarah Martin, who is still living, at the
age of seventy-nine. Mr. Gregg
is probably the oldest shoemaker in the county.
He commenced working at the trade in 1808, and has
followed it, with the exception of brief intervals,
ever since, and still works at the last at the age
of eighty-three. He has never been farther away from
West Alexandria since his settlement in the town
than Dayton, and has yet to take his first ride on
the cars.
Abraham
Fisher settled in this county
in the year 1829, having emigrated from Franklin
county, Pennsylvania. He first settled in
Montgomery county, near Dayton, but after a
residence there of eighteen months, removed to
Gratis township, in this county, near Winchester.
He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in
the year 1805. His wife, Lydia, died in
1839. Mr. Fisher resides with
his son, David, who, of the six children, is
the only one now residing in this county.
David, in 1848, was married to Sarah,
daughter of Christian Neff. She died
Nov. 24, 1878, and he was again married June 13,
1880, to Christina Deeter, of Miami
county, Ohio.
Jacob Trout
was married in the spring of 1831 to Elizabeth
Bowman, and in the fall of the same year
emigrated from Rockingham county, Virginia, to
Preble county, and settled in Lanier township,
having previously purchased two hundred and twenty
acres in section twenty-eight. He died in the
spring of 1875, aged seventy-four. His widow,
born in July, 1809, still occupies the old
homestead. Their children were eight in number, all
of whom are now deceased but two - Mary Jane,
wife of Alfred Johnson, living with
their mother, and Caroline Elizabeth,
wife of John Halderrnan, of West
Alexandria.
John Michael Buehner,
born in Germany in the year 1783, emigrated to the
United States with his wife, Augusta, and five sons,
in the fall of 1833. He settled in Butler
county, and lived there until 1839, when he came to
Preble county and bought one hundred and sixty acres
of land in Lanier township, which is now owned by
Charles F. Buehner, his son. He died there
in 1856, but the widow is still living, at the age
of seventy-five. The family consisted of seven
children, two of whom were born in this country.
The names of the surviving children are as follows:
John M., who married Christina Campbell, and
now lives in Washington township; Charles F.,
who married, in 1851, Margaret Pappaw,
and occupies the old homestead in this township;
Gotlieb, who lives in Wabash county, Indiana;
Mrs. Leah Ailer, and Ann
Dorothy, wife of William H. Laird, both
living in this township.
Joseph Potterf,
oldest son of Gasper Potterf, the
pioneer of Gasper township, was a resident of
Lanier, and operated the old oil mill, south of West
Alexandria, for some time. He married
Elizabeth Kesling, and had a family of
thirteen children. He died, in 1859, while
temporarily residing in Iowa, at the age of
sixty-seven. His wife died Sept. 30, 1872,
aged seventy-six years and six months. Nine of
the children are living as follows: James and
Samuel, in Defiance; George T. and
Mrs. Esther Fouts, in Lanier;
Mrs. Saur, in West Alexandria; Joseph,
in Washington township; Mrs. Dunlap
and Mrs. Singer, in Iowa; and Mrs.
Ozias, in Kansas.
George T. Potterf
married Susan Ozias, and occupied the
old Brower place, south of West Alexandria
Between pages 280 and 281 -
JACOB AND MRS. JACOB
FUDGE
The subject of this memoir was one of
the earliest pioneers of the county and
a prominent and valued citizen for
considerably more than half a century.
He was born in Rockingham county,
Virginia, Dec. 26, 1779. His
father died when he was about three
years of age, leaving a wife and two
small boys, Jacob and David.
The mother subsequently remarried and
the family removed to Kentucky.
They resided in Kentucky until Jacob was
about fourteen, when they emigrated to
Warren county, Ohio, settling where
Lebanon now stands. Some six years
afterward they settled on Clear creek,
in the same county, near Springsborough.
After living there a few years Jacob
and his brother David, having
attained their majority, concluded to
strike out for themselves. They
made their way to what is now Lanier
township, Preble county, Ohio, and
purchased five hundred acres of land on
Twin creek, in sections thirty-four and
thirty-five. This tract is now
occupied by F. N. and Jacob Fudge,
and is as rich and productive asoil as
the county affords.
At the time of the purchase Jacob Fudge
was obliged to go to Cincinnati to make
a payment and receive the patent for the
land. Cincinnati, now a city of a
quarter of a million of inhabitants, was
then a mere village, situated on the
outskirts of civilization, and the court
house in which Mr. Fudge
transacted his business consisted of the
up per story of a log building.
