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Somers township was one of
the original townships of the county, and as
established under the jurisdiction of Montgomery
county, included the whole of what is now in Monroe,
Washington, Gasper and the present township of
Somers—in other words the whole of the second range.
This township, consisting of four townships of the
original survey, was named Somers, after Commodore
Somers, of the United States navy. Of the
elections held while Somers and the whole territory
of Preble was included in Montgomery county, we have
no record, but we are able to present the reader
with the list of officers elected in 1808, at the
first election held after the organization of
Preble. It will be seen that most of them were
from the vicinity of Eaton, which village was then
in Somers. The list was as follows: Daniel
Heaton, clerk; Isaac Enoch,
John Mills and Abraham Heaton,
trustees; John Spacht and James
Black, constables; James Brannon,
Dennis Pottenger, John
Goldsmith and Henry Johnson,
supervisors of the highways; William Bruce,
treasurer; Moses Dooley and John
Ward, overseers of the poor; Joseph C.
Hawkins, lister; William Sellers,
appraiser; George Harlan and Samuel
Holliday, fence viewers.
Somers township was reduced in size May 7, 1809, when
the county commissioners established Washington, but
not to its present dimensions. Washington
township extended south two miles farther than at
present, and Somers was left with its northern
boundary two miles north of the present line.
We have no information in regard to early elections
in Somers after the reduction in size by the
creation of Washington. On June 5, 1815,
Somers territory was diminished to its present
extent by the enlargement of Washington, and a few
years later the establishment of Gasper made the
boundary a permanent one. As now constituted,
Somers is township No. 6, in range eleven, and like
all of the townships in the county, except
Washington and Gasper, contains thirty-six square
miles of territory, or twenty-three thousand and
forty acres of land.
PHYSICAL
FEATURES.
The
township contains a variety of soil, and is well
adapted to the production of nearly all classes of
crops
which can be raised in this latitude. This
part of the county presented in its primeval state a
very alluring appearance, and it is not strange that
the Butler county settlers and the pioneers from the
Miamis and from Kentucky should have penetrated the
valley of Seven Mile so early as they did, not that
the country should become in a short time the home
of so many of them. In nearly all parts of the
country, history tells us, and observation shows us,
that the pioneers, who were certainly a preeminently
practical class of men, had some regard for
picturesque and beautiful aspects, as well as
richness of soil. We find as a rule that the
first settlements were made in localities which had
some charm for the eye, and which revealed the
largest of nature in subtle beauty of form, as well
as in elements of material advantage. Somers
presents as varied attractions of scenery as any
township in the county. Its surface is an agreeable
medium between the flat monotony of the northern
part of the county and the roughly broken lands
which appear in Gratis township. The valley of Seven
Mile, which at Eaton is a shallow basin, becomes in
Somers a marked and striking feature in the
topography of the country. Extending through
the township from north to south it divides it into
very nearly equal portions. At either side the
table lands sweep away to the boundaries of the
township, preserving a surface which approximates
the level, though it is often slightly undulating,
and there is a gradual rise, almost inappreciable to
the eye, from the top of the hills bordering the
valley to and beyond the township lines on the east
and west. The surface is
Page 299 -
further diversified
by Paint creek (which probably derived its name from
the Indians), a stream which rises in Gasper
township, and flowing southeast through the
northwest quarter of Somers, empties into Seven Mile
creek a half mile below Camden. A drive of
less than a mile westward from this village, reveals
upon Paint creek a very singular formation, known
locally as the “Devil’s Backbone.” At this
place, which is in the southwest quarter of section
number nine, the stream makes a sharp curve, flowing
around a long, high, narrow spear, projecting
promontory-like from the table land. From the
roadway which winds down the hill from the neck of
this peculiar ridge, the creek can be seen only a
few rods distant, at either hand. It flows
upon the north side close to the base of the
“backbone,” which it has evidently cut its way into
considerably, and then turning at an acute angle
around the spur, the greater part of the current
flows away from the promontory and under the high
bank upon the other side. Thus one side of the
“Devil’s Backbone” shows a precipitous rocky wall,
washed by the stream, while the other is a steep
incline. The greater part of the spur around
which the stream flows is the blue limestone which
abounds in this part of the county and shows
frequent exposures. In early years the
beautiful little bottom on the north side of the
road was covered with a dense growth of maples,
which made an impenetrable shade very gratifying to
the picnic parties made up of youths and maidens now
grandfathers and grandmothers. Among them this
locality obtained the not very alluring name of
“the shades of death.” The maples are all cut away
now, and one of the chief attractions of the place
is gone, but the vicinity of the “Devil’s Backbone”
retains elements of picturesque loveliness, of which
the hand of man cannot rob it, and will never cease
to be a favorite resort for the admirers of nature
and the student of science. Many glimpses of
beauty are afforded in the little glen which leads
away from the “backbone” to the westward, and the
narrow gorge, with its perpendicular, and,
sometimes, overhanging walls of rock, surmounted by
towering trees, in the dense shade of which the
dashing stream of Paint creek runs rippling away to
join Seven Mile. There are a number of small
streams or “runs” which flow into Seven Mile, but
most of them are dry during a large portion of the
year, and serve simply as conduits for the water
from the hills during seasons of heavy rain fall.
