Butler County, Ohio - Chapter 7: Necrological, 1905 (part 3 of 5)

May 18, 1842, Mr. Beckett married Eliza Jane Baxter, who died December 16, 1871. Mr. Beckett was the parent of four sons, viz. : James M., William F., Charles K. and John B. He was one of the wealthy landowners of the county, and at the time of his death owned about thirteen hundred acres of land, of which eight hundred acres were in Macon county, Illinois. His homestead, near West Chester, Butler county, containing about five hundred acres, now owned by his son, James M. Beckett, is well situated and the buildings and surroundings are an ornament to the locality. Mr. Beckett lived to an honored old age, and died universally respected.

Nehemiah Wade

of Ross township, was bom on the 19th day of August, 1795, at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati). He was the fifth of fourteen children, whose parents were David E. Wade and Mary Jones. His parents were natives of New Jersey, and passed through life devout members of the Presbyterian church. His father came to Ohio and landed in Cincinnati in 1790, where he lived until his death in July, 1842. His mother died in April, 1811, and her remains lie under the First Presbyterian church of Cincinnati.

The early education of Mr. Wade was obtained by his own exertions, and at the age of fourteen he began industrious pursuits. In 1815 he left Cincinnati and settled in Ross township on a farm of four hundred acres. He did a great deal to advance the interests of his township. He was elected associate judge of the court of common pleas in 1840, and held the office for twelve years. He was married on the 9^ of October, 1813, to Margaret Wallace, a na- tive of Delaware, by whom he had eight children. She died in April, 1833. He was married in April, 1834, to Jane Anderson, by whom he had one child. His second wife died in November, 1 866. Judge Wade was a Republican; voted first for Monroe. Religiously he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and had been elder in that church since 1828. The Judge always led a life of peace and influence for the good. He died July 24, 1879, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, leaving behind him a large and admirable posterity, many of whom still reside in Butler county.

Henry H. Wallace

was bom on the 30th day of September, 1824, in Milford township, in this county. He was the son of John and Priscilla Wallace. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and his father followed through life agricultural and mechanical pursuits. His father was one of the first settlers of Milford township. At the age of eighteen the subject of this memoir began life as a schoolteacher. an occupation that confined his attention more or less for eight years. In 1853 he was elected county recorder, holding this office for six years. In 1859 he was elected county auditor, which office he held for two years. In 1862 he accompanied the Ninety-third Regiment as captain of Company C. On account of impaired health- he left the service at the expiration of a year. In 1865 went into the carpet and wallpaper business in Hamilton, which business engrossed his attention until his election as county auditor in 1874, in which office he served one term. He was married, in 1857, to Sarah J. Bacon, a native of this county, and a daughter of Edmund Bacon, an early settler of Butler county. Mr. Wallace was eminently adapted for the arduous duties of county auditor, by reason particularly of the extensive business and official experience he had had. Politically he was a conservative Republican. Religiously his views were not circumscribed by the doctrines of any particular church. Since 1876 until his death he was engaged in sundry occupations. In 1883 he was appointed to a clerkship in the pension office at Washington, serving until July, 1884. when he was detailed therefrom and appointed a special examiner of pension claims, serving three years in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. From 1887 until 1896 he was engaged in the real-estate business exclusively. In 1901 he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where, after a few months' residence, he died.

William R. Cochran

was l>om on the 17th day of March, 1811, in Adams county, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of three children, whose parents were William Cochran an<J Rebecca Morrow. His parents, natives of Adams county, Pennsylvania, were farmers by occupation, and passed through life as members of the Associate Reformed church. His father came to Ohio in 1814, and settled near Glendale, in Hamilton county, where he lived till 1825. and then moved to Butler county, settling near Millville, where he died in 1828. The mother of the subject of this memoir died in 1839, near Millville. The early education of Mr. Cochran was very liberal, and in 1831 he graduated from Miami University. He now began the study of law in Hamilton, under the Hon. John Woods, and finally attended a course of lectures at Transylvania University. In 1834 he began to practice law in Hamilton, which he abandoned in 1840 and resumed farming near Millville. In 1872 he was elected probate judge of Butler county, serving until 1876. Mr. Cochran was secretary of the Butler County Agricultural Society for sixteen years, his administration being one of marked ability. For a few years before his death he lived in retirement in Hamilton. His death occurred April 20, 1897.

William W. Caldwell

a prominent physician of Hamilton, was born on the first day of November, 1812, in Carlisle. Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was the fifth of six children. His parents were of Scotch-Irish extraction, and passed through life devout members of the Presbyterian church. The early literary education of the Doctor was liberal, and partially obtained at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, which institution he left in 1833. He then came to Ohio, and attended Lane Seminary (at that time a manual labor literary institution), whose course of study interested him for about two years. In 1837 he attended a course of medical lectures at the Ohio Medical College, having previously pursued a course of reading under Dr. Andrew Campbell, of Middletown, from which institution he graduated with honor in 1840. He immediately began the practice of medicine at Monroe, in this county, where he remained for about eighteen years. In 1858 he left a lucrative practice in that village and came to Hamilton, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred Sunday, April 17, 1892. In 1838 he was united in marriage to Isabella H. Parks, a native of Warren county, to whom were born nine children. The Doctor was a Democrat ; voted first for Harrison in 1836. He always took a great interest in education and in our common schools as one of the great institutions of the land. He was elected county commissioner in 1865, and in 1872 he was re-elected to that office. He was prominent in the Masonic circles and a lifelong member of the Presbyterian church. He was admitted, January 4, 1858, to membership in Washington Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hamilton; was junior warden of the lodge; for many years was thrice illustrious master of Hamilton Council, No. 19, Royal and Select Masters; was one of the first members of Cincinnati Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar. He was social, affable and pleasant in all his relations, and stood high as an official and as a practitioner of his profession.

John B. Weller

who filled more important public stations than any one else who ever lived in Butler county, was bom in the village of Montgomery, Hamilton county, Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1812. He was of German descent, his ancestors originally settling in New York. From that state his parents removed to Ohio some few years before his birth. He was educated at Miami University, but did not graduate. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law in the office of Jesse Corwin, in Hamilton. Lewis D. Campbell, his principal competitor in the policies of this county, came to Hamilton at the same time, and the two young men slept together in the same bed. They were then of the same politics. Before attaining his majority young Weller was admitted to the bar, and soon after was nominated by the Democrats for the office of

In 1838, when barely of legal age, he was elected to represent the second con- . gressional district in the lower house of congress, consisting of the counties of Butler, Preble and Darke. He held his seat for three terms, twice defeating the Hon. Lewis D. Campbell. Mr. Weller, though very young, early took a leading part in all debates before the House, and proved himself a ready and powerful speaker. At the end of six years' service he declined a nomination for a fourth term, and returned to the practice of his profession.

Mr. Weller, at an early age, had married Miss Ryan, daughter of one of the leading merchants of Hamilton; but this lady lived only a short time. Early in his congressional career he married Miss Bryan, whose father, the Hon. John A. Bryan, was auditor of the state at that time. His second wife lived but two years. In 1845 'ie married Miss Taylor, a niece of Thomas H. Benton, senator from Missouri. She lived three years.

Mr. Weller was not permitted to practice his profession for any length of time, for on the breaking out of the war with Mexico he volunteered as a private, but was elected captain of his company, which became part of the Second Ohio Regiment, of which he was elected lieutenant-colonel. He fought all through the war, and led his regiment in the charge through the streets of Monterey, when the gallant Colonel Mitchell was wounded.

by the Democrats of Ohio to lead them in the great gubernatorial fight of 1848. His opponent, the Whig candidate, was Seabury Ford, and the campaign was the fiercest and most bitter ever known in this state. This was virtually a fight to decide the presidential question as far as Ohio was concerned; for it was conceded that if Weller carried the state, Cass would get Ohio's vote. After a canvass carried on in all parts of the state, in which Colonel Weller spoke in seventy-eight counties, and after weeks of doubt as to the final result - for it took the official vote to decide - it was found that Weller had been defeated by a majority of three hundred and forty-five votes out of an aggregate of almost three hundred thousand. In one county over four hundred votes were cast for John Weller, which were thrown out. But the great point was won, after all ; for Ohio went for Cass.

In January, 1849, President Polk tendered to Colonel Weller the appointment of commissioner under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, to settle the boundary line between California and Mexico. On President Taylor's accession to the office. Colonel Weller was relieved, and proceeded to San Frhncisco, where he pursued his profession. In 1852 he was elected United States senator in the place of John C. Fremont, for the long term ending in 1857. Upon his return to California in that year he was elected governor of the state by a large majority. At the termination of his career as governor he settled in Alameda county, near Oakland, but was sent by President Buchanan as minister to Mexico in the fall of i860. When President Lincoln came into office. Colonel Weller was succeeded by his old Ohio Friend, Tom Cor- win. In 1867 Governor Weller removed to New Orleans, where he was appointed master in chancery for all of the Gaines cases. Here he lived until his death, on the 17th day of August, 1875.

Governor Weller left two children, - John B. Weller, Jr., whose mother was Miss Taylor, and Charles L. Weller, Jr., who was the only child by his marriage with Mrs. G. W. Staunton in 1854.