While in the “city” he was offered a
real estate investment, which had he
accepted, would have proven a most
fortunate one for him, but he preferred
his broad acres in the wilderness on
Twin creek, to a few acres in the embryo
city. Mr. Fudge
finally became possessed of his
brother's share in the Twin tract,
having exchanged lands on Price's creek
for it. When Preble county was
organized Mr. Fudge was
elected to the office of sheriff, and
was therefore the first incumbent of
that office in the county. |
|
But he had
no fondness for official life, and it is
said that he even bought an admirer a
gallon of whiskey on condition that he
would not urge his election as a
candidate for a certain office. This is
in striking contrast to the practice in
vogue at the present day.
Mr. Fudge was an unostentatious.
hard-working, industrious man, attending
strictly to his own affairs. His
early education was of necessity
neglected, but he was a man of sound
judgment, and prospered in his worldly
affairs. He was not a member of
any church, but inclined to the
Universalist belief.
He was united in marriage November 14, 1810, to
Elizabeth, daughter of Gasper
Potterf, the pioneer of the
township which perpetuates his name.
Mrs. Fudge was born Feb.
10, 1790, in Rockingham county,
Virginia. They began married life
in a log cabin on the hill west of where
their son, Jacob, now lives. In
1819 Mr. Fudge erected a
brick dwelling - a two-story with a
story and a. half wing - one of the
earliest brick houses in the county, and
a stately structure for those days.
He died Mar. 27, 1863, aged eighty-three
years and three months. His wife
survived him several years, and died
Feb. 3, 1869. They were the
parents of thirteen children, seven of
whom survive: Malinda (Pense),
born Aug. 23, 1811, now deceased;
Susan (Gregg), born Nov. 9,
1812; Nancy (Pense), born
Feb. 16, 1814, deceased; Lucinda,
born Sept. 6, 1815, died unmarried;
Sarah (Kesling), born July 28, 1817,
deceased; Eliza Ann (Christman),
born Sept. 6, 1819; David, born
]une 26, 1821, died in California in
1850; Elizabeth M. (Harlan), born
June 29, 1823; Margaret (Wieland)
born May 23, 1825, deceased; Franklin
N., born Dec. 15, r826; Seraphina
(Shaw), born Apr. 8, 1829;
Armina (Gifford), born Apr.
18, 1832; Jacob, born July 13,
1837. |
ELDER JAMES NEAL
was born in
Franklin county, Kentucky, May 7, 1808.
His paternal great-grandfather emigrated
from England, and his maternal ancestors
came from Ireland. His
grandfather, John Neal,
settled in Kentucky at a very early day.
His father, Benjamin Neal,
one of seven children, was born in
Kentucky in 1777. He grew up as
farmer boy, and when quite young, was
married in Kentucky, to Mary
Sellers, the daughter of Nathan
and Sarah Sellers.
She was born in Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, May 3, 1776. The
young couple lived first in Bourbon, and
then in Franklin county, Kentucky, and
raised seven of their nine children.
Sarah married William
Duggins, and both are dead.
Nathan is in Fontain county,
Indiana. James was the next
child. Jane, wife of Levi
Fleming, is dead.
Benjamin and John are in
Baton, as is also Mary A., the
wife of George Wagoner.
When James was in his fourth year, in the fall
of 1811, his parents, in company with
his mother's parents, emigrated to
Preble county, where old Mr.
Sellers entered land two and a half
miles south of Eaton. Forty acres
of this land were occupied by the
Neal family. At the
time of their emigration the journey was
made by wagon, and was long and tedious.
During two months after their arrival
they lived in an open faced pole shanty.
They moved into their round log cabin
ere the puncheon floor had been laid.
The chimney was of the "cat and clay"
style, and the back wall and jams of the
huge fire-place were of clay.
Mr. Sellers built an Indian proof block
house, with bullet proof walls
pierced by port holes at convenient
distances apart. The predatory
warfare of the Indians frequently caused
the settlers to transfer their families
to the block-house.
Mr. Neal well remembers how, one night,
during an Indian alarm, he and his
playmates were hastily concealed in the
clay pit whence the material for the
chimney had been taken. Happily
the alarm was false, and the scared
little prisoners were soon liberated.
Mr. Neal's father was exempted from the
War of 1812, on account of ill health.
Mr. Neal was early inured to pioneer
hardships. Schools were few and
far between. He attended for a
time a school on Rocky fork, having to
blaze his path through the woods in
order to find the way home.