Beasley’s branch, so named from an early settler,
and Rush run, are the principal of these minor water
ways.
SETTLEMENT.
Somers
township was settled in the opening years of the
century, and filled up very fast when the beginning
had been made. There were many among the
pioneers who did not long remain in the township,
and many others resided in it for years, but have no
representatives there now. A third class, and
quite a large one, is composed of settlers who lived
long lives in the township, died there, and left
large families, some members of which, in many
cases, hold the original homesteads, the lands on
which their fathers and grandfathers built their
first log cabins. Of these several classes we
give all of the important information attainable,
and more as a matter of course, concerning the last
mentioned than of the first or second.
The Hendricks family
were settlers upon the site of Camden in 1803, but
left in the spring of 1806 to locate at Eaton; and
hence, but little need here be said of that
distinguished pioneer, David E. Hendricks.
(An elaborate biography of his life is given
elsewhere in this volume). We may mention,
however, in this connection, that he had located at
Middletown in 1795, and his removal to the site of
Camden, then an unbroken forest, was only a pushing
forward into the wilderness, which was to be
repeated three years later. When he sold his
farm it was to a man by the name of Andrew
Tharp, who, it is said, was influenced to
purchase it by a remarkable dream, in which the
appearance of the locality was so strongly and
accurately pictured before him that on seeing the
farm he immediately recognized it as that of which
he had had a sleeping vision.
The Pottengers arrived
in the township in 1803, and to-day the family has,
in all probability, a larger representation in the
locality than that of any other of the pioneers.
John, Robert and Dennis
Pottenger, brothers, came from Kentucky, to
which State they had emigrated from Maryland.
The first two located in section ten, and Dennis,
in section two. John Pottenger’s
first wife was Jane Gilkey, and his
second, Catharine Railsback, of
Culpeper county, Virginia. The descendants of
John Pottenger were ten in number, the
first three born in Kentucky. Thomas,
the eldest, married Eliza, daughter of
Daniel Robbins, who was a settler in the
neighborhood. William married Jane
Ward, who is now living in Camden . John
married Nancy Barrett.
Dennis, the first born of the family in Ohio,
was first married to a Hall, and afterwards
to a Fort. All four of the above mentioned are
deceased. Anna, the oldest daughter,
married David Barnett. Nancy
(deceased), married Joseph Nellinor.
Cynthia married Alfred Bell,
and is living in the township. James
was twice married, his first wife being Martha
Low, and his second, Isabella
Eshelman. Reuben married Susan
Findley, and Wilson, who is in Camden,
Ellen Reed. John
Pottenger, the father, died in 1838, at the age
of seventy-four years.
Robert
Pottenger married, in Kentucky, Fanny
Gee. They reared a large family, viz.:
Dennis, Samuel, Anna, Eunice,
Harvey, Willett and Sanford—all
removed to Indiana in 1825.
Dennis
Pottenger married his first wife, Sarah
Gray, in Kentucky, and after her death
married Elizabeth Lowden, of Butler
county. The children of Dennis
Pottenger were William, Hetty
Ann (Thralls), now in Florida, Dennis
R., Louis and John. Hetty Ann and John
are the only ones living, and the latter is in
Kansas. Dennis R. married, in 1847,
Susan, daughter of Bazael Brown, of
Wilson county, Kentucky. He died in 1879, and
his widow resides in Camden.
Thomas and James Newton were
settlers in 1803, or the following year, on the farm
where the widow of Thomas Murray now lives.
They were from Pennsylvania.
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The
Irwins, William and
Abram, brothers, came in from
Kentucky at an early day, the former settling where James Taylor
afterward lived, in section two.
Matthew McClung, from Maryland,
settled at an early day at what is now Bartlett’s
station, and raised. a large family.
McClung engaged in milling. He built a
frame house in 1814, where David Barnett’s
house now stands, which was a remarkably good one
for the time, and the especial wonder and admiration
of the neighborhood.
Elisha
Carter, a man who was
generally regarded as one of the most intellectual
of the pioneers, came from Kentucky and located on
the northwest quarter of section ten. Mary
Wilson is the only one of the family
remaining in the township.