Samuel Dick

Our country owed much of its rapid development to those who came here from foreign lands to seek their fortunes. Among these, in proportion to its size, Ireland has been the most prolific. Fully one quarter of our population have some Irish blood in their veins. Among these hardy immigrants was Samuel Dick, a native of the county of Antrim, where he was born on the 21st of April, 1764. His parents, who were in a respectable position of life, died when he was quite young, and left him to the care of some relatives. In the spring of the year 1783, being then nineteen years of age, he sailed from Belfast for America. Two of his brothers were settled in Baltimore, where they had been selling goods, but on his arrival they proposed to take him into partnership, and establish themselves in business in Gettysburg. He refused this offer, although they were well-to-do and he was poor, for he had resolved to carve out his own fortune. He went, however, with his brothers to Gettysburg, with the intention of going to school that winter ; but only a few days after his arrival he met some one who wished to have brandy distilled from apples. Mr. Dick was somewhat acquainted with the process, and offered his aid. It

The next spring the young man crossed the Alleghanies, and among other things he engaged to teach the son of Mr. George Gillespie the art of distilling. This necessarily brought him much about the house, and in frequent intercourse with the family, which resulted in an intimate and lasting friendship. Mr. Gillespie had a daughter, Martha, of comely figure and good disposition, whom Mr. Dick admired very' much. One day her father treated her rather harshly, and in a fit of exasperation she said she would accept the first respectable man that offered. Mr. Dick was close by. and said to her. laughingly, "Here is your man." In the end what was said in a joke was taken in earnest, and he married her in 1785. They lived in great harmony together until her death, at the homestead on Indian creek, in i833-

The place where he was residing at the time of his marriage was Washington county, Pennsylvania; but in 179° con' eluded to go farther west, taking his wife and two children with him. He purchased a lot in the new settlement of Cincinnati, on which he erected a house. He opened a grocery, and occasionally was engaged in forwarding provisions and supplies for the troops at Fort Hamilton and other forts in the interior. He afterward kept a tavern in the house where he resided. He \vas one of those who went forth to the relief of Dunlap's Station, when it was attacked, and also saw Harmar, St. Clair and \\ a)ne each march out on their respective expedi tions.

chaser of a section of land containing six hundred and forty acres, lying on the headwaters of what is now known as Dick's creek, adjoining the Butler county line, in Warren county. The United States lands west of the Great Miami river were first brought into market in the year 1801. At the first sale Mr. Dick bought six hundred and forty acres in the rich bottom of Indian creek, in the present township of Ross, where he removed the next year. On this land he spent the remainder of his days, bringing up his family in great respectability.

Mr. Dick was one of the grand jurors in July, 1803, at the first session of the court of common pleas of Butler county. At the general election in October. 1803, he was elected a member of the house of representatives of the state of Ohio that met at Chillicothe, on the first Monday of December in that year. He served in the legislature during that session, but ever afterward refused to permit his name to be used for office.

He died at the house of his son-in-law, Judge Fergus Anderson, in Ross township, on the 4th of August, 1846, aged eighty-two years ; and was buried beside his wife, in the burying-ground at Bethel chapel. He was a man of high moral principle, thorough and painstaking, prompt in his engagements, and full of sagacity. His business undertakings were successful, and he amassed a considerable fortune. 1 During a great portion of his life he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and in his will bequeathed a legacy to the church in Venice, which he usually attended.

David, who married Judith Bigham; Samuel ; James ; Elizabeth, who married Joseph Wilson; Jane, who married John Wilson ; Mary, who married Fergus Anderson; Martha, who married James Bigham, and Susan, who married Thomas J. Shields.

Israel Ludlow

Israel Ludlow, an early surveyor of the Northwest territory and the founder of the town of Hamilton, was born at Long Hill Farm, near Morristown, New Jersey, in 1765. His ancestors were English, and emigrated to New Jersey from Shropshire, England, to escape persecution on the restoration of Charles II, the Ludlows having been actively identified with the cause of the parliament and prominent in the affairs of the commonwealth. The head of the family at that period. Sir Edmund Ludlow, was one of the judges who passed sentence of death on Charles I, became lieutenant-general of Ireland under Cromwell, and, banished after the restoration, died an exile in Vevay, Switzerland. Israel Ludlow was appointed, in 1787, by Thomas Hutchins, surveyor-general of the United States, who was "assured" of his "ability, diligence and integrity," to survey for the government the boundary of the large tract of land purchased in this neighborhood by the New Jersey association, of which Judge John Cleves Syrnmes was principal director. He accepted the appointment, and received his instructions, with an order for a military escort to protect himself and assistants during their performance of the work. But the military posts on the western frontier had no soldiers to spare, and General Josiah Harmar, then in command of the forces in the Northwest territory, advised Mr. Lud- low of the impossibility of giving his expedition an escort, at the same time warning him as to the danger of attempting the survey, without such protection, among the hostile tribes of the Ohio wilderness. But, being a man of great energy, Mr. Ludlow undertook the task, and, keeping up friendly intercourse with the Indians, they did not molest him or hinder his operations. In 1789 he became one-third partner, with Matthias Denman and Robert Patterson, in the proprietorship of the lands about Fort Washington, and is claimed to have given the present city of Cincinnati its name, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, composed of officers who had served in the Revolutionary war, of which his father, Cornelius Ludlow, was a member. He began, in the year just mentioned, the survey of the town - a plat of which he placed on record. There was a controversy about its correctness, one having been previously made and recorded by another person; but the community soon became satisfied that the plat prepared and certified by Mr. Ludlow was the correct one. Ludlow Station was established in 1790 near the north line of tJhe original town, a block-house having first been built for protection, the Indians at that date being exceedingly hostile and dangerous. In the, summer of 1791 General Arthur St. Clairs army encamped at and about the above-named station, previous to its march into the Indian territory. It was not until 1792 that Mr. Ludlow, then known as Colonel Ludlow, completed his survey of the Miami purchase ; but, having done so, in May of that year he made a full report of the survey, together with a report of all the expenses incidental thereto, which was accepted by Alexander Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury. Colonel Ludlow was subsequently the founder and sole proprietor of Hamilton, having surveyed its town plat

There had been considerable competition for the location of the county seat, and Colonel Ludlow made several stipulations, which were not entirely filled, however, at the time of his death.

In 1795, in company with Generals St. Clair, Dayton and Wilkinson, he also founded the present city of Dayton. After General Wayne's treaty with the Indians at Greenville, in the same year, Colonel Ludlow was appointed to survey the boundary line between the United States and the Indian territory. This wa? a work of gieat danger; but it was of the highest importance that the boundary should be established ; and, as no military escort could be furnished, he undertook the task, and, with only three backwoodsmen as spies to give warning of danger, he accomplished it. Colonel Ludlow married Charlotte, daughter of General James Chambers, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Novembei io» 1786. He left four children, - James C., Sarah B., Israel L. and Martha C. Ludlow.

Francis Monfort

One of the earliest preachers of the gospel in this county was Francis Monfort, who, for a long time, was pastor of the res bvterian church in Hamilton. He was a descendant of the Huguenots. The foun of the American family fled from France, after seeing the oppressions he wou subject to if he remained a Protestant in that country, first going to Hollan , an then coming to the American colonies, father of Francis Monfort was Lawrence

Monfort, and his mother was Elizabeth Cassat, and he was born seven miles northeast of Gettysburg-, Pennsylvania, in what was then York county, but is now Adams, on the 15th day of December, 1782. Mr. Monfort moved to the West with his family, in 1799, and arrived in Cincinnati, May 28th. He soon removed to Warren county, remaining for the summer on a place three-quarters of a mile south of Lebanon, and in November taking a place eight miles west of that town, on the way to Hamilton. Francis Monfort assisted his father on the farm until he was of age. In 1800 he experienced a religious change, and he united with the Presbyterian church of Turtle creek, which was the nearest to his home, and which was then under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Richard Mc- Nemar. As he grew older he determined to enter the ministry, and began his studies under the supervision of his pastor, occupying more than two years. There was then no theological seminary in Ohio, and it was the common plan for those who could not go east and complete their studies to take them up with some approved clergyman in their neighborhood. The one then best known hereabouts was the Rev. John Thompson, of the place now called Springdale. He taught many, and continued in the labor year after year. Previously to going with Mr. Thompson, Mr. Mon fort studied for a time with Mr. Malcolm Worley. After being instructed by Mr. Thompson for a year, he passed eight months with the Rev. Barton W. Stone, at Cane Ridge, Bourbon county, Kentucky, and he was six months with the Rev. Robert Marshall, in Fayette county, of the same state. He then considered himself qualified to preach, and on the 31st of July, 1807, he was licensed to preach the gospel, delivering his first discourse at New Castle, Kentucky. Through the south of Kentucky he soon after went on a preaching tour, extending it into Tennessee, in the neighborhood of Nashville. Then he came over into Ohio, in the Mad River country, and afterwards preached in Kentucky. He did not at this time belong to the Presbyterians, but from the time he began his studies was a "New Light." His church, with many others, had seceded from its previous denominational relationship and joined the new body, which was then thought to be more thoroughly moved by the grace of God. On the 6th of June. 1809, he was married, in Scott county, Kentucky, to Sophia Glass, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Glass, formerly of Frederick county, Virginia, and sister of Mrs. Marshall, the wife of Rev. Robert Marshall. After his marriage he came back to Ohio, and preached on Clear creek and then on Dick's creek till October. 1811, when he joined the Presbyterian church, returning at the same time as the Rev. John Thompson. He was placed on probation for sixteen months, at the same time pursuing additional studies under the direction of the Rev. Daniel Hayden and the Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, D. D. No stop, however, was put to his conducting religious meetings, and he continued them until licensed by the presbytery at Dayton, Ohio, in March, 1813.

Not far from the bounds of Butler county, but located in Warren, about that time there was begun a new congregation, called the New Jersey congregation, from the fact that many of their members- had come from that state. There he was called to preach, and afterwards was settled as pastor of the church on the 14th of June, 1814.

The flock increased and multiplied, and he remained with it until April, 1821, when he began to preach in Hamilton and Seven- Mile, places left vacant by the removal of the Rev. Matthew G. Wallace. He removed to Hamilton the following October. Here he stayed for sixteen years, during ten years of which time he also preached at Seven- Mile.

In 1830 a petition was sent to the presbytery by four of the elders, four trustees, and fifty members, asking for a dissolution of the relations existing between them. This was resisted by Mr. Monfort, who appealed to the synod, and received a decision in his favor. The dissatisfied members would not take this answer as conclusive, and organized another Presbyterian church in Rossville, both of the churches flourishing. They were finally united in 1842, under the Rev. Thomas E. Thomas. Mr. Mon fort resigned his charge in 1837, and removed to Mt. Carmel, Indiana, where he officiated as pastor for nine years. He then preached at St. Omer and Concord, in the Whitewater Presbytery, remaining with them for five years.

His bodily health, however, had grown weak, and he then ceased regular charge of a church. For four years, however, he preached occasionally, and at two different times, for three months each, he occupied the pulpit of the church at Greensburg, Indiana. He never was more useful than at these times. Mr. Monfort was a strong and fervent preacher, and to him many owed their spiritual birth. He was for forty-eight years in the ministry, and he lost no opportunity of doing good. His piety was constant; no one could be in his society, for a few minutes even, without knowing that he was a religious man. He did not grow lax and idle as he grew old, but was willing to undertake new tasks. He began the study of the Hebrew language when sixty-one years of age, and kept it up until his death. He died June 18, 1855, aged seventy-two years. He had one daughter and four sons, all of the sons being ministers of the Presbyterian church.

Fergus Anderson

Fergus Anderson died early in April, 1880, at his residence in Venice, from general debility, aged eighty-three years. His death had been expected for some time, as he had gradually become very weak. The life of Fergus Anderson stands out prominently in Butler county history. His period of greatest activity in political affairs extended from 1828 to 1840.

Fergus Anderson came of good stock. His father was Isaac Anderson, mentioned elsewhere in this book. Fergus was the second oldest son, and was born in Cincinnati June 14, 1797. He was married to Miss Mary Dick, daughter of Samuel Dick, an old associate pioneer of Isaac Anderson. June 28, 1821. Fergus was brought up to the business of farming, and after he was married settled on a farm on Indian creek, near the residence of his father. In 1828 he was elected to the legislature. He served two years, and was then elected to the senate. where he remained the same length of time. In 1835 he was chosen a justice of the peace in Ross township, in which office he served until he was elected associate judge of Butler county by the legislature. This office he retained seven years. For many years he was also president of the board of trustees of Miami University, and a member of the county agricultural board.

In middle life Mr. Anderson was a wealthy man, but he gave considerable money to his married sons, and two of them dying, many thousands of dollars went out of the home estate, and he finally found himself in embarrassed circumstances.

In disposition his principal characteristics were his kindness of heart and gentleness. Enemies he had none, while his friends could be numbered by hundreds.

George W. White

was bom on the 8th of November, 1826, at Oxford. His father, George G. White, was a native of Virginia, and emigrated at an early age to Ohio, settling in Fairfield township, near Black Bottom, in the year 1800. In 1824 he became postmaster of the village of Oxford, continuing in office some twenty-five years. Here George W. White began his first attempts at painting, which, it is believed, are mostly destroyed. Mr. Higgins, of the village, was the first to encourage him in the idea of becoming a painter, and gave him a lump of crude umber, gamboge and Prussian blue, with some white lead. With these crude appliances he began a picture on a piece of unprepared bed-ticking, and placed it on the housetop to dry. His first essay at painting heads was made in Hamilton, in the year 1840, with S. S. Walker, under whose direction he was placed a short time, when he became ill from close confinement, on recovery being sent to the Migmi University as a student. Prof. Moffatt, seeing his predilection, advised him to continue the study of art. Although his father was unfavorable to this course of life, he supplied his son with means to go to Cincinnati, where he entered upon an artist's career in 1843. He met with but little encouragement. The painters all assured him that the life of an artist was "a starving one," and he was obliged to catch up what instruction he could from the others, not being able to afford regular lessons.

His scanty means were soon exhausted, and he began traveling as a negro minstrel. This was then new, and he went through the country with Webb's Serenaders and Sable Sisters, following this with a trip on the Ohio and Mississippi with a show company, comprising minstrels, tumblers and athletes. At New Orleans the company disbanded in trouble, and White returned to Cincinnati and engaged with Rockwell's Amphitheater. Here he sang and played nightly in the saw-dust of the arena, under the cover of burnt cork. This was his last appearance in public in this capacity. He resumed the pencil, and returned for a season to his native village, where he painted cabinet heads of all who would sit. at five and ten dollars a head. He returned to Cincinnati in 1847. and took rooms in the Apollo building, at the corner of Fifth and Walnut, which was at that time the retreat of several meritorious artists, amongst whom we might name Beard, Brannon, Miller, Eaton, Duncanson, Whittridge, Johnson, Tom Jones; the sculptor, and others. Mr. White had as his first roommate W. L. Sonntag, the landscape painter, later of New York city. The first picture which Mr. White ventured to place before the public was a half-length portrait of Julia Dean, the celebrated actress, afterward known as Julia Dean Hayne. She was then the city's favorite, and her picture attracted wide at- tention. She was represented as "Virginia" in the play of the "Roman Father." From that time on he continued to paint portraits, landscapes, and so on ; in fact, any kind of work was gladly received. Some of these canvases were the joint productions of White and Sonntag, who, when not engaged in painting, were skirmishing about for something to eat. They suffered keenly from the distresses and difficulties which usually attend this class of young and undistinguished painters, and were forced to do whatever offered. Occasionally they decorated omnibuses and railroad Cars, and at -other times painted scenes in the Museum Theater.

Mr. White became a member of the Artists' Union on its formation, which afforded him a sale for a number of his pictures. In the summer of 1848 he painted the "Greek Slave," two pictures, embodying the front and rear views, with the matchless profile seen to equal advantage in both. This effort placed him favorably before the public as an artist. The pictures, after being shown in the East and West, were finally taken to New York and sold for a thousand dollars apiece. He continued painting, turning out some fine work occasionally, among which were his pictures of "Musidora," "Helen McGregor," "Beauty's Reverie," "Galbina," "Undine," and "Ophelia." Among his portraits at that time were those of the Rev. Thomas II. Stockton and Edwin Forrest, the actor. At the burning of Wood's Museum, in 1857, these and many other works of the artist were destroyed. They represented the labor of years. He had resided for some time in Covington, when he was induced by his friends to go to New York city. After an experience of a year he returned, setting up his easel in Cincinnati, and shortly after painting "Louis Kossuth" and "Lola Montez." In 1857 Mr. White came to Hamilton, where he .resided, excepting during the Rebellion, when he was in, Cincinnati, until his death, which occurred in 1890.

Captain Israel Gregg

Captain Israel Gregg, for many years a prominent steamboat man, was for a long time a resident of Hamilton. He was bom on the 20th of February, 1775, in Virginia, but his parents, who were adventurous pioneers. removed to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, shortly after, where, on attaining a sufficient age, he was taught the art of a silversmith, and on reaching his majority set up for himself. Two years after, or on the 1 2th of July, 1798, he married Elizabeth Hough, one of the younger children of a Quaker family, and sister of Joseph Hough fo r twenty years the leading merchant of Hamilton. Another brother, Benjamin, was auditor of the state of Ohio from 1808 in steamboating, and in 1814 was in command of the steamboat "Enterprise," bui t at Brownsville by Daniel French, on his patent, and owned by a company at at place. It was a boat of forty-five tons, t made two voyages to Louisville in the sun mer of 1814. In December she took m a cargo of ordnance stores at Pittsburg, an sailed for New Orleans, arriving at that port on the 14th of. the same month. She was then dispatched up the river in the search of two keel-boats, laden with small arms, which had been delayed on the river. e had reached twelve miles above Nate ez when she met the boats, took their masters and cargoes on board, and returned to New Orleans, having been out six and a half days, in which time she ran two hundred and sixty-four miles. She was then for some time actively employed in transporting troops, etc. She made one voyage to the gulf of Mexico,^ as a cartel, and one voyage to the rapids of Red River with troops, and nine voyages to Natchez. She set out for Pittsburg on the 6th of May, and arrived at Shipping Port on the 30th, twenty-four days out, being the first steamboat that ever arrived at that port from New Orleans. She then proceeded to Pittsburg, where her arrival was warmly greeted^ as the passage from the sea by the means of steam had been successfully accomplished for the first time. Captain Gregg afterwards commanded the "Dispatch," a small boat of twenty-five tons, built at Brownsville, which was wrecked near New Orleans in 1819, and he continued as a commander in the river service for several years after.

He then became an inhabitant of Hamilton, where he dwelt the remainder of his days. He was elected sheriff of Butler county in 1835, and served four years, also holding other offices of trust and responsibility. By his first wife he had eleven children, who are now all dead. Upon her decease he married Mrs. Phebe Kelley, of Rossville, an aunt of William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, on Thursday, the 5th of December, 1822, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. H. Baker. By this marriage he had two children: Jane H., the was born in Cincinnati April 7, 1810. His father, William Cary, emigrated to the Northwest territory in 1803, and settled on a farm he had purchased at the head of Main street, Cincinnati, where he resided until 1814, when he removed to College Hill. His thirty-two acres in Cincinnati were sold, and he bought section 30, in Mill Creek township, now College Hill, where he resided until his death, March 25, 1862.

In this place Freeman G. Cary, with his two brothers, William Woodward and Samuel Fenton, received his early education. He afterwards attended college at Miami University, and graduated with honor in the class of 1831. He devoted more than thirty years of his life to teaching. He established Cary's Academy and originated Farmers' College, into which the academy was merged ; also originated for females what afterwards became the Ohio Female College. These institutions were eminently successful until after he resigned the presidency, the Farmers' College at that time numbering three hundred students. The Female College was likewise successful.

Mr. Cary's strong point was in government, and he was also a successful teacher. During his presidency he associated with him men of ability in the various departments of his institution. In the first - period of its existence under him, he educated, to a greater or less extent, some three thousand young men, many of them occupying distinguished position north and south, in the ministry, the bar, or as physicians or business men. Mr. Cary's character was marked by a combination of striking traits, he having been possessed of a strong constitution, temperate habits, and good health, which gave him physical ability to accomplish successfully whatever he attempted.

He made his own place in society, and was known to be persistent and energetic in all he undertook. He filled all the duties that fell to his charge with ability and tact. He was thoroughly conversant with all the branches of natural science, especially those appertaining to agriculture and horticulture, of which he acquired both a practical and theoretical knowledge. He had connected with his residence an admirably arranged conservatory and greenhouse, on his own plan, in which he spent much of his time in experimenting for his own gratification. He established and edited an agricultural periodical, the Cincinnatus, which for five years had a wide circulation, and only ceased by reason of the Rebellion. He was one of the distinguished early leaders and supporters of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, being several times its honored president. Mr. Cary was not only an adept in the natural sciences, but was also a good classical and mathematical scholar, his education and ability eminently fitting him for marked prominence. He was selected as one of two to represent the great state of Ohio, under Buchanan's administration, in a congress of the states for the promotion of agriculture. with Marshall P. Wilder at its head. After over a quarter of a century's labors in the schools originated and constructed by him he retired to a farm in Butler county, where, with his wonted zeal and industry, he devoted himself to rural pursuits, leading a quiet and retired life. His residence, planned by himself, was a model of taste and fine architecture, combining as many conveniences as any structure in the world. His place was set with the choicest fruits grown in the climate, and his house was completely encircled by evergreens and deciduous trees, all being in keeping with the intelligence of the man. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church for over forty-five years, and was its active, zealous supporter. He was twice married and was the parent of eight children. Gen. S. F. Cary, the world-renowned lecturer, was his brother, and the Cary sisters, the celebrated writers, were his cousins. He died August 26. 1888.

General Richard Butler

Richard Butler, after whom this county was named, was born in Ireland. With his brothers, he came to America before 1760, and was for a longtime in the Indian trade. Just before the outbreak of the American war he was settled in Pennsylvania, where his courage and knowledge of character made him a man of influence. It was a matter of great importance to persuade the Indians not to take up arms against us, and as agent and interpreter he went to Fort Pitt, in April, 1776, hoping to dissuade the Six Nations from entering the field as our antagonists. They were the most powerful of all the Indian tribes, and had been able to maintain their independence against both the French and English. With the latter, however, they had formed an alliance at the close of the war that added Canada to the British dominions, and, while not unfriendly to the Americans, it was feared that the so- licitations of English agents would finally turn them from neutrals into enemies. Mr. Butler met the Indians in formal conference, and during their meeting delivered three speeches, two to Kiosola, the leading Indian chief, and one to the Delawares, who were in a sense subsidiary to the Iroquois. His efforts were for the time successful ; Kiosola declared himself in favor of the Americans, and everything promised prosperously, but the current of feeling was too strong for the chief, and he and the Six Nations finally drifted into an alliance with the English, a movement which proved in the end fatal to the confederated tribes.

Butler was made a lieutenant-colonel of the Pennsylvania line at the beginning of the war, and in the spring of 1 777 was lieutenant-colonel of Morgan's rifle corps, which was present at the battle of Saratoga, and distinguished himself by his conduct on several occasions. He was in the battle of Monmouth. While with a detachment commanded by General Lafayette, near Williamsburg, Virginia, on the 26th of January, 1781, he attacked Colonel Simcoe's rangers, gaining the advantage. He held the rank of colonel of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment at the close of the war, and acted as a commissioner in settling affairs with the Indians at about that time. He took up his residence in Carlisle, where, with General Irvine and General Armstrong and a few others, an agreeable society was formed. In conjunction with these officers, he quelled a mutiny at Fort Pitt.

In 1784 he was one of the United States commissioners at a treaty held at Fort Stanwix. New York. PI is fellow commissioners were Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, and Arthur Lee, of Virginia. It does not appear that they had any particular knowledge of the Indian character, and the bulk of the business fell upon General Butler. New York state sent a commissioner. Peter Schuyler, to protect her interests, as the chief portion of the lands which were indisputably in the possession of the Six Nations were within her limits, and for all west of New York a treaty some twenty years old was in existence. The United States commissioners adopted a very high and lofty tone to the Indians, and but for the conciliatory policy adopted by New York in' her treatment it is probable an Indian warfare would have broken out, retarding the settlement of western New York, as, at the same time, Indian troubles did the territory northwest of the Ohio. The Indians advocated their side at this meeting with much ability.

General Butler subsequently attended at Fort McIntosh, and in September, 1785, left his home in Carlisle to proceed to the Miami, where it was thought desirable a treaty should be made. He kept a journal, which is full of interesting matter. From it we learn that the journey was down the river, and occupied considerable time. James Monroe, afterward President, and then a member of congress, accompanied him a considerable part of the way. Three months after starting, at the 'mouth of the Great Miami, a treaty was concluded between the American commissioners - General Parsons, General Butler and General Clark - and several tribes of Indians. The honors were with General Butler, who delivered the principal address to the Indians. Tradition has imparted to this scene some startling particulars not to be found corroborated in history.

In 1791 he joined the expedition of St. Clair, together with a brother. Colonel Butler. He was appointed second in command and was charged with the arrangements necessary for the recruiting service. He established a rendezvous at Baltimore, and several points in Pennsylvania. Those enlisted east of the mountains assembled at Carlisle, where they were disciplined and prepared to march for the West. He joined the army at Fort Hamilton, on the 27th of September, and the army was set in motion on the 4th of October, being led by General Butler. They crossed the river by wading. At Fort Hamilton General St. Clair issued an order prohibiting more than two or three women for each company from proceeding with the army. This, however, was disregarded, and when the men commenced crossing the river they also plunged into the stream, but the water being deep, their progress was considerably obstructed by their clothes. Many of them got out of the water on the artillery carriages, and rode over astride of the cannon.

We have elsewhere given an account of the march to the fatal field where St. Clair's army was destroyed. General Butler had been active and vigilant, and when the attack came, on the 4th of November, fought bravely. He and General St. Clair were continually going up and down the lines. As one of them went up one line, the other was going down the other line. About an hour after the charge made by Major Thomas Butler's troops. General Richard Butler was mortally wounded, when passing on the left of the battalion. Four soldiers put him in a blanket, and carried him back to have his wounds dressed by a surgeon. They placed him in a sitting posture on the blanket leaning against a tree. He was vomiting blood at the time. Almost immediately afterward, while the surgeon was examining General Butler's wounds a single Indian, who had penetrated the ranks of the regiment, darted forward, and tomahawked and scalped the general before his attendants were aware and could interfere.

Such was the end of life to this brave soldier. He came of a patriotic family, three of his brothers having been in the service of the United States, fighting nobly for us. His son has caused his journal to be published; and the other descendants of the family have filled high stations in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Daniel W. Voorhees

was born in Liberty township, not far from the old Spring meeting-house, September 26, 1827, and was only two months old when his parents removed to Fountain county, Indiana, where they later resided. His father, Stephen Voorhees, was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, 1798, and emigrated with his parents in 1804 to Butler county, and in December. 1827, moved to the farm in Fountain county, Indiana, where he died several years ago. His grandfather, Peter Voorhees, was born in New Jersey, and soon after the close of the Revolutionary war emigrated to Kentucky. Peter Voorhees's wife, whose maiden name was Van Arsdale, was born at Brant's Station, then a fort. / Her father, Luke Van Arsdale, fought at the battle of Blue Licks, and distinguished himself there and elsewhere against the Indians under Daniel Boone. His great-grandfather, Stephen Voorhees, was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and fought at Princeton, Monmouth, and other celebrated historic fields. His paternal ancestors came from Holland, the original name being Van Voorhees. Mr. Voorhees's mother, Rachel Elliott, born in Maryland, of Irish ancestry, was married in 1821. Daniel W. was the third child, and was brought up on a farm about ten miles from Covington, Indiana, remaining there until 1845. 1° 1845 he entered Asbury University, whence he graduated in 1849.

Soon after graduating he entered the law office of Lane & Wilson, at Crawfordsville, and the following spring settled to practice at Covington, the county seat of Fountain county. Here E. A. Hannegan, formerly Lffiited States senator, having heard him deliver a Fourth of July oration, made proposals for a law partnership, taking effect in April, 1852. In June, 1853, Mr. Voorhees was appointed by Governor Wright prosecuting attorney of the circuit court, in which position he soon established a fine reputation as a criminal lawyer, and broke up a nest of desperadoes whose headquarters were at Lafayette. In 1856 he was nominated by acclamation Democratic candidate for congress, but was defeated by two hundred and thirty majority in a district previously Republican by two thousand six hundred. In November, 1857, he removed to Terre Haute, the county seat of Vigo county, and the ensuing April, 1858, was appointed United States district attorney for the state of Indiana, by President Buchanan, in which position he increased his reputation as an orator and lawyer. He was elected to congress in i860 and 1862, and in 1864 was again a successful candidate, but in this last election his majority was contested by his opponent, Henry D.

Washburne, who obtained the seat. In 1866 Mr. Voorhees refused the nomination, but in 1868 he was elected, and again in 1870.' In 1872 he was defeated by Morton C. Hunter.

As a precursor of the late war the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in which John Brown and others were concerned, and for which they were convicted and hanged in 1859, will always stand prominent in the history of the country. At that time the gifted A. P. Willard was governor of Indiana, and the chairman of the Indiana Democracy, and it was with sorrow and dismay that his friends learned that Colonel J. E. Cook, arrested with "Ossawatomie Brown," was a brother of Governor Willard's wife. Governor Willard was not the man to turn his back upon a brother or a friend. His first thought was of "Dan" Voorhees, who was then at Vincennes arguing a case before Judge Michael F. Burke. Governor Willard sent a message to Vincennes, and Judge Burke continued the case while Mr. Voorhees immediately started to consult Governor Willard. Several gentlemen advised him not to undertake the defense, but he emphatically declared his resolution to defend his friend's brother regardless of consequences. He went and took part in that celebrated trial. The result is known. John Brown was convicted of murder and treason, but Mr. Voorhees succeeded in having a Virginia jury convict Cook of murder only, thus bringing him within the pardoning power of the governor. Governor Wise, however, refused to pardon, and Cook was executed among the others. This was, however, the beginning of Mr. Voorhees's national reputation. His speech was listened to by the vast audience with rapt attention, and met with unequaled approbation. He was the recipient of enthusiastic congratulations, and his speech was published all over the country and in Europe. From this time forward he occupied a conspicuous place in the eyes of the public. At the bar, on the stump, and in the halls of congress, he soon became a man of mark. Mr. Voorhees's political career and principles, his power as a parliamentary orator and a statesman, are now a portion of the history of the nation.

From the sobriquet of "the tall Sycamore of the Wabash/' so often and familiarly applied to Mr. Voorhees, it will be inferred that he was of tall stature. He stood six feet and one inch in height, and weighed over two hundred pounds.

Mr. Voorhees was appointed November 6, 1877, to succeed Governor Morton in the United States senate. The issue in the election of 1878 in Indiana was whether he should be elected by the legislature to succeed his appointment. On this issue the legislature pledged to his support was elected by a majority of over thirty thousand over all opposition. He was elected to succeed himself in 1885 and again in 1891, and served continuously until March 4, 1897, a period of almost twenty years, in which he accomplished a notable work in diverting the county from the sectional issues growing oiit of the Civil war. As a politician Voorhees ranks with Lincoln himself. As senator he was assiduous in his attentions to the public needs. He was always present, and allowed no measure of his political opponents to pass without the severest scrutiny. With him vigilance was the price of liberty. He died soon after retiring from the senate, on April 10, 1897.

Robert H. Bishop

Robert Hamilton Bishop, D. D., first president of Miami University, was the son of William and Margaret Bishop. He was born in the parish of Whitburn, Linlithgowshire, North Britain, on the 26th of July, 1777. Having early evinced a fondness for books, as well as a mind of more than ordinary vigor, he entered on a course of classical study, and in November, 1794, became a member of the University of Edinburgh. After completing his course at the university he entered the Divinity Hall at Selkirk, under the Rev. George Lawson, in August, 1798. Here he passed through the prescribed course of theological study, and on the 28th of June, T802, was licensed to preach the gospel by the Associate Burgher presbytery of Perth.

In the spring and summer of 1801 the Rev. (afterwards Dr.) John M. Mason, of the city of New York, visited the Burgher synod of Scotland, as the commissioner from the Associate Reformed synod of North America, partly with a view to obtain a supply of preachers for the Amercan synod. Mr. Bishop, being at that time a student under Professor Lawson, was casually introduced to Dr. Mason, and the brief interview which he had with him led, some two months after, to a partial engagement to accompany Dr. Mason to America, provided the synod, at whose disposal he was, should so direct.

under their special order, he was licensed to preach, with a view to his engaging in the contemplated mission. In September following, he, with five other ordained ministers, embarked with Dr. Mason at Greennock, and arrived at New York before the close of October. Having attended a meeting of the Associate Reformed synod, which took place shortly after his arrival, he set out with two other clergymen for Kentucky; but, being left to supply two new congregations in Adams county, Ohio, for two months, he did not arrive there until March, 1803. He had been appointed to labor in Kentucky by the casting vote of the moderator of the synod - what was then called the Second Congregation of New York having made application for his services. Five years afterwards the same congregation sent him a pressing invitation to return to them, which, however, he did not accept.

In the summer of 1803 he had three calls presented to him in due form ; but that which he finally accepted was from Ebenezer, in Jessamine county, which was connected with New Providence, in Mercer county. The two congregations united contained about thirty families spread over a tract of country at least fifteen miles square; and, as the Kentucky river and the Kentucky cliffs intervened between the two places of worship, the two churches were not expected to worship together much oftener than twice a year. About the same time a professorship in Transylvania University was offered him, and, accepting it, he combined the duties of that office with those of his charge.

agreeable circumstances, so far as he was personally or officially concerned. Upwards of twenty young men, who were more or less under his special care during this period, afterwards entered the ministry, and several of them rose to eminence.

In October, 1819, Mr. Bishop, having dissolved his connection with the Associate Reformed church, joined the West Lexington presbytery in connection with the general assembly. From 1820 to 1823 he officiated as stated supply to the church in Lexington, which had been gathered by the labors of the Rev. James McCord ; and his connection with this church he seems to have considered as highly favorable to both his comfort and usefulness.

In the autumn of 1824 he accepted the presidency of Miami University. Oxford, Ohio, and was inaugurated on the 30th of March, 1825. Here he found a few Christian people who had been under the care of the Rev. James Hughes, for some years principal of the grammar school in that place; and the pupils of this he gathered and formed into a Presbyterian church, and preached to them regularly on the Sabbath in the college chapel, until the year 1831, when, as the result of a revival, in which Dr. Blackburn was the principal instrument, the church gathered so much strength that they undertook to build a place of worship and call a pastor. In 1825 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the college of New Jersey.

In the great controversy which divided the Presbyterian church in 1838 Dr. Bishop's sympathy and action were with the New School. In 1841 he resigned the presidency of Miami University, but held the professorship of history and political science until the autumn of 1844, when his connection with the institution ceased. He then removed to Pleasant Hill, a beautiful spot in the immediate neighborhood of Cincinnati, where there was already an academy which, partly through his agency, was now enlarged into a college, under the name of the Farmers' College. Here he remained actively and usefully employed to the close of life. Dr. Bishop preached regularly in the chapel to the students as long as he retained the presidency of the university, but after that had no stated charge. He preached, however, very frequently during his subsequent years, and his last sermon was preached on the 15th of April, 1855, but two weeks before his death. As he left his house to preach this sermon he distinctly told his wife it would be his last. He heard his classes as usual on Thursday, and was just going to the college on Friday morning, when his strength failed, so that he was no longer capable of making an effort. He lingered until five o'clock Sabbath morning (April 29th), his usual hour of rising, and then died, as he had often expressed a wish to die, "in the harness."

On the 25th of August, 1802, just as he was on the eve of embarking for America, he was married to Ann Ireland, by whom he had eight children, five sons and three daughters. All his sons were graduates of Miami University. Two of them became clergymen, and one of them a professor in the university at which he graduated. Mrs. Bishop survived her husband but two weeks.

The following is a list of Dr. Bishop's publications: "Sermons on Various Subjects," 1808 (this was the first volume of sermons printed west of the mountains) ; "Memorials of David Rice," with an appendix, 1824; "Elements of Logic, or a Summary of the General Principles and Different Modes of Reasoning," 1833; "Sketches of the Philosophy of the Bible," 1833; "Elements of the Science of Government," 1839; "The Western Peacemaker," 1839. He published, also, several occasional sermons and addresses, among which was a sermon on the death of the Rev. James Mc- Chord, 1820, and the address at his inauguration as president of Miami University in 1825. He contributed, also, liberally to several periodicals.

Micajah Hughes

Micajah Hughes, late of Liberty township, formerly president of the First National Bank of Hamilton, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, on the 25th of January. 1807. He was the son of Elijah and Sarah (Muchner) Hughes, who were both natives of the same county, and removed to Ohio, settling in Liberty township in 1815. Mr. Hughes followed the occupation of a blacksmith in Maryland, but after coming to Ohio, also embarked in farming. He was born November 4, 1777, and died August 8, 1849, anc* September 10, 1845* being born May 5, 1780. Micajah Hughes was educated in an old log school-house in Liberty township, located in Huntsville. e soon was initiated into farming, and in 1832, in company with Daniel, his oldest brother, bought a farm of one hundred an sixty acres, in Lemon township, which they owned together until 1837. In the meaa time they had bought another farm in county, then dividing it Micajah took the farm on which he later lived, of one un dred and twenty acres, and forty acres 0 woodland, two miles distant. Their partner

He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank in Hamilton, in August, 1863, and became its president. The first meeting to form this bank was held on the day on which the battle of Gettysburg was fought, but the meeting at which the permanent organization took place was on the 6th of August. The capital was originally fifty thousand dollars, of which Mr. Hughes owned one-tenth, but a few months after it was increased to sixty thousand dollars, and in January was made one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. James Beatty was the first vice-president.

The bank has been uniformly successful in its history, never having been obliged to close its doors or ask the least indulgence. Its stockholders are conservative moneylenders, who never receive favors from the bank or use its funds for their own purposes. Mr. Hughes, in later years, owned but one thousand dollars' worth of stock, just enough to qualify him to be president, by request of stockholders, though he formerly owned twelve thousand five hundred dollars of stock. He paid the largest personal tax in Butler county, being on upwards of eighty-seven thousand dollars, all his property being in this county, except ten lots in Louisville, Kentucky.

He was married on the 3d of March, 1837, to Miss Phebe F. Cassidy, born September 19, 1814, in Lemon township, who was the daughter of John and Sarah Cassidy, farmers. Mrs. Hughes died a few years ago. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, though but five are now living. The oldest, Mrs. Helen Taylor, was born May 23, 1839. Albert, born April 23, 1843; George W., born June 29, 1844; Joseph B., born November 21, 1848; Alexander C., born January 16, 1851, and died August 14, 1867, at Minneapolis, where he had gone for his health. He was a lawyer of Hamilton. Sarah L., born February 4, 1841, died November 9, 1871, was an accomplished scholar and writer. She possessed a high degree of literary skill, and her letters from Europe excited much attention. Alice M., bom July 2, 1845, died July 1, 1853; Evelyn, born October 22, 1853, died November I, 1853; Clarence E., born March 3, 1855, died September 11, 1864.

He was always a Democrat, casting his first vote for Jackson, in 1828, and voting for the candidates of that party ever afterward. He was frequently a delegate to the state Democratic convention. He was a director of the Butler County Insurance Company for ten years, and was one of its organizers.

David Macdill

The Rev. David MacDill, D. D., was born in the northern district of South Carolina, December 27, 1790. He was of Scotch- Irish descent. His father, though quite young, served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, under Colonel Horry. The son in his youth enjoyed the advantages afforded by the churches and schools which then existed among the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the South. At the age of sixteen he had studied as much mathematics as was then usually studied in college. He had a thirst for knowledge and a love of books.

from South Carolina to what was then regarded as "the far West," and settled in Preble county, Ohio. The country was almost an unbroken forest. A section of land, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased, and the work of erecting a log-house and other buildings and of clearing off the timber, mostly beech, was begun. In such work as this young David MacDill spent three years - teaching school, however, for three months during each of those years. At the end of this time, being about nineteen years old, he commenced the study of languages under the Rev. William Robertson, at Lebanon, Ohio. He finished his literary course in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. Among his classmates were the Rev. J. Finley Crowe, D. D., the founder of Hanover College, and the Rev. David Monfort, D. D., pastor for many years of the Presbyterian church in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1813 he entered the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York, then under the care of the celebrated Rev. Dr. J. M. Mason, one of the ablest pulpit orators of our country. Plere he spent four annual sessions, and had as fellow-students many who afterward became leading ministers in their respective churches. He spent the summer vacations in teaching in the vicinity of New York. When he graduated, in T817, from the seminary, he delivered by appointment the valedictory address to his class. He was licensed to preach August 6. 1817. He began to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (United Presbyterian) church, in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, in October, 1817. He was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Hamilton and Concord, October, 1818. He continued in charge of these two congregations for eight or ten years, and then demitted the Concord branch. The Concord meeting-house was about eight miles north of Hamilton, and just this side of Collinsville. He continued pastor of the Hamilton church until 1848, a period of more than thirty years. During the most of this time he preached three times each Sabbath - twice in his own church, and once in a school-house or unoccupied church. In addition to these labors he edited the Christian Intelligencer, a monthly religious periodical. He was also for many years (about twentyfour in all) a member of the board of trustees of Miami University, and was always punctual in attending its meetings. His influence did much to promote the prosperity of that institution.

In 1848 he removed with his family to Sparta, Randolph county, Illinois. Here he became pastor of the Union congregation, which, in a few years, became too large, in his opinion, to be cared for by one of his age. He resigned this charge, and removed to Monmouth, in order to edit the Western United Presbyterian, in 1857. He was appointed to this position by the synod of Illinois. He was now nearly seventy years of age. He continued to discharge the duties of editor until 1862, when he resigned. He died in Monmouth, Illinois, June 15, 1870, in the eightieth year of his age.

the church of which he was a member. . . . The influence of Dr. MacDill was felt all over that country. . . . There was perhaps no man in Butler county who did more to mold public opinion for good than Dr. Mac- Dill. He was ever on the lookout for opportunities of doing good to men and advancing the glory of God."

Joseph Ewing Mcdonald

Joseph E. McDonald, late senator from Indiana, was bom in Fairfield township, on the 29th of August, 1819. His father, John McDonald, was of Scotch extraction, a native of Pennsylvania, and by occupation a farmer. He was a man of sterling worth, determined, industrious, and self-sacrificing. He died when his son was still in infancy. His mother, Eleanor (Piatt) McDonald, was a Pennsylvanian. Her ancestors were French Huguenots, who located first in New Jersey, and afterwards settled permanently in Ohio. She was a woman of a superior order of intellect. She was a woman of refined tastes, a pleasant writer, and, for the amusement and advancement of her children, wrote many sketches and scraps of song. She and her husband were both earnest members of the United Presbyterian church.

Several years after the death of John McDonald she was married to John Kerr, of Fairfield township. Mr. Kerr was a native of Ireland, a frugal, industrious farmer always out of debt, a just and courteous neighbor, a firm but kind parent, and the father of seven children, four sons and three daughters. He moved with his family to Montgomery county, Indiana, in the fall of 1826, entered land and opened a farm. He was a member of the Old School Presbyterian church. He died in 1856.

Joseph was seven years of age when, in 1826, his parents located in Montgomery county, then an almost unbroken forest. He remained on the place until the age of twelve years, excepting two years spent at Crawfordsville attending school. Such spare time as he could command from his labors on the farm was occupied in pursuing a course of study which aided much in laying the foundation for the eventful future in store for him. At an early age he conceived a strong love for the law, and when ten years old he had determined upon making that profession his life work, at the cost of any personal hardship or sacrifice. In his twelfth year the ambitious aspirant for future honors at the bar became an apprentice at the saddler's trade at Lafayette, Indiana. In that capacity he served five years and nine months, except three months spent in attending school. For fidelity to their interests his employers released him from the last three months of his apprenticeship, which time he spent in prosecuting his studies.

Following the resolution made before going to learn a trade, he pursued his studies with vigor at such times as he could snatch from work or rest. He had already become quite proficient in the English branches and rudiments of learning. His favorite study was history, in which he became well versed. During his apprenticeship he had access to the extensive and wellselected library of Dr. Israel T. Canby, who was then receiver of the public jnoneys of the land office at Crawfordsville, Indiana. This opportunity was well improved, and he was prepared when leaving there, in 1838, to enter upon advanced fields of knowledge.

bash College, at Craw fords vi lie, and began the study of the higher branches of learning with success, supporting himself mainly by plying his trade at such times as it was possible to do so. He continued his studies at college till the spring of 1840, except for a short period in the spring of 1839, when he acted with the engineers' corps of the state of Indiana, who were then surveying the bed for the Wabash and Erie canal. In 1840 he entered Asburv University, at Greencastle, Indiana, and remained six months, returning to Crawfordsville, where he was the rest of the year, and taught school one term. In the spring of 1841 he went to Williamsport, Indiana, taking a position as clerk in the store of James Mc- Donald, his brother, being there one year.

In the spring of 1842 he began the study of law at Lafayette, Indiana, with Zebulon Beard, one of the first lawyers in the state, as his preceptor. He advanced with rapid strides, his quick and firm grasp of its principles being remarkable. He was admitted to practice by the supreme court of Indiana, consisting of Judges Blackford, Dewey and Sullivan, in the spring of 1843. He was nominated for the office of prosecuting attorney before he received his license to practice, and was elected to that position at the August election following, over Robert Jones, a Whig and a prominent member of the Lafayette bar. This was the first election of that class of officers by the people, they having formerly been chosen by the legislature.

On the 25th of December, 1844, he was married to Nancy Ruth Buell, at Williamsport, Indiana. She was the daughter of Doctor Buell, a practicing physician and surgeon. The issue of this union was Ezekiel B., Malcolm A., Frank B., and Annie M. McDonald, afterwards Mrs. Caldwell, who died June 2, 1877.

He was re-elected prosecuting attorney over Robert Evans, a prominent lawyer and politician, in August, 1845, serving in all a period of four years. In the fall of 1847 he moved to Crawfordsville and entered on the practice of the law, where he lived until ] 859. He was elected to the thirty-first congress from the old eighth district in August, 1849, and served one term. In 1856 he was elected attorney-general of Indiana, being the first chosen to this office by the people, and was re-elected in 1858, serving in all four years. He was not a candidate for a third term.

In the spring of 1859 removed to Indianapolis, forming a partnership with Addison L. Roach, ex-judge of the supreme court of Indiana. In 1864 McDonald was nominated for governor of Indiana by the Democratic state convention, and made a joint canvass with Oliver P. Morton, the Republican nominee. At the election he received six thousand more votes for governor that the Democratic state ticket did in 1862, when the entire Democratic state ticket, together with a majority in both branches of the general assembly, was elected. Mr. Morton was elected, however, by nearly twenty thousand votes.

In 1868 E. M. McDonald became the law partner of his father, and the next year Addison L. Roach retired from the firm. E. M. McDonald died January 1, 1 873. Frank B. McDonald, his youngest son, afterward became the law partner of Mr. Mc- Donald.

1874, he married Araminta W. Vance, of Craw fordsvi lie, who died February 2, 1875. In 1882 he was married for a third time. March 5, 1875, was elected to the United States senate for six years. He was chairman of the committee on public lands, and the second member of the judiciary committee of the senate, and ranked as one of the best lawyers of that body. He was a consistent Democrat of the Jefferson type. After retiring from the senate he devoted himself to the practice of his profession until his death on June 21, 1891.

Levi Richmond

General Levi Richmond was born on the 29th day of January, 1805, in Ross township, in this county, and was, at the time of his death, in the forty-fifth year of his age. He was married on the 4th day of December, 1823, by the Rev. John A. Baughman, to Martha Powers Akers, a most estimable lady, and had by her six children.

The greatest portion of his life was spent in the immediate vicinity of the spot where the light first fell upon him. From April, 1835, until in October, 1841, he resided in the town of Millville, when he removed to Rossville, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death.

He received from his parents what, in the days of his youth, was considered a liberal education. Although but limited in comparison with the instruction now to be obtained, it was yet sufficient for one of such close observation and thirst for information to enable him by a very extensive general reading to qualify him for all the useful and practical pursuits of life.

our heroic army of the war of 1812 was fresh in the memories of all true-hearted Americans, and accustomed to hear the warworn veterans recount their deeds of personal valor, his spirit became fired with enthusiasm, and he longed for the opportunity of offering his services to his country. Devoting a great amount of time to the study of military affairs, and being attached to the Eighth Company of the Second Regiment in the Third Brigade of the First Division of the Ohio militia, he was, on the 15th day of June, 1830, commissioned a lieutenant in his company. On the 10th day of January, 1832, he was promoted to the rank of captain. Shortly afterwards he was raised to the rank of major of the regiment, and afterwards he was promoted to lieutenantcolonel. and then colonel of the Second Regiment, and finally was elected and commissioned a brigadier-general of the First Division.

A long period of peace having blessed our flag no opportunity was afforded him to display what all military men acquainted with him agreed that he possessed in a most eminent degreee - military skill.

When the war with Mexico broke out, being pretty well advanced in years, and having a large family to claim his support and protection, he was induced to abandon his wish to accompany our army in that country, but his voice was heard urging the young men to rally around the flag.

The great aim of his life appeared to be to render himself a useful member of society. Ardent and liberal in all his sentiments, he was a firm and unwavering friend of the people's rights. Having attached himself to the Democratic party early in life, he never lost sight of the party's interest; and the ardor and enthusiasm which characterized him in political affairs rendered him one of the strongest pillars which supported that political creed. For seven successive years he served as township clerk of his native township, and was twice elected justice of the peace of St. Clair township. In 1843 he was appointed postmaster of Rossville, which office he held until a Whig administration came into power, when he was removed on political considerations.

Henry Lee Morey

was born in Milford township. Butler county, April 8, 1841 ; attended common schools of Butler and Preble counties until 1856, when he was sent to the Morning Sun Academy to prepare for a collegiate education. In 1859 he entered Miami University; enlisted in the University Rifles, organized at Oxford, on the day following the fall of Fort Sumter. This company was attached to the Twentieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was actively engaged in the campaign of West Virginia. Mr. Morey subsequently enlisted in the Seventy-fifth Regiment, which he helped to recruit and organize at Camp McLean, near Lockland. He was elected second lieutenant and served with his regiment until the close of the war, being successively promoted to first lieutenant and captain. The Seventy-fifth Regiment participated in the battles of Monterey, Franklin, Cross Keys, Cedar Mountain. Chancellorsville and numerous other ones of less note. Captain Morey commanded his company in every engagement after the battle of Monterey. He was taken prisoner at Chancellorsville and confined in Libby prison for a short time, when he was exchanged. After the war he studied law; graduated from the Indianapolis Law College, and located in this city in 1867, where he afterward resided. He was, in 1871, elected city solicitor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Elijah Vance; was shortly after re-elected for a full term; was the same year elected prosecuting attorney of Butler county, overcoming and wiping out a Democratic majority of two thousand. He was elected a representative in congress in 1880, and was re-elected in 1889, serving until March 3, 1891.

Mr. Morey was a Republican in politics, and was a leader in his party in Ohio. As a political orator he ranked with the best in the state. After retiring from congress he held no political office until his appointment to membership on the board of managers of the Dayton Insane Asylum, which position he retained until his death, December 29, 1902.

Mr. Morey was the senior member of the law firm of Morey, Andrews & Morey, which had a large and lucrative practice. Mr. Morey was an able and courteous gentleman, and stood well with his party and the community in general.

Taylor Webster

Taylor Webster was born in Pennsylvania, and when a child immigrated with his father and mother to Butler county, Ohio, in 1806. He received a limited education in the schools of that early day, and for a time pursued his studies at the Miami University, when that institution was in its infancy.

M r. Webster was identified with the press of Butler county for a long time. From about the year 1828 until the year 1836 he edited and published the Western

Telegraph, which was the organ of the old Jackson Democracy. Subsequently the Telegraph was carrried on by John B. Weller. During the first part of this period the Hamilton Intelligencer, the opposition paper, was edited by John Woods, and subsequently it was edited, printed and published by Lewis D. Campbell. These four Hamilton editors all represented the district in congress - Mr. Woods four years, Mr. Webster six years, Mr. Weller six years, and Mr. Campbell, the only survivor, eleven years.

In 1829 Mr. Webster was elected clerk of the house of representatives of the Ohio ' legislature. In 1830 he was the representative of Butler in the Ohio legislature, and was elected speaker. In 1832, 1834 and 1836 he was elected representative to congress from the district composed of the counties of Butler, Preble and Darke. In 1838 he was succeeded by John B. Weller. Subsequently he was the successor of John Reily, deceased, as clerk of the court of common pleas, and of the supreme court of the state of Ohio for Butler county.

During the administration of Jackson and Van Buren, when he was actively in the field of Ohio politics, he was not such a leader as were William Allen, John Brough, or John B. Weller. He was not an orator, but in a less ostentatious way he performed more telling service than either of them. Their great powers were displayed in haranguing the multitude and exciting their friends to action without, perhaps, making very many converts from the opposition. Mr. Webster's great strength lay in his indefatigable industry, and his principal strength was in what was called the buttonhole and fence-corner system of electioneering. He had no superior in the Miami valley in organizing political forces in detail during a campaign, and bringing them into action when a decisive battle was to be fought. He was naturally of a mild and unassuming disposition - calm, discreet, and considerate in action. He was always temperate, industrious and persevering, and he discharged with honesty and fidelity the functions of the various official positions with which he was intrusted. He died on the 27th of April, 1876, at the residence of his son. in New Orleans.

Gen. Arthur St. Clair

Gen. Arthur St. Clair was bom at Thurso, in Carthuess, Scotland, in the year 1734. Educated at the university at Edinburgh, studying the sciences of medicine under the famous physician, Dr. William Hunter, of London, his tastes yet led him to that of arms. He became an ensign in the British army and in 1788 arrived at Amherst before Louisburg; a lieutenant's commission was issued to him and he was assigned to the command of General Wolfe, who had been selected to reduce Quebec. On September 13, 1759, on the Plains of Abraham was decided the fate of the French nation in America, and the thrilling history of that battle has been embalmed in history, among the bravest of the brave being both the opposing leaders - Wolfe and Montcalm. In the fatal struggle on the Plain, Lieutenant St. Clair seized the colors, which had fallen from the hands of a dying soldier, and bore 'them until the field was won by the British. St. Clair was in all the struggles and privations of the war until the French capitulated on September 8, 1760.