His father, after clearing and improving much of
his land and living on it for ten or
twelve years, sold it, and bought a lot,
and built a house in New Lexington.
Mr. Neal removed with his father and
worked on breaking bark in Nisbit's
tannery. After the death of his
father in 1822, the family removed to a
farm just northeast of Eaton.
James' oldest brother leaving home
to learn a trade, left him with the
management of the farm. Soon after
this they moved into a hewed log house
on Barron street, in Eaton. For
two years Mr. Neal
supported the family by day's labor.
Then his mother married Thomas
Fleming, who took the family first
to Darke county, and finally settled
about three and a half miles south of
Eaton. At this time Mr.
Neal learned the blacksmith trade on
the farm of George Leas,
on the Camden pike. He finished
his apprenticeship with Daniel
Mack, of Somerville. While in
Somerville, June
7, 1827, he married Ruth, the
daughter of Courtland and
Susan Lambert, native
Kentuckians, who settled near Friendship
church, near which Mr. Lambert
had a little grist-mill. Their
daughter was born in Kentucky, Sept. 1,
1808.
Soon after Mr. Neal's marriage he started
in the blacksmith business on the south
line of Dixon township, cooking in an
old log school house, and living in the
adjoining house erected for the use of
the school-master. After two years
removing to Vermillion county, Illinois,
near Danville, the county seat, he
remained there two years and twenty
days, working at his trade and farming.
Compelled by sickness and misfortune to
return to Ohio, he found a home on Paint
creek, on the southeast comer of
Silas Dooley's farm,
where he built first a log shop and
afterwards one of brick. While
living here an incident occurred which
illustrates the pluck and indomitable
perseverance which has always
characterized the actions of Mr.
Neal. Having had ten cords
of wood cut for conversion into
charcoal, he dug a pit in the frozen
ground from which to obtain the earth to
throw over the wood before setting it on
fire. So hard was the frozen
ground that it had to be quarried in
great chunks. After the wood |
|
had been
fired, Mr. Neal remained for five
days and nights without rest or sleep.
At one time the fire penetrated the
earth covering, and Mr. Neal
in his anxiety to repair the breach,
fell into the fire, which almost
swallowed him up ere he could escape.
During all the time that he was attending to this work
the weather was intensely cold, and
Silas Dooley was accustomed
to come over every morning to see if his
friend had survived the bitterness of
the night.
After remaining on Paint creek for five years he
removed to a farm of one hundred acres
in Jackson township, on the Indiana
line. After remaining there
seventeen years he removed to Eaton, in
the property on Cherry street, opposite
Fulton's blacksmith shop. In 1854
he removed to his present farm of one
hundred and thirty acres, three miles
east of Eaton, on the Dayton pike.
When he first moved to this place only
about thirty acres were cleared, and
there were no improvements. At
first he lived in a deserted frame
School-house, which had been removed to
the farm. The present house and
barn were erected in 1855, the building
of which was personally superintended by
himself. This farm is now
considered to be one of the best
improved in the neighborhood.
Mr. and Mrs. Neal have nine children, seven of
whom lived to years of maturity, six of
whom survive. Benjamin died in infancy.
Mary Ann, who was born in
Illinois, where she now lives, is the
wife of Jacob Johnson.
Sarah is the wife of Aaron
Brandon, of Illinois.
Susannah died in Eaton in 1853, aged
twenty-one years. John
lives in Eaton. Johannah,
the namesake of old Mrs.
Dooley, died in infancy.
Nathan W. and Elizabeth J.,
the wife of John Kitson, lives in
Illinois. William C. and
family live on the home place.
Mr. Neal's domestic life was saddened by
the almost life-long derangement of his
wife, whom he faithfully cared for until
death released her, Apr. 6, 1879.
Were the above the life history of Mr. Neal
it would be creditable in itself, but a
second and more important chapter
remains.
In the year 1832, while living in Illinois, he was
converted to Christianity, and joined
the Christian church. Immediately
after his conversion, feeling
constrained to speak in public, he
became an exhorter, much against his
natural inclinations. After
removing to Ohio he continued public
speaking, and in 1834 attended
conference as a licentiate. While
attending conference at Bethel chapel,
Warren county, he consented to become a
regular minister, and in 1835 was
installed, and ordained pastor of the
Paint church, by Elders David
Purviance and Nathan
Worley. During his twelve
years pastorate at Paint he received but
fifty-eight dollars cash for salary.