James Ryan settled near “Fostertown,”
and the Bogues, three brothers, Quakers,
located west of Camden during
the early year of the settlement, but removed in
1829.
James More, who may be regarded as the
founder of Camden, settled upon its site (section
nine) about 1804 or 1805, and brought up a large
family, none of whom, however, are now in the
township. James More died in
Camden in 1833.
In 1805 also came
Isaac
Sutton,
another of the proprietors of Camden, and settled on
the southwest quarter of section ten. In 1826
or 1827 he moved to Sugar creek, Montgomery county,
Indiana, and with him went all of his family.
John Laman, sr.,
was born in North Carolina, from which State he came
on foot to Ohio, and in 1805 he settled in section
thirty-four of Somers township. His wife, Elizabeth Jones,
died in 1877. They have had nine children—Phineas
(deceased), Lydia (deceased), Keziah,
wife of John Brown, of Gratis;
Rebecca; Henry married Miss
Cook; Elizabeth, wife of James
Hartley; John; Martha, wife of
William Taylor; Joseph, married
Susan Frazee; John Laman, jr.,
married Mary Macy, of Somers
township—they have three children. Mr.
Laman owns a farm of two hundred and eight
acres near Somersville. Joseph Laman
married Susan Frazee, by whom he has
had four children, viz.: John Henry,
George Alpheus, Matie
Elizabeth, and Sarah Ida. He
owns one hundred and sixty acres of land at the home
place, and has bought an additional eighty acres,
making two hundred and forty in all.
John Wright was born in Ireland in
1788, and emigrated to this country at an early day,
and came from South Carolina to Preble county about
1806, and settled in section thirty-one of Somers
township, where he died in 1854. He was a
soldier in the War of 1812, and was a Covenanter.
He did not vote for many years because of
conscientious scruples. His wife, Margaret
Cook, was
born in Virginia, and came to Ohio in a very early
day. They had five children, four sons and one
daughter. Three are yet living, viz.: John,
William, and Eliza (Jeffers).
John married, in 1850, Martha
Johnson, and has had eight children. He
resides in Israel township
and has been several times elected trustee of this
township. William married Mary E.
Ramsey, daughter of John and Isaac
Ramsey, and has a 'family of five children.
His farm of one hundred and eighty-one acres is one
of the best in the county, and has been in
possession
of the family for seventy-five years. James
Wright, deceased, left one child, who lives
with the family of William Wright.
Robert Runyon and his wife,
Elizabeth (Barnes), came to the township
in 1806, and two years later removed to the
Robert Harris farm, near Sugar valley.
Thomas Murray, was born in Cornwall
parish, county of Donegal, Ireland, in 1779.
In 1806 he emigrated to Philadelphia. The same
year he came to Preble county, Ohio, and settled in
section twenty-eight, Somers township. His
wife, Martha Lewellen, was born 1788.
Her parents, John and Catharine,
emigrated from Kentucky in 1806 and settled in this
township, where they resided twenty-seven years.
They then moved to Dixon township. Thomas
Murray died in Somers in 1859. He had
ten children, five now living: John resides
in Somers, Thomas in Butler county, Ohio;
Phillip at Morning Sun, Israel township;
William in Somers, and Sarah A., wife of
Daniel Peters, in Camden.
John Lewellen and his wife, Kate
DeVall, originally from Virginia, came to
Somers township in 1809 from Kentucky, and settled
on Paint creek on the farm now owned by Mrs.
Julia Burson. They reared a
family of ten children, of whom three are living,
and Mrs. Murray, is the only one in
Preble county.
Phillip Lewellen removed to this
township from Kentucky about the year 1810. He
was born in Bullet county, Kentucky, in 1795, and
died in Dixon township, this county, in 1877.
His wife (Anna Runyon) was born in
1793 and died in 1874. They had a family of
thirteen children, the following of whom are at this
writing living: Julia (widow of Jonathan
Burson), Martha (wife of Stephen
McWhinney), Bafford, John,
Sarah (wife of James Skinner),
Dennis, Jane (wife of Daniel
Ockerman), James Harvey, Isaac
and Jehu. Nancy, Wilson
and Catharine are deceased. Wilson
died In the service during the late civil war.
James H. was born in 1830, and married
Frances M. Gavin, who was born two years
subsequently.
About the same time that Lewellen came into the
county, Richard Newport made his
settlement. Elisha Hancock came
a little later, and after a few years removed to
Richmond, Indiana, where his widow still resides.
At later dates than those we have mentioned came
many other settlers, among them George
Hornaday and Allen Harbard,
Quakers, who located on Paint creek; Thomas
Lincoln, who settled near Camden and soon
afterwards moved away; John Ledwell,
also a resident of the immediate vicinity of Camden,
and a son-in-law of More; John
Vandever and his brother, Noah, and the
Davises, Giles and George, who
were from North Carolina. They both located on
section twelve, and each David Davis,
son of Giles, was a very hard working,
industrious man and became a large landholder in the
northeast part of the township.
John K. Steele, a native of South
Carolina, settled in Somers township in 1810, and
died in 1831. He served six months in the War
of 1812. His wife, Margaret
[Page 301
Wilson, was born in Ireland and died about
1856. Eight children were born to them, three
of whom are deceased. Mary, Margaret,
James, Samuel and John are
living. The home farm, located in section
seventeen, is in charge of John and Samuel,
who have it in a good state of cultivation and well
improved.
Richard Stephen and his wife Letty
(Bailey) arrived in the township some time
during the War of 1812, and the husband was drafted
and obliged to leave his wife and children
unprotected in their cabin home in the woods.
They located southwest from the site of Camden, and
one mile from the township line. The
Stephens were from Bedford county, Pennsylvania,
and were married there. They had two children
when they came to Somers, viz: Rebecca (Hays)
now in Dublin, Indiana, and Mary (Peters)
a resident of the township. There were born
after their settlement five children, four of whom
are living, viz: Levi, in Iowa; Isaiah,
in Illinois; John R. in Eaton, and B. B.
on the old homestead in Somers; Morton is
deceased. John R. Stephens is clerk of
Washington township and justice of the peace, and
has been county auditor and treasurer. Richard
Stephens, the pioneer, died at his home in 1841.
William S. Douglas traces his ancestry to
Scotland, whence his great-grandfather emigrated
many years ago. His father, Joseph
Douglas, was born in Pennsylvania, and in 1814,
when fifteen years of age, emigrated to Ohio.
He was very decided in his political views, and
would only use “free labor” goods. His wife,
Mary Steele, was the daughter of William
Steele, of Kentucky. Of the six children of
Joseph and Mary Douglas, four
are living. William S. is unmarried and
lives on the home farm in Somers township. He
has been a member of the board of education for six
years, has been road commissioner, etc.
James H. Douglas, the fifth child of
William and Eliza Douglas, of Israel township,
was born in 1843, and married Mary J. Dewitt,
daughter of William Dewitt, of Butler county.
They have had two children - George Elmer
and James Roland Harvey.
Mr. Douglas has a fine farm in Somers
township, where he resides.
Samuel Fowler and his wife Rachel
(Inman) came from New Jersey in 1815, and
located on section twenty-four, where they lived all
of their lives. Samuel Fowler
was born in 1786, and died in 1843, his wife
surviving him a number of years. They were the
parents of ten children, eight of whom grew to
maturity. Benjamin I. was five years of
age when brought to Ohio, and is still living, and
has been since 1862 a resident of Camden; Samuel
and Catharine are deceased; Rachel (Hollowell)
resides in Indiana; Sarah (Ivin) is
deceased; Vashti (Huffman) in Butler
county; Matilda (Shaeffer) in the same
locality, and Franklin, deceased. Benjamin
I. Fowler married for his first wife Jane
Tietsort, by whom he has had four sons, all
now living, viz: George W., John T.,
Francis Marion and James M. His
second wife was Catharine Hanger.
There was one son by this marriage—Scott E.
George Hanger, father of Mrs.
Benjamin Fowler, came to Preble county at a very
early day—about 1808. He married Miss
Susan Loop, by whom he had four
children, Mrs. Fowler being the second
child. For his second wife he married Mary
Swakenguest, who survives him; she is the
mother of five children. Mr. Hanger
died on his farm about 1860.
Charles Beall was one of the pioneers
of Somers, having come into the township with his
parents, Thomas and Fanny Beall,
in 18r6. They emigrated-from Maryland.
There were four children, all now deceased.
Charles Beall was born in 1794. His
wife was Sarah Orme, who was born in 1796,
and died in r864, in Israel township, at the
residence of her son, Francis. They had
five sons and four daughters. Five are living
as follows: Ezra, in Somers; Frances A.,
in Israel; William C., in Gasper; Mary
Ann, widow of William Brown, in
Lewisburgh, Harrison township; and Rev.
Alfred Beall, minister of the Methodist
Episcopal church at Springborough, Ohio.
Mrs. Cynthiana Beall, daughter
of John Pottenger, married Alfred
Beall. He came from Maryland with his
uncle, Thomas Beall, in or about the
year 1825. Their children are: Ellen
(deceased), William, Susan, wife of
Finley Hoffman; Anna, wife of
Charlie Kelly; Reuben, who married
Miss Llewelyn; and James, not
married.
William Bennett, grandfather of
John H. and David Bennett, was one of the
early settlers of this township. He was born
in Virginia about 1766, and came to Ohio from
Kentucky. He died in Somers township in the
year 1835. He was a soldier in the War of
1812. John Bennett, son of William,
came to Somers in 1818, and located on section
twelve, where he lived all of his life. He was
born in 1786, and died in 1866. His wife was
Elizabeth Hopper, the daughter of
Kentucky pioneers. She passed away in 1871, at
the ripe age of eighty-eight years. The
following are the names of their descend ants of the
first generation: James Madison,
Julia Ann (Frum), Alfred
and William, all deceased; John H., a
resident of Camden for the past three years; Jane
(Loop), in Gratis township; Nancy (Loop),
deceased; Sarah (Randolph), in Gratis
township; Nimrod, deceased; and David.
David Bennett is the youngest child of
John Bennett. He was born in
Somers township, in 1825. He married Martha
J. Woods, who was born in Butler county, Ohio,
in 1831. She is the daughter of William L.
and Mary McKee Woods, who lived in Preble
county. To Mr. and Mrs. David
Bennett have been born two children: William
L. married Amanda E. Raikes, and Oscar
M. lives at home. Mr. Bennett
owns ninety acres of land in section fourteen, where
he resides.
John Reeve, sr., was a native of Gloucester
county, New Jersey, and in 1816 came to Ohio,
stopping for about two years in Warren county, and
afterwards removing to Somers township, where he
died about 1870. His wife was Susan Van
Skiver.
John Reeve, jr., is the seventh of twelve
children. He married Margaret Brown,
the daughter of Robert H. Brown. Her
folks came to Preble county about fifty years ago.
To Mr. and Mrs. Reeve have been born two
[Page 302]
children: Lurton F. and Porter B.
Mr. Reeve's farm consists of one hundred and
fourteen acres, located on the Camden and Fair Haven
pike.
Michael Dillman
John and Mary Mills,
from York county, Pennsylvania, settled in 1818,
upon the southeast quarter of section nineteen.
John Mills was one of the early
justices of the peace, and quite a prominent man.
He died in 1835, at the age of seventy-three.
Peter Sheafer,
son-in-law of Mills, came from
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1819, and settled
in the same part of the township. He was a
miller by trade, and operated various mills.
Among them the Bruce mill at Eaton, Gasper
Potterfs in Gasper, Jones’ mill in
Somers, the McClurg mill north of Camden, and
one built by himself on the creek, south of Camden.
He was in Illinois from 1838 to 1847. He died
in 1861, at the age of sixty-six. J. M.
Sheafer, esq., of Camden, is a son in-law of
Peter Mills.
Zachariah Thornberry
James Taylor
Frederick Shaffer
was born in Pennsylvania in
1787. In 1827 he emigrated to Somers township.
His wife was Elizabeth Copp.
Mr. Shaffer was one of the five thousand
who volunteered to save Baltimore in the War of
1812. He served till till the end of the war,
and is now a pensioner of that war. He has had
ten children, six of whom are now living.
David Kennedy
Benjamin P. Kennedy
There are more
than one hundred descendants of the David Kennedy
living.
David Kennedy
John H. Ross
David S. Marshall's
ancestors
Azel Pierce
Augustus Pierce
Page 303 -
James Bennett
Jonathan and Jane
Hewitt
Louis Loop
Daniel Lamm
Daniel M. Westfall
Adam Rahn
William Owens
William Swan, sr.,
Page 304 -
Samuel Young
James B. Duffield's
William Stubbs
Christian Eby, sr.,
Christian Eby,
John C. Eby,
Franklin F. Raikes
Jacob Sterzenbach
William Douglass
Fredinand Grupe
was
born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1814. He moved
to Ohio from Pennsylvania in 1851, and settled in
Somers township. His wife was
Elizabeth
Spice.
Louis E. Grupe
[Page 305]
David Semple
Lewis Parker
James White's
Moses Whitson
L. W. Whitson
M. T. Whitson
Thomas Lloyd
Thomas C. Lloyd
CHURCHES IN SOMERS TOWNSHIP AND
VILLAGE OF CAMDEN.
MACEDONIA CHAPEL (METHODIST
EPISCOPAL)
LOW'S CHAPEL (UNITED BRETHREN.)
[Page 306]
Rev. A. K. Albright. The church
membership is thirty-nine.
There are three churches in Camden, the Presbyterian,
Methodist Episcopal, and Universalist. The
first and second are old churches, and unfortunately
we are unable to give any extended history of either
of them, an extended and thorough search for facts
revealing very little beside the discovery that the
records of both have not been kept.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.
THE VILLAGE OF CAMDEN.
is situated about two miles from the
north line of the township and railway between the
eastern and western boundaries, upon the western
side of Seven Mile. It is tastefully laid out
and presents a neat and attractive appearance.
The streets are broad, cleanly and well shaded, and
the residences which flank them are general ly
thrifty, comfortable, home-like looking places.
Few
[Page 307]
CAMDEN STATION.
The
agents of the Hamilton, Eaton & Richmond railroad at
Camden, have been William Pottenger, N. W.
Carroll, V. D. Rees, Abram B. King, and the
present incumbent, Henry H. Payne.
These five men have together served about
twenty-eight years. The telegraph office was
established in 1862, and during the eighteen years
that have elapsed since then, four different
operators have had charge of it, viz: E. C.
Phillips, J. C. Winters, E. C. King, and the
present operator, W. J. King, who has been
there since 1873.
PERSONAL MENTION.
Stephen Payne became
a resident of Camden about the time that the village
was laid out, and his family is still represented in
the town and township. He was from New Jersey
and a very early settler in Butler county, where he
married Sarah Potter On coming to
Camden he went into the business of tavern keeping,
which he followed for many years. He removed
from Camden about 1840, and died in Piqua in 1844.
Three sons of Stephen Payne became residents
of Camden and vicinity, viz.: Moses P.,
Daniel, and Jonathan The first
named was born in Butler county, and moved to Camden
from Miami county, and after a number of years
(about 1858) moved to Illinois, where he died in
1863. He married Mary Ann Robinson.
Henry H. Payne, the station agent at Camden,
is a son of theirs. Daniel Payne born
in Butler county, in 1817, came to Camden in 1839,
and died there in 1878. During the long term
of years that he resided in the village he was one
of the most valuable citizens it had. His
liberality and
public spiritedness secured for the town a great
many improvements, and it is very commonly remarked
that Daniel Payne did more for Camden
than any man who ever resided there. He was a
very active, energetic man, and was engaged in many
industries, being a tailor, a clock merchant, a
teamster (in the ante-railroad days), a hotel
keeper, contractor, etc. He was at one time
extensively engaged in buying horses, and driving
across the country to the seaboard cities, and was
one of the first who engaged in the business.
Daniel Payne was married in 1841, to
Mrs. Elizabeth Young, daughter
of John and Dorothy Cummings, who is still
living in Camden.
Mrs.
Allie Button
[Page 308]
Jonathan H. Payne
Howard Young
Arka Place
In 1829
Eleanor widow of Robert
Jones, came to Camden,
with her family, from Maryland. She lived
until 1866, and died at the age of ninety. Her
children were: Mary A. (Reed), now in
Jefferson township; Susan (widow of the late
Dr. Dunham) and George W., both in
Camden. Mr. George W. Jones, on
arriving at proper age, learned the hatter’s trade,
which was then one of the most remunerative that a
man could follow. He was engaged in it until
the business was seriously interfered with by the
big manufactories in the cities, and then abandoned
it, taking up farming.
Isaac Mitchell
Robert H. Brown,
now a resident of Camden, ame to the village in
1828, with his parents, who were from Ireland.
His brother James died recently, and another
brother, David, is in Oregon. Robert
H. married Margaret Wright, whose parents
came to Camden with her brother-in-law, Bradbury.
John Brennan
There is in
Camden a descendant of Job Hall,
The Fornshells
Clinton Chadwick
[Page 309]
Nathaniel Wilbur
Carroll
William J. Lounsbury
J. H. Bohn
Joshua Howard
Jacob Collett
Joseph D. Danner,
W. A. Danner
Stephen Bertsch
RESIDENTS IN 1834.
The
following names are given by Mr. Clinton Chadwick
as those of the heads of families in Camden in 1834,
when he came to the village to live, viz:
Mutchel,
Samuel
Hackett, James B.
Huffman, Daniel
Richards, Ward
Ingersoll, Stephen
Harris, Robert
Webb, Jacob
White, Robert
Chadwick, Clinton
Hughey, ____
Jones, Susan
Johnson, Alexander
Brown, Robert H.
Woodward, Joseph
Potter, Howell
Barnett, Ezekiel |
Mitchell,
Robert
Zimmerman, Eli
More, Harrison
Fornshell, Benjamin
Brown, ____
Hopkins, Jared V.
Brown, David
Button, George
Davis, Ei
Nelson, Moses
McMechem, William
Walter, C. C.
Ridenour, Jacob
Brennan, John
Mitchell, Isaac
Runkel, John |
Place, Ira
K.
Terrill, Damarius
Barnett, David,
Robinson, John,
Bruce, C. C.,
Elliott, Nathaniel,
Bennett, Thornton,
Irwin, Robert,
Williams, M. C.,
Ingersoll, Owen,
Johnson, John H.,
Mitchell, ____
Lee, Alfred,
Jones, George,
Dunham, Lurdum. |
MILLS AND MANUFACTURING
INTERESTS OF THE VILLAGE
The first mill which was
within convenient distance of the early settlers of
Somers township was a “corn cracker” on Seven Mile,
in Gasper township, owned by Gasper
Potterf, and located where Henry Early
and M. S. Wear now live. It was built
before 1806, and, probably, as early as 1804.
The first mill built in the township of Somers was
[Page 310]
MERCANTILE MATTERS.
[Page 311]
BUSINESS HOUSES IN 1880.
The
following is a classified list or directory of the
business houses of Camden in the fall of 1880:
Dry Goods -
M. Earhart, Benjamin Myers, Charles Morlatt.
Groceries - Robert
Williams, sr., John Fowler, James Kenworthy, A. L.
Borradaille, Henry Neff, William R. Patterson, Henry
Coons.
Hardware - John
Coons, M. Earhart.
Drugs - J. H. Bohn.
Boots and Shoes-
Theodore Johnson, David Morris, P. A. Dearth.
Harness Makers -
George W. Will, Joseph E. Smith, P. A. Dearth.
Tinners - B. M. Fornshell, J. E. McCord.
Furniture Dealers -
Mrs. James A. Mitchell, Lucien Koons.
Meat Markets - W. A. Danner, William Brower, Oscar
Pocock.
Millinery - Mrs. Olivia Brown and Miss
Lina Harris.
Livery - Will S.
Fornshell, George Fowler & Brother, Joshua Howard.
Bakeries, etc. -
James Kenworthy, Henry Neff, Henry Coons.
Hotel - Arlington House
- J. P. & Will S. Fornshell.
Wagon Makers - J. B.
Watt, Stephen Bertsch, Hezekiah Gift.
Blacksmiths - John
R. McGriff, McShane & Brown, Alfred McGriff.
Agricultural Implements
- F. I. Randall.
TAVERNS.
[Page 312]
PHYSICIANS.
In the
earliest years of the settlement Dr. Walter Buell,
of Eaton, was most frequently engaged when there was
need of a physician, and in fact, it was very seldom
that any other was seen in the township, though
occasionally one would be called from Butler county.
Dr. Buellhad a very good practice in Somers
township for many years, and continued to receive
considerable patronage even after Camden had
resident physicians.
A Dr.
Day was in Somers township very early, and a
Dr. Mount later, but neither remained long, or
became prominent.
Dr. Ira
A. Parker
Dr.
McWilliams
Dr.
Lurton Dunham
Dr.
Carroll
Cr.
Crews and Dr. Mendenhall
Previous to
this time Dr. Robert Hamsher now in practice,
had located in Camden. He was born in Chester
county, Pennsylvania, Sept. 30, 2822, and
came to Ohio in 1847, locating in Sommerville,
Butler county. He began reading medicine soon
after, with Dr. R. P. Carnahan, of Darrtown.
He got a diploma from the Physio-Medical College of
Cincinnati in 1852, and immediately afterward began
practice in Camden, and has not since been absent
from the town sufficiently to interrupt his
practice, except for a short period, when he
attended the Jefferson Medical College of
Cincinnati, from which he took a diploma in 1870.
He was married in 1847, to Hetty Ann Dubois,
of Franklin county, Indiana.
Dr.
William Gilmore
Dr.
Zebulon Brown was a physician
of ability, and would, doubtless, have been a
permanent practitioner, and widely known in Preble
county had it not been for his untimely death.
He was born in Burlington, Hamilton county, and
lived there until about six years of age, when the
family was broken up by the death of his mother, and
after considerable knocking around, young Brown
went with his brother into Montgomery county,
Indiana, and there assisted in clearing up a farm.
He remained there working, studying and teaching
until the war broke out, when he enlisted.
After the close of the war he studied medicine, and
graduated in 1868, at the Miami Medical College of
Cincinnati. He commenced practice in Indiana, but
not liking his location, returned to Ohio in 1869,
and located at Sommerville, where he remained until
1870, when he came to Camden. He practiced
here until his health entirely failed him in
October, 1875, and died on the twenty-first of
April, 1876. He was married Oct. 19, 1871, to
Olivia E. Pottenger, daughter of Wilson
and Ellen Pottenger.
Dr. J.
S. Ferguson
Dr. O.
E. Francis
[Page 313]
Enterprise and Camden, he attended the Kentucky
School of Medicine at Louisville, from which he
graduated June 28, 1878. He was married in
187310 Lillian Woodsides.
HISTORY OF THE CAMDEN SCHOOLS.*
POST OFFICE AND POSTMASTER.
Newcomb post office was established May 26, 1824,
and as the records at the post office department, at
Washington show, its name was changed to Camden,
Sept. 9, 1835. Ira K. Place was the
first post master, and remained in office a long
term of years - until 1836. The receipts of
the office, for the first quarter year after it was
established, amounted to precisely three dollars and
seventy-five cents. After the expiration of
Mr. Place’s term, Boyce Eidson
was appointed post master, and after him came J.
H. Bohn, with Charles C. Walker as
deputy. Charles C. Walker afterwards
was appointed to the office, and the following
gentlemen occupied the position from the expiration
of his term down to that of the present incumbent,
viz: Amos W. Yoast, John H. Campbell,
C. M. Roher, Lurton D. Jones, C. M. Roher.
The last named gentleman held it, until his death,
in 1878, when Mrs. Olivia Brown
received the appointment. She is the present
incumbent.
INCORPORATION.
Camden (or rather Newcomb, for so it was then
called), was incorporated, by special act of the
legislature, in 1832. The first corporation
officers elected were: Ira K. Place,
mayor; Philip Rizer, recorder (or clerk); and
James Allred, Samuel Cornwell, George Burton, Eli
Demoss, and Joseph Mitchell,
trustees (or councilmen). At the first meeting
of these municipal managers, William Rizer
was appointed treasurer, and Jonathan H. Potter,
marshall. In 1833 the same mayor was in
office, and the councilmen were: J. P.Achey,
Samuel Mitchell, J. P. Hendricks.
Phillip Rizer, and C. C. Bruce.
Stephen Ingersoll was chosen clerk, and
William McMahon, treasurer.
The successors of mayors from 1832 down to 1880, shows
the following names: 1832, Ira K. Place;
1834, Phillip Rizer; 1836, Ira K.
Place; 1838, Gassett V. Hopkins; 1840,
John Marsh; 1841, Charles C. Walker;
1843, R. M. Mitchell; 1845, Samuel
Mitchell; 1847, Charles Guild; 1848,
Ira K. Place; 1850, Dan Payne;
1851, Charles Guild; 1852, James F.
Francis; 1853, Amos W. Yoast; 1855,
John McCresty; 1856, Amos W. Yoast;
1858, Charles C. Walker; 1859, J. M.
Sheafer; 1864, C. M. Roher; 1866, J.
M. Sheafer; 1866 (six months), A. M. McAdow;
1867, C. M. Roher; 1869, I. E. Craig;
1872, W. B. Marsh; 1874, Jas. L. Thomas
(present incumbent).
MASONIC.
Camden Lodge, No. 159, was organized May 18, 1848,
with the following constituent members: Jonathan
Crowley, Andrew Weist, Andrew Coffman, Charles C.
Bruce, Jacob S. Showaster, Perry Hestle, John C.
Campbell, Ebenezer P. Justin, John Brower, Daniel B.
Corry, Harrison Perham, Isaac G. Eson, Samuel D.
Clayton, and Adam C. Dean.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD
FELLOWS.
Western Star Lodge, No. 109, of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted June 8, 1848,
its charter having been issued April 21st. Its
original members were: A. W. Yoast, John C.
Thomas, Samuel
---------------
* Supplied by Professor O. T. Corson.
[Page 314]
Hippard, Samuel M. Yoast, James A.
Mitchell, Francis J. Pierce, James N. Boner, Samuel
D. Clayton, and Samuel Collins.
The fraternity now has a very comfortable, and well
furnished lodge room, and the lodge numbers about
seventy-five members.
Camden Encampment, No. 177, was instituted July 14th,
1874, with the following charter members: David
B. Holmes, Jas. W. Pottenger, H. 1.. Robbins, Samuel
W. Pottenger, Benjamin F. Williams, Joseph Sacks,
and David Patton. The
organization now has about forty members.
Somers Lodge, Daughter of Rebecca, No. 125, was
instituted July 27th, 1880, with the following
members: O. P. Brown, S. W. Pottenger, R.
T. Acton, F. M. Fowler, D. S. Bostwick, J. B. Watt,
J. G. McShane, Frank Randall, J. A. Loop, A. H.
Klopp, Wm. A. Snyder, John T. Fowler, Jas. H.
Robinson, Wm. R. Patterson, W. A. Danner, John R.
McGrifl', J. S. Ferguson, H. S. Robbins, Elizabeth
S. Payne, Maggie E. Pottenger, Mary A. Earhart, Lida
R. Brown, Elizabeth McGriff, D. Lewellen.
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