Boston, married Miss Phebe Bayard, an accomplished lady who brought as her marriage portion seventy thousand dollars, and this with his own savings made him a wealthy man. Resigning his commission in the army he moved to the Lagonia valley, in western Pennsylvania, where he had a large tract of land, erected a fine residence and gristmill, the first one in the valley, and entered actively into the duties of civil life in opening up and improving that most beautiful valley. He was appointed surveyor for the district of Cumberland, justice of the court of quarter sessions and common pleas, member of the governors council.

With the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he at once espoused the side of the colonists. Congress issued to him the commission of colonel, and President Hancock addressed him a letter pressing him to come at once to Philadelphia and take his command. Although surrounded as he was with affluence, a rising and happy family, he at once bade them adieu and obeyed the summons, saying: "I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifice ever so great, it must be yielded upon the altar of his country." He was in nearly all the battles of the Revolution, side by side with Washington; rose rapidly to the post of major-general for meritorious services ; honored by the warm friendship of Washington, which he never lost; a friend and assistant of Lafayette; president of the Continental congress. Handsome in form, dignified in bearing, he was a national leader, winning all hearts.

By accepting the governorship of the Northwestern territory he sacrificed his fortune, the comforts of his home and brilliant political prospects there. He arrived at Marietta on the 9th of July, 1788, and organized the new territory in September. March 4, 1791, under an act of congress, President Washington appointed Gen. Arthur St. Clair major-general of all the troops to be employed on the frontiers, with directions from General Knox, secretary of war, to march to the frontier country and endeavor to effect a just, liberal and lasting peace with the Indians; but failing in this, to use such coercive means as he saw proper and had the means of using, and he was authorized to establish such posts to communicate with Fort Washington, on the Ohio, as he might judge proper.

Gen. St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington on May 15 and set about to organize the forces of the United States. An expedition was organized against the Indians, and terminated in the most disastrous defeat known in the military history on November 4, 1791. The whole country was shocked.

St. Clair, after his return from the illfated field, worn down by age, disease and the hardships of a frontier campaign, assailed by the press, and the current popular feeling against him, went to Washington as to a shelter from the storm. Washington did him justice. He did not forget his old meritorious services. He took him to his heart as of yore, and retained him as governor of the territory, which position he held until November. 1802, when he was removed by Thomas Jefferson.

No man ever questioned the bravery, integrity or faithfulness of General St. Clair to the cause of American liberty. For it he sacrificed all he had, a large fortune, do- mestic ease, the affection of the friends, and when the credit of the government would not enable him to provide supplies for his g^re his own individual promise to pay what amounted to about five thousand dollars, for which his home and lands, which cost him fifty thousand dollars, were sold. The government, under one pretext or another, refused to reimburse him, although his claim was strongly urged by Henry Clay, Gen. William H. Harrison and many others of the best men of the nation. He finished his career at eighty-one vears, the keeper of a wayside inn, a log cabin, on Chestnut Ridge, Pennsylvania, having for a long time been in the most abject want. Of the pension of sixty dollars per month wrung from congress from very shame, not one cent reached him, for it was seized by a creditor at the very door of the treasury.

John Sutherland

John Sutherland, one of the earliest settlers of Hamilton, and among the most prominent men of his day, was born in Carthnesshire, Scotland, in 1771. He was the son of a farmer, and when about seventeen years old he emigrated to the United States, and immediately went to the western part of Virginia, where he remained a few years and then came to Ohio, which was then almost entirely unsettled and overrun by savages. The Indian was then at his height. In 1793 he became a captain of pack-horse, engaged in transporting provisions and stores from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, St. Clair and Greenville, then posts in the interior of the country. Mr. Sutherland continued in the employment for some time, and afterward held some post in the commissariat department of the army, until after Wayne's treaty at Greenville, in August, 1795, after which he settled in Hamilton, where he opened a store and traded largely with the Indians. The friendly Indians then occupied most of the country west of the Great Miami river as hunting grounds; their camps were in what is now Darke and Preble counties, and in parts of Butler county. A great portion of his trade for some time was with the Indians for furs and peltries. As late as 1808 a party of eighty or a hundred Indians came in and encamped in the lower part of Rossville, where they remained several weeks, trading with Mr. Sutherland. When they retired further west he employed several persons, whom he supplied with goods, to go to their towns between the Mississinewa and the headwaters of the Wabash river to trade with them. Years afterward Mr. Sutherland traded largely in beef cattle, which he purchased in Kentucky and the Miami valley, and drove them through the wilderness to Detroit, where he * disposed of them principally to citizens of Canada. Soon after he commenced business in Hamilton. Mr. Sutherland formed a partnership with Henry Brown, and did business for several years under the firm name of Sutherland & Brown. After some time they divided their goods and established a store in Dayton, which was placed under the management of Mr. Brown, where it was continued until they finally dissolved partnership in the year 1810. About 1813 Mr. Sutherland entered into partnership with James P. Ramsey, a brother of the late Mrs. Sutherland, and did business under the firm name of Sutherland & Ramsey until the year 1820, when they dissolved partnership.

Mr. Sutherland first commenced business in Hamilton in a double log building, which stood south of the pickets of the garrison; a part of the same building is the one in which the office of the clerk of the court for Butler county was afterward kept. It was south of where the United Presbyterian church now stands. He then removed to the east side of Front street, between Market and Dayton streets, where he built a store and dwelling-house on lot 120, and afterward built the frame house opposite to the northwest corner of the public square, to which he removed his store and family. This building is still standing, and is now occupied by John Holtzberger.

Mr. Sutherland was, at one time, the wealthiest man in Butler county, and among the wealthiest in the state of Ohio. Independent of abundant capital to carry on his business he possessed a large amount of real estate in both Ohio and Indiana. His credit was unbounded. In 1818, and for some subsequent years, he engaged largely in the pork and flour trade, and made heavy shipments to New Orleans. In this Mr. Sutherland lost heavily, and having become indorsee for some of his friends for large amounts, which he had finally to pay, he became embarrassed, had to suspend business and was enabled only to save from the wreck a small portion of his fortune. Mr. Sutherland was a man of unbounded charity and hospitality. He rejoiced when he heard of a poor man meeting with success in his worldly affairs. He always adhered to the old Scotch Associate Reformed church, and his home was always the stopping place of the clergy of that denomination when they visited Hamilton. He died September 9, 1834, aged sixtv-three years.

Mr. Sutherland was three times married. His first wife was Miss Mary Scott, of Fayette county, Kentucky. She died some years after their marriage, leaving one son, named Alexander, who died at Hamilton about the time he arrived at maturity. His second wife was Marv Steele, also of Kentucky, who died soon after their marriage, leaving no issue surviving her. In May, 1810, he married Nancy, the daughter of James Ramsey, who resided in Ligonier valley, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Nancy R. Sutherland was born November 6, 1787, and died on March 21, 1855, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. She led an exemplary Christian life. They were the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters. Elizabeth St. Clair, the eldest daughter, died unmarried about the time she arrived at womanhood. James R., the oldest son, died in June, 1834, aged twenty-two years. Mary

B. Harrison died at Hamilton August 1 2, 1839, leaving a widow and daughter, who continued to reside in Hamilton, and Sarah, another daughter, married Nathan Reeder.

Robert Mcclellan

William, Robert and John McClellan were sons of a pioneer family who, at the time of the Revolutionary war, lived in a part of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, which is now embraced in Franklin county, at the base of the cave or North mountain, near where the town of Mercersburgh now is. Here the boys were schooled in all the arts of woodcraft and inured to all the hardships of frontier life.

such matters - the boys obtained employment as pack-horse men. The settlement of the country on the Monongahela and in the neighborhood of Pittsburg (a region known as the "backwoods'' of Pennsylvania), had been but recently commenced. There were no iron works at that time west of the mountains, nor had the rich salt springs of the Kanawha and Muskingum been discovered. So that these indispensable articles, and all other stores for the use of the settlers and their guardians, the soldiers at the frontier forts, had to be transported from the towns east of the mountains, to which wagon roads had been made, on pack-horses. Each pack-horse had a pack-saddle, on which the load was lashed with a rope. Two men could manage from ten to fifteen horses, each carrying about two hundred pounds' weight, by tying the horses in a single file, one man taking charge of the leader and directing the way, the other following with the last and keeping an eye on the proper adjustment of the loads, and urging on any that appeared to lag. In this manner all their merchandise was transported along the narrow, winding paths, through the rocky mountain defiles. In this occupation the McClellan boys were engaged for several years after the Revolutionary war. In 1790 Robert's restless disposition led him to seek adventures and more congenial occupation farther west. His personal prowess and skill in woodcraft soon found such occupation for him. He entered the service in the army in the capacity of a spy or ranger at Fort Gower, a stockade fort which had been erected by Governor Dunmore in 1774, just above the mouth of the Hockhocking, on the Ohio, at that time occupied by troops under Gen. Josiah Harmar.