For one year, being too poor to own a
horse, he walked to and from his
appointment, a distance of twelve miles,
through all kinds of weather. He
reorganized the Bank Spring church, and
was pastor for eighteen years.
Organizing the churches at West Florence
and Union Chapel, he served the former
seven years and a half in all, and the
latter seventeen years. He
preached one year in Eaton, and after
1854 was pastor of the Bethlehem church
for twenty years. He preached in
all five years at Phillipsburgh,
Montgomery county. Not long ago he
reorganized the New Westville church.
Above are noted the mile-stones in a faithful
minister's life. During the
forty-five years of Elder
Neal's ministry he has received not
less than one thousand members into the
church, baptized eight hundred, preached
eight hundred funeral sermons, and
married seven hundred couples. His
salary has averaged less than
twenty-five dollars per annum.
Pioneer preachers worked literally on
the apostolic plan.
Next to the Purviances Elder Neal
was the pioneer representative of his
church in Preble county. To-day he
alone is a living monument of the early
ministry. Taking into
consideration the vicissitudes of his
life, his success is wonderful.
Being well read in the Scriptures he
never lacked the material, and only
needed the art of discourse. In a
series of twenty-four lessons in
Greenleaf's grammer he obtained mastery
over the English language, and many a
night he studied by the light of a bark
torch, doing all this after beginning to
preach.
Mr. Neal always speaks extemporaneously.
In years gone by no man had a better
voice for singing than he. To-day,
though approaching four score years, he
is as able to preach now as ever, and
expects to die in the harness. |
Page 281 -
George B. Unger,
born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1808,
came to Ohio, and located in West Alexandria, in
1831. He was, by trade, a tailor, but gave it
up to accept a clerkship with N. L. Derby,
and later was in the employment of J. H. Gale.
He married, in 1832, Mary Sorleer, who
died in 1837. In 1840 he married Sarah
Hart, and after her death, he married for his
third wife, in 1848, Caroline Gale,
who is still living. He has had seven
children, four by his first wife, and three by his
second. Two are living—Aaron, of Unger,
and Derby and John, of Eaton.
Jonathan
Ridenour settled upon the
southeast quarter of section sixteen, in 1836.
He was one of the earliest pioneers of the county,
having first lived in Israel township. In the
history of that township mention of the settlement
of the family is made. The west half of the
Ridenour homestead is now occupied by the
widow of Casper Ridenour, son of
Jonathan. Casper Ridenour
died in May, 1880, at the age of forty-seven.
In the spring of 1873, he married Miss Mary
Pontius, of Twin township, who was born in 1847.
Mrs. Ridenour has two children.
John H.
Coffman and family, with his
brothers, Daniel and Andrew, came to
Preble county, from Washington county, Maryland, in
1836. They located where Enterprise now is,
which village, or a part of it, John H. Coffman
laid out. Their brothers, Jacob,
David, Joseph and Isaac, also came
out, and all made a settlement here, with the
exception of Joseph. John H.
died a few years since, in 1877. He is buried
in the Methodist Episcopal church cemetery, at
Enterprise. Jacob moved to Illinois,
and finally to Colorado, where he died.
David is living in Montgomery county.
Joseph and Isaac are deceased.
Daniel is now living at West Alexandria, and
Andrew, at Eaton. Daniel was
married, in 1840, to Margaret Naef,
and resided on a farm near Enterprise, until about
eleven years ago, when he removed to the farm he now
occupies, on the pike just west of West Alexandria.
Andrew married Elizabeth Walters,
of Camden, where he resided in 1845. In 1850
he moved on a farm in Dixon township, and three
years afterward, to West Alexandria, where he
operated a mill for three years. In 1856 he
moved to Eaton, where he has since been engaged in
business.
Josiah
Davis, born in Buxton center,
Maine, in 1810, married Harriet Jane
Gale, of Massachusetts, in 1835, and in 1838
removed to Preble county. He began in a small
way in the grocery business in West Alexandria, and
continued actively in business for upwards of forty
years. He was a careful and industrious
business man, and acquired a good property. He
died September, 1878. For two years previous
to his death his business was managed by his only
son, John E., who was a partner. His
widow is still living in West Alexandria. His
other children are Mrs. Harriet A. Eastman,
Mrs. Mary A. Huston, of West Alexandria ,
Mrs. Eliza C. Halderman, of New Paris, and
Mrs. Bertha A. Crume, of Peru, Indiana.
Nathaniel
L. Derby, a native of New
Hampshire, married Martha M. Gale, and came
to Ohio in 1838. He opened a small grocery in
West Alexandria, and continued in business there,
with the exception of two or three years, until
1847, when he was succeeded by John H. Gale.
His health failing him, he went to Saratoga Springs,
New York, and died there in 1848. His only
surviving child, E. L. Derby, is a member of
the firm of Unger & Derby, of West
Alexandria.
Lewis Drayer
was born in Ayer township,
Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and when six
years of age, came with his parents to Montgomery
county, Ohio. In the fall of 1839 he was
united in marriage to Susannah Sorber,
daughter of Jacob Sorber. Mrs.
Drayer was born in 1820. Mr.
Drayer removed in 1864, from his farm in Twin
township to West Alexandria, where he still resides.
John N. Clemmer
moved into this county in the spring of 1840.
His father was an early settler in Montgomery
county, Ohio, having emigrated from Virginia.
John N. was born in Montgomery county in
1819. He married Phebe Herbaugh, of the
same county; and after their removal to this
township they resided for a couple of months in a
log cabin on Twin creek, belonging to Daniel
Fisher, when he erected the house he now
lives in. The land was then owned by his
father, and at the time he took up his residence on
it, there were about nine acres cleared. He
began as a renter, and paid rent for some four or
five years, when he received from his father
seventy-nine acres in lieu of one thousand five
hundred dollars, which some of the other children
received. By industry and good management
Mr. Clemmer has from a small beginning
become one of the wealthiest
farmers of the township, his several farms
comprising some six hundred acres of land, and all
of them well improved.
John Fadler
was born in Germany in the year 1828. After
his emigration to this country, he remained in
Pennsylvania a few months, and then went to
Wisconsin. In 1852 he came to Cincinnati, and
subsequently to Preble county, where he has since
lived. He moved to his present location in
section fifteen, in 1870. His wife was Mary
Elizabeth, daughter of George and Mary Ann
Sauer, whom he married in 1860.
Michael Focht
moved to Preble county in the spring of 1853, from
Montgomery county. He was born in Berks
county, Pennsylvania, in 1814, and removed to
Montgomery county with his father at an early day,
and is, at present, residing in that county near
Miamisburgh. He has been twice married, and
has had eleven children by his first wife, who was
Magdalene Swinney before marriage.
He has nine surviving children, viz: Lucinda
(Bouer), John and William
(twins), Mary (Wright), Lydia A.
(Snavely), Catharine (Street),
Jane (Gazelle), Michael,
Mahala (Andrews), Flora (Mathews),
and Addie (Neff). Alfred
and Douglas are deceased. John,
born in 1838, married for his first wife,
Elizabeth Patterson, and for his second
wife, Kate Hull. He was in the
army three years, from 1862 to 1865, as private in
company E, Sixty-third Ohio volunteer infantry.
William
Gilbert now residing in this
township in section thirty-six, was born in 1826,
and emigrated with his
Page 282 -
family from Maryland to Ohio about the year 1854.
His father, Isaac Gilbert, and family
came at the same time. They settled in
Montgomery county, where the father died some years
since, over seventy years of age. In 1865
William moved to Preble county, and settled in
this township. He married Julia Ann
Clark, and has had four children, only one of
whom is now living.
Peter Smith
became a resident of West Alexandria in the summer
of 1859. He was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, in 1823, and came to Ohio with his
father in 1828. The family resided in Stark
county until 1832, when they removed to Montgomery
county. He was married in 1856, to
Elizabeth Williamson. He was engaged in
the mercantile business in West Alexandria, with
signal success for nearly twenty years.
John H. Gale,
now deceased, was formerly one of the leading and
most active business men of West Alexandria.
He was a native of New England, but in early life
came to Ohio. After residing for a time in
Montgomery county, where, we believe, he was engaged
as clerk in a store, he came to West Alexandria,
where he resided until his death. He was
chiefly engaged during his life in merchandising,
and erected the building in West Alexandria now
occupied by Messrs. Unger & Derby.
He was also engaged in the milling business in
partnership with Mr. Stotler, his
brother-in-law, and Mr. Glander, which
firm erected the flouting mill on Twin creek, east
of town. His widow (formerly Miss
Halderman) still resides in West Alexandria.
John Motter
emigrated to Ohio from Maryland with his wife and
two children, about the year 1830. He first
settled in Ashland county, and resided there until
1840, when he moved to Iowa. Returning to Ohio
he settled in Montgomery county. He moved to
Preble in 1858, buying out the old Parker
farm, near West Alexandria, where he lived until
his death, in 1861, aged sixty-nine. His wife
is still living, in her eighty-sixth year.
They had five children, three of whom are living,
viz: Luther V., Rufus E., and John
E. Luther and John occupy
the farm with their mother, and Rufus lives
in Indiana.
John Spitler,
born in 1819, in Pennsylvania, emigrated with his
parents to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1832,
settling near Brookville. In 1843 he married
Lydia Baker, daughter of John and
Mary Baker, who were born in Pennsylvania, in
the years respectively of 1800 and 1806. They
both died in this township; he in 1876, and she in
1879. Mrs. Spitler’s
great-grandmother was killed by the Indians in
Pennsylvania, about 1780, while her husband was out
in the military service. After inflicting the
most horrible cruelty upon her, the savages
compelled her to walk around in a circle until she
dropped dead. Jacob Spitler, the
father of John, died in 1874. His widow
is still living near Brookville.
FIRST BIRTH
The first
child born in the township was a daughter (Sarah)
of Martin Ruple, this event occurred early in
the year 1804, but the exact date we are unable to
record. A short time afterward - February 11,
of same year - Peter Parker, oldest child of
Jacob and Mary Parker, was born. He is
believed by many to have been the first male child
born in the county. He married Betsey Black,
and finally removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
THE FIRST SCHOOL.
The first
school-house in the township was erected as early as
1809, and stood about where the brick now is, in
section twenty-nine. It was built of logs, of
course, and had no floor except that which mother
earth furnished. Sticks placed vertically in
an opening, cut in each side of the house and
covered with greased paper, constituted the windows,
and nearly one whole end of the room was
appropriated for a fireplace. The furniture
was as primitive as the house itself, the seats
consisting of slabs hewed on the upper side and
supported by wooden legs. Mr.
Abraham Halderman attended school in this
house and preserves a vivid recollection of its
appearance and surroundings.
John Purviance taught the first school,
and was followed by Usebius Hoag, a
peripatetic Yankee, who is remembered as both a good
teacher and scholar. To go through the double rule
of three was the highest ambition of the scholars.
A school was opened in the early settlement of the
township in a deserted cabin, on the farm of
Jacob Parker, by Thomas Stokely.
CHURCH HISTORY.
Page 283 -
THE REFORMED CHURCH.
SALEM EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN
CHURCH
THE ENTERPRISE METHODIST
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Page 284 -
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF
WEST ALEXANDRIA
BETHLEHEM CHAPEL
THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
MILLS.
Page 285 -
Stotler and Glander about nine years
ago. Besides the ordinary sawing done, this
mill does a considerable business in the manufacture
of tobacco boxes.
Abraham Brower erected a saw-mill on Banta's
fork in 1816 or 1817, and soon afterward a carding-
and fulling- mill, which he subsequently sold to
Peter and Martin Foutz. Peter Parker
and Samuel Moore built a carding- mill a
few years afterwards on Twin.
INCORPORATION.
MASONIC.
LANIER LODGE NO. 521,
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
THE WEST ALEXANDRIA GRANGE, NO.
363, PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.
PRESENT BUSINESS HOUSES.
Page 286 -
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
ENTERPRISE.
CEMETERIES.
There are several
public burying grounds in the township, the largest
being the cemetery at West Alexandria. In this
graveyard was buried many of the earliest pioneers
of Twin valley. The cemetery was laid out in
1817, one acre of ground being donated by Jacob
HEll and one-half acre by Jacob Parker.
The ground was deeded to the Reformed and Lutheran
churches, to be held by them as a public cemetery.
The first burial was that of Isaac Loy, a lad of
ten years, which took place in the fall of 1817.
The second interment was that of Moses Parker,
a little son of Jacob Parker, and the third
that of Jennie Meloin.
Several additions have
been made to the original grounds in recent years.
Nathaniel Benjamin, in 1861, deeded an
addition to the Reformed church, which was laid out
and sold. In 1869 Mrs. Susan Motter
deeded an addition to the same church, and latter
made another addition, which was sold to individual
purchasers. Two other additions have been made
by John Zitzer and John Ruple, which
were sold in lots to individuals. The public
ground comprises about one and a half acres, and the
remainder about five acres.
The history of the town
of West Alexandria, the halt of which village is
located in this township, will be found in
connection with the history of Twin township.
BIOGRAPHIES:
FRANKLIN N. FUDGE
JACOB TROUT
REV. H. M. HERMAN
NATHAN HEYWOOD
<
CLICK HERE TO
RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS > |
