Clinton County, Ohio - Chapter 14: The Military History of Clinton County, 1882 (part 7 of 14)

Mr. Lucas passed his life on this farm, lived to see his children grown to manhood and womanhood, grandchildren around his knees, and died April 26, 1851, aged seventy- four years six months and four days. His wife followed him September 1, 1863, aged eighty -one years six months and twentytwo days. Ebenezer Lucas (as I said, his youngest son) has many articles of interest to the historian and antiquarian of to-day, among them a corner cupboard of whose age no person now living can tell, a kitchen table brought to Ohio by Jonathan Garwood prior to the settlement of Caleb Lucas here in 1802, a volume of Watt's hymns and psalms in verse, printed in 1720, or 162 years ago, a large iron pot or kettle, once the property of James Jenkins, and taken by him from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, and brought to Ohio by his son, Aaron Jenkins, in 1799. ItB age can only be conjectured. A volume of the Analectic Magazine, by Thomas, Philadelphia, A. £>., 1812, the Political Magazine , London, England, three numbers, April, May and June, 1781, the property of Jame3 Jenkins, Sr., and finally, a copy of Volume I of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Horatio Gates was a soldier in the Continental establishment of Virginia - a Major General with whose record every reader of American history is familiar. As to the number of' acres to which he was entitled my informant does not say.* This much I do know, that twelve surveys in Clinton bear his name, of which five are in Chester Township. On the 5th day of March, 1793, 1,000 acres were surveyed for Gen. Gates, in virtue of part of Warrant 804, and became Survey 2,230. Patent followed September 17, 1796, in the name of James Murray, physician, and signed by George Washington, as President of the United States of America.

Layton Jay was born in Newberry District (County), S. C., as was also his wife, Elizabeth, who was a daughter of John Mills. They were members of Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends, and were married according to the discipline of that church about the year 1796. Ten children were born to them, of whom all but three were born before coming to Ohio: Patience, born 16th day, 4th month, 1794; Charlotte, 13th, 7th, 1795; William, 30th, 8tb, 1796; John, 29th, 4th, 1798; James, 27th, 7th, 1800; Abigail, 29th, 6tli, 1802; David, 14th, 8th, 1804; Mary, 8th, 3d, 1806; Elijah, 13th, 7tli, 1807; Anna, 3d, 4th, 1810. The exact date of their coming to Ohio is not known, yet it was not later than 1804 that they left South Carolina, and came by the way of Tennessee and Kentucky, crossing the Ohio at Cincinnati on a fiat-boat, the horses tied to it and swimming behind. They landed near the present site of Waynesville, and the family remained there in camp for some time, or until the husband and father could find a place of settlement. Ho finally took a lease on the lands of J ames Murray, or on land now owned by Thomas Longstretch. His coming here was cotemporary with the arrival of Robert Eachus, Jacob Haines, Isaac Perkins, Malilon Haworth and a few others, who settled in that neighborhood at the same time. The people of Chester Township of to-day can form but a faint conception of the condition of things then. We who now live here, surrounded with the many comforts and conveniences of life, know little regarding the mode of living in those early days. Their cabins were of unhewn logs, the bottom ones placed directly upon the ground, with poles and clapboards overhead, and contained but one room. The lioor was made of puncheons, or logs split and then hewn, so that the flat or uppermost side presented a tolerable flat surface, but which made a very substantial floor. The roof was of clapboards, held in their places by large poles laid lengthwise. The chimneys were of sticks and mud, or clay. The fire-place was generally of large dimensions, often as wide as seven feet, and capable of taking in large sticks of wood, and up whose chimneys on cold wintry nights a roaring fire went, and around whose hearths the family gathered, and where the evening meal was prepared by loved hands.

At this time, but little land had been prepared for cultivation, and in its garb of nature presented a field of long and heavy toil to the pioneer. But these men were equal to the task. It seemed that their mode of living prepared them for the great labor that of necessity devolved upon them, and their bodies were free from the many ills that beset men of our day. It is true their lives were ones of constant privation and great labor, but withal it was to them in many instances a happy one, filled with a fullness of great and pure love for their families and friends, and a charity and friendship for each and all, and above all sound bodies and healthy offspring. There was no time for play, no time for idleness, from morning until night; from early dawn of the second until the close of the seventh day in each week, it was work. No one was idle, from the father to the child. There was timber to fell, rails to split, fences to build, ground to clear off, chips and brush to pile and burn, flax to break and spin, wool to card and weave, cows to milk and meals to prepare; in fact, there was room for all to work, and all did work.

For untold ages it has been the custom of man to lavish his praises upon those who, by mighty deeds of valor, on field of battle, send their names ringing down the flight of time; but not a word, not a praise for these real heroes, does man bestow, who, without a desire to create a name in history for themselves, bore the battles of toil and privation that those who followed in after years might reap the benefits. To these men and their faithful wives should the honors be awarded.

The Indians were very numerous, as were the bears, wolves, deer and wild turkeys. The former at that day were not troublesome nor did they give the settler any fears. "I well remember them coming to my father's cabin," said the venerable John Jay to the writer, "and sitting or standing around my father's shoe bench until late bedtime. Jim Logan, a chief, and one of the number, could talk English some. I very well remember the rings suspended from their noses and ears, and vividly the night when Jim took an awl from my fathers bench, and, taking me by my ear, pretended he was going to pierce it. I screamed loudly, when he threw down the awl and pretended to feel very bad about it. Every night we could see the light from their camp-fires. I also recollect one evening when my father, one of my brothers and myself were out in the little clearing pulling turnips, we heard the Indians' dogs coming through the wood, making a loud noise with their barking. My father said they were pursuing a bear, and for us to remain where we were until he could go to the house, get his gun and return, which be soon did. We then followed after the dogs and soon came up with them, and also with the bear, who had safely, as he thought, ensconced himself in the top of a tree. My father waited some time for the Indians to come up, when, fearing it would then be too dark to see, shot and killed it. The Indians soon after came up, and hastily removing the skin they cut the bear in twain, gave my father half, and returned in a merry humor to their camp. The first mill I ever went to was the mill of Robert Eachus, upon Todd's Fork, and I well recollect the circumstance attending it. Robert was of a cross or surly disposition, and was especially considered so by boys or those not acquainted with his manners. Riding up to the mill door, I called to him and asked him if he could grind my grist of corn. His reply came quick and very crusty, 'No.' Without remaining to ask another question, I turned my horse about and rode home, where my father met me, and, hearing my story, took me off, got on himself, rode to the mill and left it until such a time as he could grind it. The nearest trading place was where Waynesville now stands, and that a very small affair indeed. It was kept by David Halloway in a log cabin, and was the first and only one there at the time I speak of. His counter and his only shelf were puncheons, while his stock consisted of knives, forks, spoons, knitting-needles, weavers' reels, awl blades, sewing thread, needles, powder, lead, tobacco, whisky and a few other articles daily called for by the settlers.

"We remained here until 1809, when my father with the family moved up on Stillwater, in Darke County, where, in 1814, he died with milk sickness. My mother then returned to Chester Township with her children to her father's, John Mills, who then resided on Turkey Run. The children who were old enough went from home to live." Mr. Jay ever after remained in the township, and his further history will yet appear in these pages.

Isaac Webb was for seven years a soldier in the war for American independence, and at its close received from his grateful country a warrant for 2,666f acres of land. One thousand of this he entered as a part of Warrant No. 2,446, "on the upper side of Csesar Creek," and was numbered Survey 583, bearing date October 17, 1792.

James and Sarah Spray were natives of Chester County, Penn., and were members of the Society of Friends. They were married according to the discipline of that church about the year 1752 or 1753. Eight children were the fruits of this union, namely :

Jesse, 23d day, 12th month, 1754; Samuel, 23d, 5th, 1758; Abner, 20tli, 2d, 1761; Hannah, 18th, 2d, 1763; James, 4th, 1st, 1765; Mordecai, 3d, 2d, 1767; Thomas, 26th 12th, 1768; and William, 17th, 12th, 1771. There lived also in Chester County at that day John and Dinah Wilson, and they too were married as members of Friends' Church. They had nine children, as follows: Mary, 12th month, 15th day, 1760; Jehu, 1st, 1st, 1763; Seth, 12th, 7th, 1764; Phebe, 2d, 15th, 1769; Esther, 2d, 9th, 1771; Sarah, 5th, 9th, 1773; Christopher, 8th, 15th, 1775; Hannah, 7th, 28th, 1778; and John, 8th, 28th, 1782. These families were neighbors, and about the year 1788 Samuel Spray was united in marriage to Mary, the eldest child of John and Dinah Wilson, the former at the age of thirty-one, the latter, twenty-eight years. They left soon after for Union County, S. C. , whereon the 15th of February, 1790, their first child was born to them. Thoy remained here until the year 1805, when with their five children, born as follows: John, 15th day, 2d month, 1790; James, 17th, 8th, 1793; Samuel, 30th, 4th, 1796; Mary, 30th, 6th, 1798; and Dinah, 3d, 10th, 1804, they started on their journey through Tennessee and Kentucky for Ohio, coming by the way of Cincinnati, and stopping at the great central point, Waynesville, where they romained until, havingpurchased, in tho year 1806, of Isaac Webb, of Bourbon County, Ky. , for a consideration of £1,000, current funds of that State, the 1,000 acres referred to, he removed his family that year, and settled upon it. This survey is now partly in Clinton, but at the time of purchase was wholly within the province of Warren County. History does not say in what year John and Dinah Wilson left Pennsylvania and settled in South Carolina, but it does record them as living there.

James Hawkins was born in Loudoun County, Va., January 23, 1756. He left there when a young man, and settled in Union County, S. C., and about the year 1792, married Sarah, a daughter of John and Dinah Wilson, and sister of the wife of Samuel Spray. On the 14th of March, 1795, Ruth, their first child, was born, and followed by Dinah, 22d, 11th, 1795, and Jehu, 30th, 10th, 1796. In 1806, he too took up the line of emigration, and lauded here in the same year. He purchased of Samuel Spray 144 acres off the northeast corner of his tract of land, the consideration being $4 an acre, and erected thereon a log house and began the clearing of his land. On 1st day, 4th 1808, a son, Benjamin, was added to the family. On the 1st, 6th, 1810, James, and 23d, 5th, 1813, Amos, the latter of whom now owns and lives on the old place. Jehu lives in Indianapolis; the rest have long since died.

We have now arrived at a time in our history when the emigration into and the settlement of our lands began in earnest. Daily from 1806, the tide of immigration flowed on unceasingly. From the hills of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the barren lands of the Carolinas, the dark grounds of Tennessee and Kentucky, and from the East, or New York, they came. But the principal part of the immigrants who came in 1806 were Carolinians, not native born, but who had gone there from Pennsylvania and Virginia.

John Anderson, a Captain, entered on the 15th day of May, 1793, 1,000 acres under Survey No. 570, out of 4,666§ he was entitled to under warrant 2,367. A patent followed in his name January 9, 1804. This survey was due east of 583, separated only by the waters of Ceesar Creek. In 1806, Elijah O'Neal had become the own»r, and held it on the market for sale.

Henry Millhouse was born in the parish of Timahoe, county of Kildare, Ireland, let of 5th month, 1736, O. S. At what date he came to America and settled in Union County, S. C., no record is left to tell; neither do the records say that he was married before or after his coming to America. Again, as to whom his wife was, where she was born, or when they were married, the records are a9 silent as the graves where for years they have lain. The records do make mention of her death, 11th of 8th month, 1803, and her burial on the Tiger River, in that State, at the age of sixty-four years; and further, the records say, " She was a loving and affectionate wife, a tender mother over her children, endeavoring to bring them up in the fear of the Lord, sobriety and plainness; was in the ste.tion of an Elder for several years before her death; a careful attender of meetings for worship and discipline." Henry and Rebecca Millhouse had in all six children - Mary, 5th month, 2d, 1763; Rebecca, 11th month, 8th, 1767; Sarah, 3d month, 25th, 1770; Ann, 1st month, 24th, 1772. The dates of the births of Robert and Dinah are not given.

David and Clement Whitson each lived out a life of usefulness, and died many years ago, in Union County, S. C. The record barely mentions the fact of their existence, and the elder of the family I now mention was their son. Solomon Whitson was born in Union County, S. C., the 2d of 4th month, 1741, and his wife, Phebe, 25th of 5th month, 1745. They were married according to the discipline of tne Friends' Church, at Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, about the year 1765. Eleven children were born to them, three of whom only will I mention - David, the second child, born 8th month, 3d, 1769; Jordan, the sixth, 3d month, 3d, 1777; and John, the tenth, 24th of 6th month,

1787. Four of the others died in childhood, and the remaining four never left that State. About the year 1800, David Whitson married Mary, the eldest daughter of Henry and Rebecca Millhouse. About the year 1791, Robert Millhouse married Sarah Compton. Rebecca Millhouse, in 1793, married Amos Compton, a brother to Sarah, the wife of Robert Millhouse, and of these Comptons there are no earlier records. Dinah Millhouse, in 1796 or 1797, married Stephen Compton, a brother to Amos and Sarah, who had already married into this family. Ann Millhouse, about the same year, married Amos Hawkins, a brother to James Hawkins, and Sarah Millhouse, in 1793, had married Mordecai, a son of James and Sarah Spray.

In 1806, Henry Millhouse, with his son Robert and his family, consisting of wife and seven children, his sons-in-law and their wives and families, in all twenty children, started by way of North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, for the land beyond the Ohio River, he then an old man, upon whose aged head seventy winters had left their marks of time. Leaving for the last time, as he then well knew, the grave of his wife, the mother of his children, taking up the path through the wilderness to the new land in the far Northwest, compare him, if you will, to another old patriarch whose journey was a similar one. They landed at Waynesville.

John Furnas was born in Newberry District, S. C., and was a member of Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends. He married, about the year 1790, Esther, a daughter of John and Dinah Wilson. They had but one child, Christopher, born 18 t.h of 10th month, 1791. On the 13th of 9th month, 1795, his wife died and was buried in the Friends' Burying-Ground on Bush River. About the year 1797, he married Ruth, a daughter of Isaac and Charity Cook, who was born 29th of 8th month, 1776. She bore him in all four children - Isaac, 6th of 12th month, 1798; Mary, 10th of 12th month, 1800; Joseph, 24tn of 9th month, 1802; and Robert, the latter in Ohio, 3d of 6th month, 1805. In 1805, he came to Ohio, possibly with the Millhouses, and settled temporarily near Waynesville. Among those cotemporary with Furnas, from Newberry District, were George Arnold, Thomas Lewis and Robert Kelley. The survey, No. 570, as I before remarked, was then upon the market, and these people purchased the entire tract of land on or about the 3d of 12th month, 1806. Beginning on the northwest, Robert Kelley purchased 120 acres; then John Furnas, 154 acres; Thomas Lewis, 155 acres; all these lands running from Caesar Creek southeast. Adjoining these three tracts of land on the southeast, George Arnold took 238 acres, which completed two-thirds of it. Henry MillhouBe purchased the balance, or about 333 acres, extending to Blair's Survey, No. 569. The consideration in each case was $2 per acre.

George Arnold was a son of John and Lina Arnold, of Newberry District, the eldest of a family of eight children, and born probably as early as 1760. There are no rocords. He married, about the year 1783, Rachel, a sister of John Mills. But one child, a son, was born to them, namely, Jesse, born 15th of 9th month, 1785, and consequently at the time of emigration, a man grown. Of Thomas Lewis and his family there are no records left, and the family has long since left here for the West. Of Robert Kelley, the same can bo said, and but few people of this day about here have any knowledge of them at all. On the 3d of 6th month, 1806, John Furnas purchased his lands, and settled the same year where Samuel Lemar now lives and owns. He erected thereon the story-and-a-half part of the Squire's present residence, and began life in the new State. There was no road then in this soction, his location being influenced by the spring near by. He was also a blacksmith, and erected his shop a little northwest of his house, now west of the road. Hex-e, for many years, the sound of his anvil could be heard, and the smoke soen issuing from the Booty stick- and-clay chimney. But full sixty years have passed and gone since this fire went out to him forever. On the 21st of 9th month, 1822, his second wife died, at the age of forty-six years. His third wife was Rebecca Millhouse Compton, with whom he lived until the 9th of 3d month, 1830, when he died and was " gathered to his fathers."

On the lands purchased by Henry Millhouse he settled his children, as follows: Amos Hawkins, on the southwest corner, or upon the farm where his son Henry lived out a long life, and died but a few years ago; David Whitson, adjoining Hawkins on the north, or upon the farm now owned by Milton Keys; Mordecai Spray, east of Hawkins; Robert, where William Icenhour lives, and himself between there and Mordecai Spray. Amos and Stephen Compton settled in Warren County.

James Craine was a Captain in the Continental Establishment of Virginia, and under Warrant 2,089 was entitled to 4,000 acres of land. On the 6th of March, 1793, Survey 1,994 was made, and a patent followed May 22, 1800, in the name of Daniel Muse. This survey lies in .the southwest corner of Chester and the northwest corner of Adams; but at the- time of settlement, prior to 1810, was in Highland and Warren, and at the organization of Clinton in that year, was wholly in Chester Township. Daniel Muse was a resident of Northumberland County, Va. He entered into a contract with one Thomas Carneal, whereby the latter was to have one-half of the survey if he would place it on the market and effect a sale. He did so, and took for his seiwices the eastern half.

Preserved Dakin came from New York State in 1806, and purchased, it is said, for the colony he represented 2,000 acres, or the eastern half of survey No. 1,994. He took 1,000 acres for himself and four children by a former wife. He then sub-divided his tract as follows: To William, the eldest son, 200 acres where James Mussetter now owns and resides; to James, 200 acres off the southwest corner of his tract, or where the Dakiu corner now is; to EliaB, 200 acres where Elias D. Harlan now owns and lives; to Lydia, 200 acres where Harrison Mullen owns, and to himself 200 acres where Mr. Collins owns. At his death, this farm went to his second wife and her children.

Among others composing the Dakin colony, and all from the State of New York, was Joshua Nickerson, Sr., who came at the same time with the Dakins, and purchased land in the same tract, though on Todd's Fork, it being a part, if not all, of the farm now owned by Evan H. Hadley, a grandson-in-law of Nickerson. He had when reaching here but little else than a good wagon and two good horses. These he sold, and invested the proceeds in this land. He then purchased a pair of yearling steers, broke them to work, and they in time became a yoke of number one oxen, which supplied him with motive power until he became able to again own a team of horses. He was the father (among others) of two sons - Clark and Artemas, the former born May 5, 1792; the latter February 27, 1796.

Elijah and Mary Sabin were born and reared in the State of New York, l.he former in 1753, the latter in 1756. Several children were born to these people, but the records are gone, and the present generation is not in possession of any facts that would add to their history. They were a part of the Dakin colony, but as to their place of settlement I cannot say.

William, Enoch and Charles Haynes were also members of the colony spoken of, and came here in 1806. William, about the year 1800, married Marsha,* a daughter of Elijah and Mary Sabin, by whom he had four children - Harriet, William, James and Archibald, all of whom wore born in the State of New York, the latter in July, 1808. In 1809, they came to Ohio, and settled on lands in the eastern half of 1,094, in what is now Chester Township, on 200 acres of land purchased by the Dakin colony two years before. The same year, his brothers, Enoch and Charles Haynes, settled on 100 acres, and fifty acres respectively on the same side of the eastern half of Baid survey. Jesse and David Hughes purchased 212 acres, and twelve acres in the same line of lands about the same time. The price paid in each case for these lands was $2.50 an acre.

The Harlan Family

Enoch Harlan was a native of Chester County, Penn., a member of the fourth generation of the name in this country, and was born the 27th of December, 1745. He was the son of Ezekiel and Mary, both of whom were born in Ireland, the former 16th of July, 1679. The grandson of George and Eliza, the former born in England January 11, 1850, the latter in Ireland, and the great grandson of James, born in England prior to 1625. The grandparents, George and Eliza, were of the William Penn stock of Friends (commonly called Quakers), though the Harlans before him were members of the Church of England. In 1687, George Harlan and his family and his brother Michael emigrated to America, and settled near Christian Hundred, on the Delaware River, in the present State of Delaware, and in the "verge" of Center Monthly Meeting of Friends. They some few years after crossed the Delaware and settled in Chester County, Penn. Enoch was the youngest in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters, viz. : Mary, born 26th, 6th, 1722; William, 15th, 5th, 1724; Jonathan, 15th, 7th, 1726; James, 29th, 9th, 1730; Sarah, 23d, 9th, 1732; Stephen, 12th, 3d, 1740; Enoch, 27th, 12th, 1745. He married, according to the discipline of Friends, about the year 1768, Edith Carter (a sister of Nathaniel and George Carter, who were many years ago well known among the early Friends as prominent ministers of that church). History does not record the date of his emigration, but at aa early day he took his family and settled in Guilford County, N. C., and in the verge of Springfield Monthly Meeting. Eleven children were born to Enoch and Edith Harlan, eight sons and three daughters, namely: Nathan, born 29th, 1st, 1770;

William, 6th, 10th, 1771; Nancy, 19th, 10th, 1773; Nathaniel, 9th, 10th, 1775; Jonathan, 7th, 9th, 1777; David, 2d, 1st, 1780; Solomon, 13th, 2d, 1782; Hannah, 20th, 3d, 1784; Enoch, 26th, 12th, 1786; John Carter, 5th, 9th, 1790; Rebecca, 3d, 8th, 1792. Here he died 18th, 10th, 1794, at the age of forty-nine years. After his death, the widow and her children continued to reside in that State; but the great center of attraction soon became the " Territory Northwest," or the then new State of Ohio. Her boys had grown to manhood, and more lands were necessary. While yet residents of that State, Nathan had married Sarah Hunt; William married Charity Kimbrough; Nancy married Nathan Mendenhall; Nathaniel had gone to Kentucky, where he had settled, and married Elizabeth Berry; David married Susan Brummel. The rest of the children were yet at home.

In 1803, Nathan and William Harlan left that State on horseback on a prospecting tour, coming to Maysville, Ky. , and, crossing the river, entered the "new State." They traveled northward, through what is now the county of Brown, into Highland (the latter county at that time included nearly all of Clinton), and stopped near Hillsboro for a short time. They left there and passed through the present county of Clinton, and as far west as the Great Miami River, when they turned back and went home as they came, via Hillsboro. The next year (1804), William came with his family to this State, and sottlod near Hillsboro, where he remained until the early fall of 1806, when he left his family and returned with his four-horse team and wagon to Guilford County, N. C., for the purposo of removing his widowed mother and her ehil- dren (yet at home), namely, Hannah, Enoch, John and Rebecca, to this State, which lie accomplished the same fall. In the meantime, Nathan had removed from that State and settled on lands purchased of the Dakin colony, in Survey 1,994 - lands now owned by John P. Denny's heirs, but for many years the farm of Joseph Coates.

In the spring of 1807, William removed his family and his mother's family, and settled on 200 acres of land they had purchased of James and Lydia Dakin Birdsall.

The same year, Elizabeth Harvey, a sister of Edith Harlan, came out from North Carolina with her sons, Eli, Isaac, Caleb and Joshua, and settled in Survey 2,372 (now in Adams). Soon after, Jacob Hale, her son-in-law, Nathan Mendenhall, son-in-law of Edith Harlan, Eli Maden, Nathaniel Carter, George Carter, Jonathan Harlan and David Harlan left North Carolina and came to Ohio. Of these, Eli Maden married Hannah, a daughter of Edith Harlan, and (in 1810) having purchased of Isaac Harvey 100 acres of land for a consideration of $300, moved to and settled upon it. This upon lands now owned by George and John Maden (in Adams).

Jacob Hale purchased lands with the Harveys, and settled where Schoolhouse No. 1 stands (in Adams Township). His son, Armonia Hale, still owns the land. Jonathan Harlan married Hannah Morrison, and settled in Survey 1,994, on lands purchased of his brother, Nathan Harlan. David Harlan purchased lands and settled in 2, 371. The farm is now owned by John and George Maden. Large families descended from these pioneers, and are to-day scattered throughout the United States, and what Chester County, Penn., was at one day, and Guilford County, N. C., was at a later one, Clinton is to-day, the birthplace of a large number of the Harlan family. John C. Harlan, in 1816, married Lydia, a daughter of Jacob Hale, and settled in Chester Township. Enoch married Betsy Harvey, and removed to Warren County. Rebecca, the youngest, married 18th, 12th, 1818, Abram Hampton, and many years ago emigrated to Iowa.

William and Deborah McMillan were residents of York County, Penn., the former a native of Scotland, the latter from Wales, They were the parents of eight children, namely: Thomas, William, Henry, Samuel, David and

Jonathan (twins), Mary and Lydia. These children grew to manhood and womanhood in that State, and married there. Jonathan married Ann Hussey; David married Hannah Hussey; Mary married Joseph Baxter; Lydia married William Jay. Jonathan McMillan came to Ohio first about 1805, accompanied by David, his brother. They settled in this township, on 206 acres of land now owned by Newton McMillan, in Survey No. 2,266. The next year Jonathan returned to Pennsylvania, and brought Out his father, accompanied by his two sisters and their families. They came by wagon to Pittsburgh, and from there to Cincinnati in a flat-boat. David settled where Thomas McMillan now owns, and Jonathan remained on the 206 acres. Joseph Baxter settled on sixty-two and a half acres of land in 2,232, being the east half of lands lately owned by Jonathan Rockhill. Lydia removed to Miami County. Some years after, Thomas, William and Henry came out and settled in 2,232, with the exception of Henry, who settled in Preble County. Thomas, where John Hawkins now owns and resides. William settled on sixty acres, where Duane B. Smith now owns and resides.

William and Enoch Wickersham came from Centre County, Penn., in 1806, and settled on 300 acres of land in 2,232. The former married, after coming to Ohio, Rachel Mills; the latter, Margaret, daughter of John Stout, in 1808.

Job Jeffries was a son of William and Hannah Darlington Jeffries. His. wife, Elizabeth, a daughter of Andrew and Ellen Elliott Nicholson, natives of Bucks County, Penn. Jeffries came to Ohio about 1806 or 1807, and purchased 205 acres of land in 2,266 of James Murray,* a physician living in Ann Arundel County, Md. The consideration was $410. He put up the log house now standing near the substantial two-story frame that graces the lands surrounding, and returned for his family. He came all the way in a wagon, and arrived here in 1808. His piece of land adjoined the McMillans, who were his neighbors on the north. They were the parents of three" children - Hannah, born in 1809, and yet living, and Joab and Job, twins, born in 1811, both of whom are deceased.

The Birdsall Family

Three brothers, the ancestors of the Birdsalls, who were among the pioneers of Clinton County, came from Wales with William Penn and settled on Long Island. One became an officer in the Revolution and went South. The second went to Canada during the same war, and some of his descendants afterward settled in the State of New York, and were the ancestors of James Birdsail (a son-in-law of Preserved Dakin) and Daniel Birdsall, who came to Ohio in l806 and settled in (what is now) Chester Township. James first settled south of Preserved Dakin, but sold in 1807, to William and Edith Harlan. In 1807, he burnt brick and built the first brick house in what is now Clinton County. This is the house known for many years as the Hazard house, just east of Oakland. James Birdsall was an active man in the early settlement of the county, and bought and sold many tracts of land. He left the county prior to 1836, and settled on what is now Walnut Hill (Cincinnati), and is since deceased.

Daniel Birdsall settled and built just west of the village of Oakland, where Archibald Haynes owned and lived for many years. He left there prior to 1836 and settled in Lebanon, Ohio, and died in 1839. These settlements were in Survey 2,230.

Robert Reese, a North Carolinian, purchased of JameB Murray 211 acres of land in 2,266, and settled upon it in 1804. These lands were west of those owned by Job Jeffries, south of lands owned by Jonathan McMillan, and all in the same survey. He was a very early settler, and the present citizens of the township know nothing of him or his descendants. Survey No. 777 was made for William Moosley, a Major, June 27, 1796, under Warrant No. 105. It was patented June 6, 1798, in the name of William Mocher. This survey was settled in the same year by Carolinians mostly.

Caleb Easterling and his wife Martha were from Union District, S. C. They were members of the Society of Friends, and belonged to Cane Creek Monthly Meeting. In 1811, they came to Ohio and purchased of Abijah O'Neal fifty acres of land, in the extreme northwest corner of 777. They were the parents of five children - -Enoch, Mary, Thomas, Martha and Caleb. Harry Bray waB from the same place, and settled here the same year. He was born 29th, 8th, 1755; his wife, Kezia, 19th, 3d, 1761. They were married in tlio year 1778, he at the age of twenty-two, she seventeen years. A family of eight children was born to them, all in South Carolina. He purchased 130 acreB adjoining Caleb Easterling on the east, in the same survey. He sold in a few years to Jonathan Garwood, a New Jerseyman. Tradition says Bray went to Indiana with his family prior to 1816.

John Mills, Sr., of whom mention has been made in these pages, as a brother to Rachel, wife of George Arnold, and father of the wife of Layton Jay, came here the same year and settled on lands south of Easterling and Bray. He was a native of Newberry District, S. C., and a member of Bush

Daniel Nicholson, if I am rightly informed, was an Eastern man - a New Yorker. He came here about 1811 and purchased lands now owned by Montgomery Nunion, on the lands owned at this time by Anselm Antrara and others. Richard Batton settled on seventy acres. Henry Fletcher, in a very early day, purchased a large body of land in the eastern half of Survey 777, and built the brick house now on the lands of Manly Oglesbee. His lands embraced a part of those now owned by John Buckley, John H. Hurley, Isaiah Ellis, Israel Hollingsworth and Manly Oglesbee. Nathan Haines, a Virginian, purchased about the year 1816 all the lands of Survey 569 in the township. He settled on a large body of land in Warren just across the line.

Joseph Mills, about the year 1811, purchased 130 acres of land in 770. He was a native of Ireland, and by trade a weaver. This was where the widow of William Bailey, Jr., now lives. William Bailey, Sr., came here about the same time from Virginia, and settled where his widow now resides. His wife was a daughter of Joseph Mills. Frank Bailey, a brother of William, purchased ninety-four acres of land where Robert Stewart and Susan Arnold now own. James Brown settled on fifty-one acres, where the old fulling and carding mill stood, on Trace Branch. William Gaddis on 131 acres, where Nathan Tucker owns and lives. Thomas Gaddis on lands now owned by Elihu Underwood. These men were Pennsylvanians.

Moses Collett, Sr., was a native of Maryland, and was born prior to 1730 and died in 1783. He was the father of Daniel Collett, Sr. , who was born February 10, 1752, in that State, twenty miles west of Baltimore. Daniel was the youngest child, and remained at home until 1772, when, at the age of twenty years, he left Maryland and settled in Jefferson County, Va., on the road leading from Charlestown to Harper's Ferry. He married about the year 1780, Mary, a daughter of Joshua Haines, who died December 11, 1754, and by her he had eight sons and a daughter, born as follows: Joshua, November 20, 1781; Moses, March 28, 1783; Moses, March 6, 1784; Isaac, August 28, 1785; Jonathan, April 25, 1787; Aaron, January 21, 1789; Mercy, September 19, 1790; Benjamin, June 11, 1793, and Daniel, October 1, 1795. Daniel Collett resided there forty years, and was for many years a Justice of the Peace in that State, appointed, as they were in those dayB in Virginia, for life or during good behavior. It was not until after his appointment that he and William Hibben, who, many years ago, were among the leading merchants of Wilmington, Ohio. He held his courts monthly, and it is said that more dignity and decorum attended a Justice's Court in Virginia in those days than are to be seen in the higher courts of Ohio at this day. On one occasion, the Judge of the courts of Jefferson assessed a fine upon each of the Justices of that county for the neglect to provide and erect suitable steps to the jail at Charlestown. Justice Collett paid his fine, and then took the contract for the ei'ection of the stone steps that now grace the front of that historic edifice. His son, Jonathan Collett, hauled the stone and also a part of the lumber and timber used in the construction of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry.

Daniel Muse, the patentee of Survey 1,994, had two children, Daniel and Ann. The latter married James Smith, and died after giving birth to a son. who was called James Muse Smith. Daniel Muse, Sr., died, and at his death the lands mentioned went by will to Daniel Muse, Jr., and James Muse Smith. On the 10th day of February, A. D. 1806, Daniel Muse, Jr., sold his undivided one-half to James Smith, Sr., the consideration being $1 per acre.

years of age, when he sold out his lands and came to Ohio and settled temporarily in Warren County. In the early part of 1814, he returned to Virginia and purchased of James Smith, Sr., the undivided one-half of Survey 1,994, the consideration being $5,895, current funds of the United States, the actual number of acres at the sale being 2,358. While Mr. Collett was in Northumberland County, Va., effecting this purchase, the British passed up the Chesapeake to attack Portress Monroe. Mr. Collett returned and the same year settled upon his purchase.

Andrew McKay was a native of Scotland. History, however, makes no record of him other than that he was a member of the Society of Friends, and further, that prior to 1766, he married Jane Ridgeway and had settled in Frederick County, Va. Five children were born to them, viz., Moses, Enos, Jacob, Margaret and Patience. Of these, Moses, born September 17, 1766, at the age of twenty-seven years, or in 1793, married, according to the discipline of the Friends, Abigail Shinn, a daughter of George and Rachel (Wright) Shinn, born May 3, 1776, " late" of Stafford County, Va. The fact of their marriage in this form is sufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion that she, too, was a member of the Friends. The children born to this union were: Rachel, 1st month, 19th, 1794; Robert, 12th, 17, 1795; Sarah, 11th, 11th, 1797; George, 3d, 11th, 1800; Francis, 1st, 9th, 1802; Margaret, 1st, 16th, 1804; Jonas, 9th, 9th, 1806; Virginia, 8th, 22d, 1808; Maria, 5th, 23d, 1811; Jonas T., 5th, 10th, 1813; Levi D., 2d, 29th, 1816; Jacob F., 6th, 3d, 1819; Mary E., 7th, 27th, 1822. About the year 1814, accompanied by his wife and children, he emigrated by way of Pittsburgh, and thence by flat-boat to Cincinnati, stopping a short time at Lebanon. He then came to Waynesville, and soon after purchased a large tract of land east of the Little Miami River and but a short distance west of Caesar's Creek, in what is now Massie Township, Warren County.

Survey 3,908 was made August 15, 1800, for Robert Pollard, in virtue of partof Warrant No. 4,494, for 6,222 acres due Moore Fountleroy, a Major, and contained 4,222 acres of land. It was patented September 29, 1802, in the name of George Pickett.

Jesse McKay was a grandson of Andrew McKay, but whether a son of Enos or Jacob the records do not say. He came to Ohio in a very early day, and settled in Chillicothe, Ross County. He was a man of considerable wealth and dealt largely in land. On the 4th day of October, 1816, he purchased of George Pickett the 4,222 acres, as embraced in Survey 3,908, lying partly in Greene County, and the townships of Chester and Liberty, in Clinton, the consideration being $18,000. This also included 1,000 acres wholly in Greene and a part of Pollard and Pickett 2,234. On the 29th day of August, 1818, Jesse McKay sold to Moses McKay (his first cousin) 1,460 acres of the lands in 3,908, the consideration being $8,090.

Survey No. 2,280 was made February 12, 1794, for 1,000 acres, in favor of W. H. Sargeant, in virtue of Warrants No. 394, for 100 acres, issued to Nathan Hughes (soldier); 2,691, for 100 acres, issued to Benjamin Head (soldier); 2,699, for 100 acres, issued to George Frey (soldier); 2,692, for 100 acres, issued to William Sexton (soldier); 2,693, for 200 acros, issued to Thomas Coleman (Sergeant); 2,690, for lOO acres, to Thomas Lloyd (soldier); 2,694, William Landwick (Corporal), 100 acres; 2,698, for 100 acros, to Robert Armstead (soldier) and patented to Richard Sergeant July 1, 1846. The 1,000 acres embraced in this survey was pui-chased by Moses Collett, May 27, 1806, for $133. 33 of Nathaniel Massie, aud forty years after, in 1846, a dispute arose as to title, and was settled in United States Chancery Court in

Moses McKay never settled on these lands, 3,908 and 2,280, but gave them to his children. Rachel, his eldest child, married before coming to Ohio, in 1814, Nathan Haines, and came afterward to this State with her husband and settled on a large body of land in Survey 567 (Biddle), in Warren County, which extended into Chester Township. Their place of settlement is now owned by their son, Noah Haines; the land in Chester by another son, Amos Haines, Robert never came to Ohio but remained in Frederick County, Ya. , where his descendants remain "to this day." Sarah, in April, 1823, married Jonathan, a son of Daniel Collett, Sr. , and settled with her husband on lands given him by his father in Survey 1,994. George married, in March, 1823, Mary Ferguson, of Frederick County, Ya. , and settled on 423 acres given him by his father (Moses McKay), in Survey 3,908, now owned in part by hia sons George, Samuel and two of his daughters. Francis, October 2, 1830, married Mary, a daughter of Moses and Rebecca Haines Collett, and grand- daughter of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett, and settled on 500 acres of land, in 1832, given him by his father, in Survey 3,908. Margaret married Henry Goode, a physician, in 1824, and settled on 157 acres in 3,908, and 147 in 2,280, the place of residence being in the latter. Virginia, in 1826, married Daniel, a son of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett, and settled with her husband on lands given him in Survey 1,994 by his father. She received as her share of her father's estate 350 acres in Survey No. 2,280, lands now owned by her son, Daniel M. Collett. Maria married, in 1830, Daniel Haines Collett, a son of Moses and Rebecca Haines Collett, and grandson of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett, and settled on 350 acres given her by her father in Survey 2,280. Jonas T. Mc- Kay married Matilda Furguson, in 1833, and settled and remained in Warren County. Levi D. McKay married, in 1836, Mary A., a daughter of William Gaddis, and received 150 acres in Survey 2,280. Sarah, who married Jonathan Collett, received 150 acres in 2,280, lands now owned by John S. Lemar and Thomas B. Conklin, and Jacob F. McKay, who married in Virginia, in 1854, Lucy Spangler, 400 acres in 3,908, lands now owned by Joel Compton, Moses C. and Jonathan McKay. Jacob moved to and settled in Iowa, never settling on his lands in this township. Mary E. married Bond Hackney and settled on 100 acres in 1,557. Moses McKay, Sr., died January 28, 1818, at the age of sixty-two years, and waB buried near Mt. Holly, in Warren County, Ohio; his wife died July 28, 1828, at the age of fifty-two years, and was buried at the same place. The deaths of the sons and daughters of Moses and Abigail Shinn McKay occurred as follows: Jonas died November 17, 1810, in infancy; Rachel Haines, April 1, 1850, aged fifty-six years; George, June 10, 1850, aged fifty years; Virginia Collett, January 15, 1827, aged nineteen years.

John Buckley, in a conversation with the writer regarding the early history of the township, said: "I was born in Dutchess County, in the State of New York, April 16, 1807. In 1816, my parents, accompanied by my grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side, and two of their children, then grown, together with myself, then nine years old, and my four brothers and sisters, started for Ohio in wagons, landing in Clinton County in the latter part of December of that year. We stepped in the street of Oakland (then but three houses), and my father inquired for an empty cabin. He was told that Thomas Luddington had one, and my father went to see him, about two miles southeast of that village, we remaining with the wagons. He returned with the privilege of occupying it until spring. The cabin was a round pole affair and stood exactly where Sharon Meeting-House does to-day. Luddington owned at that time about 100 acres in that neighborhood. We remained there until the spring of 1817, when my father purchased of Jonathan Warton, in Survey 777, 130 acres of land. These lands were originally settled by Henry Bray. The consideration was $800. Caleb Easterling (where Milton Mills now owds and resides) was our nearest neighbor. Our first visitors after we came to the State were Jonah Farquhar and his wife, who came to see us in a pole sled, or 'jumper,' and brought us, among other necessaries, a sack of dried beans. They were indeed made welcome, and the little articles they brought were treats indeed, for we had about consumed everything of an edible character that we started with. The first school I attended after coming here was on lands now owned by the heirs of Moses N. Collett. Old man Mc- Kibben owned the place. The schoolmaster (for he was indeed the master) was an old Yankee by the name of Wilcox, a regular ' down-easter.' It was a subscription school and the price per head was $2 ' a quarter.' He would 'board round' among the parents, and was at my father's a part of the time. When we came to the State, in 1816, James Brown had a carding and fulling mill on Trace Branch. He afterward joined a saw-mill to it. John Kennedy was the last man that ran the carding and fulling mill, and left the township in 1828. Brown was for several years a Justice of the Peace. My father was a cooper by trade, having served his time in Bridgeport, Conn. In time, I became one, also, and in the early days made many barrels for Clark Nickerson, who filled them with lard and pork and then hauled them by wagon to Cincinnati, and sent them by flat-boat to New Orleans. The road now leading from Clarksville (then not exceeding a dozen houses) to where it intersected the Bullskin road, near the now village of New Burlington, had but just been cut out of the woods, and was yet filled with green stumps and logs, and the road (if such it might be called) wound in and out around them. The Bullskin, road, laid out in 1807, was but little, if any, better than the former, and in the wet season these roads were in many places almost (if not) impassable, and the occurrence was not infrequent when a teamster's loaded wagon would stick fast in the mud and remain until a neighbor would come to his relief. We of the East could tell a South Carolinian when we saw him in nearly every instance. He rode his near horse and discarded check lines. I have seen them thus equipped go to meeting, and, in a few instances, to burials. Again, the Eastern teamster carried his whip in his right hand, but suspended over his left arm. The South Carolinian shouldered his. But I suppose we did many things that caused him to smile, even as his actions afforded pleasure for us. At this time (1816), there were but seven dwelling-houses from Dakin's corner to Xenia, that is, a distance of fifteen miles, and they were as follows: Judge Dakin, at the corner; William Dakin, where James Mussetter lives; Henry Fletcher, where Manly Oglesby owns; John Kenworthy, where Henry Spray lives; Thomas Lewis, George Arnold, John Furnas, and a settler north of Caesar's Creek, near where Elijah Spar lives."

Mr. Buckley has spent the largest part of his life in Chester Township; has voted in it at every election since 1828; has never been absent from the township three months at any one time, nor lived out of sight of the settlement of his father in 1817. Mr. Buckley is now an old man upon whose head seventy-five winters have left their marks of time. He will soon have completed his life-work, and when that day shall have arrived it will find him ready, and the township will have lost one of its most upright and honorable citizens.

As I have before remarked in these pages, Chester was one of three into which the county was subdivided at its organization, in 1810. From that date until 1829, and from 1845 to 1864, all rocords thereof are gone - destroyed - which does not speak well, surely, for those who were annually elected and given in trust for the people the records of our corporation. In 1829, the township had reached the nineteenth year of its existence as a part of our great commonwealth, the State of Ohio; therefore, if I may so speak, its childhood history will forever remain untold, so far as any record will show, and I can only begin at a time when it was verging into early manhood. If we look at the matter seriously, as indeed we should, a great loss has been sustained by our people in the destruction of these (now) valuable records. Beginning, then, with the township after it had reached very nearly twenty-one years of age, the first record bears date March 29, 1829, and was an adjourned meeting of the Trustees. The next was a record of the spring election of 1829, and reads as follows:

"At an election held at the house of James Dakin, Esq., in Chester Township, on the 6th day of April, A. D. 1829, at which Samuel Haynes, Elias Dakin and Joseph Conger were Judges, and Morgan L. Yan Tress and Isaac Collett, Clerks, there were received 133 votes. The number indorsed for the sale of county jail was 127, and six electors did not vote on the question; and further, the officers elected at this election are as follows, to wit: Township

During these years, the elections were held at such places as the Trustees could provide, and, in a majority of instances, in private houses, as the following listwill show: From 1829 to 1834, inclusive, at the residence of James Dakin (for many years known as the Dakin Corner); from 1835 to 1839, inclusive, at the tavern of John Mclntire (where M. W. Shidaker owns); from 1839 to 1842, inclusive, at the residence of William T. Elmore, or where Manly Oglesbee owns, being the old Hurley farm; in 1842, at the schoolhouse on the farm of Isaac Collett, in Survey 2,280- and from 1843 to 1846, inclusive, at the " Township House. "

At a meeting of the Trustees held at the residence of James Dakin, on Saturday, the 18th day of April, 1829, a tax of three-eighths of one mill was levied for township purposes, and the roads of the township were redistricted. At an extra session of the Trustees, in June, 1829, the schools were redistricted . "agreeably to the provisions of a law passed February 10, 1829." This was but four years after " a general law establishing a school system and levying a tax for its support,'' was passed, and I cannot refrain from adding to this article, at this time, the list of householders, as they follow by districts, in this record, even though it be at the expense of casting out something else farther on; for it expresses, in so many words, the heads of families in our township at that time, and calls up to the older portions of our citizens a list of those who have long since gone to " the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveler returns."

District No. 1 : Beginning where the W aynesville road crosses the east line of the township ; thence to the oil-mill, including it ; thence to John Harvey, excludinghim; thence to Preserved Dakin, including him; thence to William Dakin, including him; thence to Wright Haynes, excluding him; thence to Rachel Reese, including her; thence to Job Jeffries, including him; thence east to the township line; and thence to the place of beginning. Householders- -Henry Dakin, Joseph Haynes, Gideon Edwards, Moses Reese, Isaac Carpenter, Preserved Dakin, Davi Cleaver, James Dakin, Job Jeffries, Jonathan Mauker, John Wall, Joseph B. Gorham, John Greene, John Rockhill, Elias Dakin, Akin Dakin, Barnabas Howland, Richard Van Tress, Beebe Treusdell, John Hempsted, Peter Walker, Phoebe Fallis, Lydia Fallis, Robert Gather, Isabel Adsit, Benjamin Howland, Hiram Dakin, William Connet, William Dakin, William Van Tress, Rachel Reese, Michael Pepper, Perry Dakin, William Garrison, Joseph Connet, Jacob Carpenter.

to Wright Haynes, excluding him; thence to Jonah Farquhar, excluding him; thence to Aaron Collett, including him; thence to Robert Marshall, excluding him; thence to Daniel Huffman, excluding him; thence to Samuel Hollingsworth, including him; thence to Josiah McMillan, including him; thence to Ezekiel Kirk, including him; thence with line to beginning. Householders - David Mason, Jane McMillan, Archibald Van Tress, Thomas Kirk, Gideon Wakeman, Ezekiel Underwood, Amos Davis, Sarah McMillan, Samuel Cox,

District No. 9 contains the names of some of the earliest pioneers - Eli Maden, Jacob Hale, Joshua Nickerson, Artemas Nickerson, Caleb Harvey, Solomon Maden, John Moore, John Harvey and Joshua Harvey.

It was while the elections were held at the residence- of William Elmore that the campaign of 1840 "went off," and at Elmore's place were hold some of the largest meetings that ever gathered in the township. But the people, wearied of throwing open their houses and yards to the public on election days, the women more especially, and the time came when they saw that it was necessary to provide a suitable place for assembling twice a year to exercise their rights of citizenship.

At the spring election of 1842, held at the schoolhouse on the farm of Isaac Collett, it was left for the people to say whether the Trustees should or should not provide a house and lot for township purposes, and the decision there rendered was that they should do so. One acre of land was purchased of Benjamin Hawes for a consideration of $25, and "at a special meeting of the Trustees held for the purpose of letting out a job for the building of a house for the purpose of holding elections, a full board was present. Upon examination of several bills presented to the Trustees, it was decided that John Arnold, Sr., shall have the building thereof, which the said John Arnold, Sr., proposes to build for $147. " The bid having been accepted, an article of agreement follows, and the next record thereafter reads as follows: "October 12, A. D. 1842. - The above described building has been finished and accepted by the Trustees. C. Pyle, Clerk." Since that year all elections have been held therein. This building is situated on the New Burlington and Dakin Corner Turnpike, about three miles south of the former, and necessitates the citizens of that village going there to vote.

Oakland is situated on the road leading from Wilmington to Waynesville, in the southeast corner of the township, in " Gates 2,230," and is undoubtedly one of the oldest in the county. The original village plat, laid out by James Birdsall, was designed for the county seat, and contained upward of fifty acres. John Leonard says in his recollections: " The points on the route that were then well known, and which we had to pass on our way from Cincinnati to our home (1805) on the creek (Todd's Fork) were Waynesville and Oakland."

As I said, it was thought, at the organization of the county, in 1810, that it would be the county seat, and especially so by the owner and projector. But Wilmington became the possessor of the prize. It grew very slowly after this fact became known, and, in 1816, but few houses had been erected therein, or more properly speaking, along the road, among them Daniel Hindman, on the pres ent James Campboll place; James Carpenter, in the brick house yet standing just east of the village, and erected in 1807 by James Birdsall, the first brick house erected in the county. Daniol Birdsall lived where Archibald llaynos did for many years. The village derived its name from the many giant trees of oak that stood thickly on the grounds in that locality.

In February, 1838, William Birdaall (a first cousin of James and David) came to this township, accompanied by his wife and seven children. He purchased two of the farms formerly owned by James Birdsall, and settled in the brick house before mentioned. He laid out the present village of Oakland, on the west side of the original town plat. The village is and has been for years a post office town, and in its best days contained, among other industries, two stores. Though not recognized by the census department in 1870,* yet upward of forty souls reside therein.

New Burlington

New Burlington, the second village of the township, is situated in the northwest corner of both Clinton County and Chester Township, with a portion of its northern part extending into Greene County. It is located in Gallatin 570, and, at the death of the original purchaser, Aaron Jenkins, the land upon which the village stands descended to his son Baldwin, by will. About 1820, he (Baldwin) sold 100 acres of his lands to Edward Powers, and the latter built the same year a log house, where the brick house, now occupied by John Kay, Jr., stands.

James Jay was a native of Newberry District, South Carolina, and a member of Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends. He married while yet in that State, and at a very early day, Jemima, a daughter of John Mills, Sr., and sister to the wife of his brother, Layton Jay. They had, among other children born to them, a son, Alexander, who had arrived at manhood and married before leaving that State. They came to Ohio and settled upon the lands of George Arnold, in Survey 571, Arnold's wife being an aunt to James Jay's wife. Arnold erected a house for James, just west of his, or between the dwelling of Peter De Haven and the spring. Alex, settled north of the road leading by the house. The latter remained here some years and then emigrated to Indiana, where his wife died in a few years. He then returned with his children to Buck Run, and shortly purchased of Edward Powers the 100 acres last mentioned. The " Bullskin" road, as laid out in 1807, passed through these lands from south to north, and the road leading to Mt. Holly and the Jenkins Mill from east to west.

In 1829, Jay erected in the northwest quarter of his lands (as subdivided by these roads), a story- and- a-half frame dwelling, and when done occupied it. In 1831, Griswold B. Hawes rented it of Jay, converted part of it into a business room and occupied it the same year as a dwelling and store. In the spring of 1833, Jacob Peirson, Sr., Jacob Peirson, Jr., John Grant and John Morford, these doing business in Mt. Holly under the firm name of Peirson, Grant & Co., came here, purchased the stock of Hawes and opened a branch under the management of John Grant. They also purchased of Jay the lot last mentioned and Lot No. 1 in the northeast "square." The former had a frontage on the "Bullskin" of thirty feet and was twenty feet deep. The latter contained fifty-nine square rods. The consideration was $100, including the house.

The same year (1833), John Grant erected on the latter the substantial two-story dwelling and store building yet standing. Mr. Grant had, before coming here, or in 1830, married Eliza, a daughter of Charles and Lydia Jenkins Mann. The same year (1833), Jay erected the two-story frame, now owned and occupied by John Oglesbee. Joel Conger, the same year, erected a hewed-log house, on the lot now owned by William Huffman; William Ogborn a log house where George Miller lives; William Hurley, a one-story frame where Dr. Creighton owns and lives; Jordan Whitson, where Samuel Weaver

In this year, Jay married Miss Margaret Irvin (who yet survives him), and moved into his new house; in the same fall- Mr. Grant occupied his.

And now, as the history of our village opens, it is in order to mention one who had more to do with it in the forty years of its existence than any twelve men who have lived in it.

James Grant, the father of John Grant, was born in Philadelphia in December, 1767. His wife Elizabeth was a daughter of John and Nancy Young. They were married about the year 1790, and remained in Pennsylvania until three children were born to them, viz., Nancy, February 28, 1792; Susan, October 3, 1793; Tillah, June 15, 1795. They then removed to Frederick County, Ya. (and were neighbors to Moses McKay), near Winchester, where they continued to reside for many years. While here, four more children were added to the family - Elizabeth, May 26, 1798; William, September 3, 1800; John, August 29, 1803, and Charity, October 26, 1806. About the year 1807, he left Frederick County and settled in St. Clairsville, Belmont Co. , Ohio, where he remained some years, removing from there to Lebanon, and thence to Wayne Township, in Warren, and settled on lands owned by Moses McKay.

The year 1834 was a prosperous one to the new village. More lots were sold and more settlers came in. Ezra Smith came from Mt. Holly, purchased Lot No. 2, northeast square, and erected thereon a one-story frame dwelling and shoeshop. Samuel Weaver, a native of Hampshire- County, Ya., came here the same year, purchased Lot No. 3 in northeast square; the consideration was $25, the amount of land one-half acre. He was a tailor by trade; had come to Greene County in 1831; married a daughter of Joel Ellis. He erected the same year the house now owned and occupied by James Haydook, and used it for dwelling and shop. The same year, Aaron Hendley purchased Lot No. 4, in the same square, the upper (northern) half extending into Greene County. William Hendley, accompanied by his son, John M., and their families, came here the same year. The latter purchased all of the lands north of Lot No. 4, to the line north of lot now belonging to Lewis Smith; the former, all of the lands belonging to Jay north of the village plat, namely 51^ acres. In the lands of John M. Hendle}7' there were about four acres, upon which he immediately erected a tannery, that being his trade. Aaron Hendley was a lawyer. In 1833, the first school was opened in the village, and that in the log house then but recently occupied by Arza Gage. Sarah Hollingsworth was the instructor. Isel Ellis pui-chased of Jay, February 13, 1834, for a consideration of $30, Lot No. 2, in northwest square, and in a few years thereafter erected the substantial two-story frame building now standing on that lot. In the year 1834, Mr. Grant was doing a large business, and among the many names to be found upon an examination of his store ledger of that year, we will make mention of the following, of whom not one is living to-day: Charles Mann, Asa Fisher, Henry Mann, Sr., Bellfield Jenkins, William Hurley, David Gaskill, Francis McKay, William Ogborn, James Smith, Solomon Whitson, James Grant, David Mann, John Sanders, Aaron Collett, James Jonkins, John Arnold, Frederick Lucas, Joel Ellis, Samuel Spray, Benjamin Hawes, Burgess Morgan, Alex. Jay, Aaron Jenkins, Zebulon Dakin, William Arnold, Jordan Whitson, Jacob Ellis, Jacob Peterson, John Spray, Robert Kelley, Joseph Michner, Daniel H. Collett, Allen Linton, John Wilson, Isaiah Quinby, James Hawkins, Sr., Solomon Van Meter, Arza Gage, Henry Fletcher, Stephen Buckley, George Arnold.

The next year, James Jonkins erected the two-story frame now owned by Mary Jane Jessup (being Lot No. 2, southwest square). John Harrison, a na- tive of England, came here in 1836, and embarked in general merchandising in the building last mentioned. Miller & Bouvey had a store in the same building, but had sold and gone to Bucyrus. Harrison remained here until 1838, when he sold the stock to Harrison, McKay & Co., he being the senior partner. In 1835, James Smith, a resident of Mt. Holly, married Elizabeth Caine, of that village, and came and settled here. He was by trade a blacksmith. He spent his life here and died in 1876, at the age of sixty-five years. He was for many years a partner with Grant, in the manufacture of carriages, wagons, buggies and general blacksmithing. His widow and a large family of children and grandchildren survive him. A?nong others of the early settlers I find the names of Francis Moffett, a blacksmith, James Haydock, from New Jersey, in 1838, and a tanner, W. B. Hamilton, from Maryland, a harness maker and saddler. The post office was established in 1839, under the administration of Martin Yan Buren, and John Grant was appointed Postmaster. David Hollingsworth, who had for some time been engaged with Grant as a clerk, was Deputy. William Burr, a young man, and a nephew of Grant's, was the mail-rider, and the route was from Burlington to Xenia.

The fall of 1840 will always be remembered, and will go down into history as one of the most intensely exciting of any in our country's history, at least up to that time, it being the national campaign of Harrison and Yan Buren. Party feeling ran high; the people abandoned their labors, trades and professions, and gave themselves wholly to the contest; no place in our county, then, as now, could excel this village and the neighborhood around it in a campaign if the people were but aroused, and more so then because the fighting chances in the township were nearer equal. Among the Whigs of the neighborhood, John Grant and Bellfield Jenkins were the leaders. Many others were equally zealous in the cause, but Grant and Jenkins furnished the forcible arguments. On the other hand, among the Democrats, Frederick Lucas, Samuel Lemar and Aaron Hendley held like positions. The village store and the post office especially would naturally be the headquarters. Grant had both, and here they met, and here the excitement ofttimes grew intense. Grant being Postmaster, had access to the papers coming to the office; and more than this, being a fine reader (as the writer personally knows), he never lacked for a crowd. Not content with reading, Grant would comment and also read and comment from the papers of the other side. The latter was the most bitter to the Democrats of all, and, while it furnished fun for the Whigs, the former grew black with rage. The result was a secret caucus, which but three of the followers of Yan Buren were invited to attend, namely: Frederick Lucas, Aaron Hendley and Samuel Lemar (the latter my informant). A letter was sent to Washington, and on a return of it Grant was ex-Postmaster. The office was given to John M. Hendley, a Democrat, who soon tired of its duties, and, Harrison coming in as President, he asked to be relieved. It was then offered to Grant by both parties, but he declined and it passed into the hands of Dr. Sprague. This was in 1841, and the latter, a native of New York State, was a physician and a Democrat of the old school. In 1835, Jay erected the building now occupied by F. W. Moffett as a blacksmith shop, and moved to it the same year. He then leased for five years the building just vacated to Joseph Michner, who opened in it the first tavern in the village. This was on the 2d day of May, 1835.

Passing hastily over the time that has intervened from then until now, I will conclude this by saying that the village to-day contains seventy dwelling houses, two dry goods stores, three groceries, one saw-mill, two churches, one school, one undertaking establishment, one wagon shop, three blacksmith shops, two physicians, one carpenter shop. Population, nearly four hundred.

Churches And Burial Grounds

Springfield Monthly Meeting. - The fact that this meeting-house and burial grounds were for over forty years within the boundary lines of our township, and more, the fact that many, yea! very many of our early settlers were carried here and laid away forever, and that almost within the entire period I shall embrace in these pages, shall be my excuse (if any needed) for including them here. In 1809, in a log schoolhouse, on the lands then owned by Isaac Harvey, was held the first indulged meeting of Friends in the township. In 1812, ground was donated at the same place for the erection thereon of a meeting-house, also for burial purposes, and upon which a house Was erected the same year. The first person buried here was Lydia, wife of Isaac Harvey, who died 1st, 2d, A. D. 1813, aged forty-six years eight months and twenty five days. But years have passed and gone since then, and -one by one these dear people were carried here by loved hands and loving hearts and laid away "in their quiet sleep" until all were gone. Passing among the silent marble to-day - each pointing to the grave beneath - one reads inscribed thereon names that shall ever remain green in the memory of those who knew them in life. Among others these: copal Methodists organized in 1830, and the house was built upon the lands of FranciB McKay. The leading members at its organization and afterward were Aaron Collett, Spencer Robinson, Thomas C. Steele, Henry Goode, Dudley Robinson, Absalom Robinson, Francis McKay and in all probability others could their names be called to mind. The meetings were held here until about the year 1845, when they were discontinued, and the organization was allowed to go down. The first funeral sermon preached here was in July, 1830 (and that over the wife of Aaron Collett), by George Maley, a minister of that church long since deceased. After its discontinuance, members who desired united with the church at New Burlington. There is yet, as in that day, a burial-place attached, but very few graves are to be found, the principal one being that of Francis McKay, who died March 26, 1871.

In 1833, the Methodist Episcopal Church at New Burlington was organized, though no building was erected in that' year. The congregation assembled at private houses, and a few times at the storeroom of John Grant. Among the prominent members, then and afterward, were John Grant, Enoch Pilcher, James Smith, William Hendley, John M. Hendley, William Hurley and Delany Hurley. In 1835, a frame church building was erected, which was replaced in 1874 by the present building, erected under the pastorate of Henry Stokes.

Chester Meeting-House. - Indulged meetings were held by the Friends of that neighborhood, in a very early day, in a schoolhouse upon the lands of Thomas McMillan, Sr. About 1828 grounds were donated, and the present meeting-house erected and burial grounds attached.

" The Jenkins Graveyard,.'' ' - This is unquestionably the oldest graveyard in the township, if not in the county.* Is situated three-quarters of a mile east of New Burlington, to the left of the pike leading from that village to Lumberton. About one-third of it lies to the north of Greene and Clinton County's line, in the territory of the former, the two-thirds south, or within the limits of the latter. It is upon lands in Survey 571, entered by Albert Gallatin in 1787, and purchased by Aai'on Jenkins in 1799. The first body buried there was that of the latter - Aaron Jenkins - in the year 1807, now Beventy-five years ago. The lands were set apart by him in his lifetime for that purpose, and have since borne his name. It belongs to no sect nor church, but is kept up by the townships of Spring Valley, in Greene, and Chester,- in Clinton. Among those who assembled here at the burial of Jenkins, and who have long Bince followed him, were George A. Mann, Adam Shillinger, Caleb Lucas, Ebenezer Lucas, James Hawkins, Samuel Spray, together with the wives of some of these, and the family of the deceased. Many years have passed and gone since then; many have come, lived out the average age of man, and then, too, gone the way of all the world. Men of to-day who are tot tering under the weight of many winters were then but boys of tender years, and soon they too shall be remembered only with the silent throng.

Henry Mann, died February!, 1858, aged seventy-eight years ten months. Rachel A., wife of Henry Mann, died March 15, 1862, aged seventy-six years eight months and twenty- eight days.

Jonah' s Run Meeting-House is situated in survey No. 770, on the pike leading from Harveysburg, in Warren County, to Wilmington. The church belongs to the Free-Will Baptists, and was organized in 1838. Mercy Collett, a daughter of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett, gave twenty-six acres of land to her executor, in trust for the endowment of the same, so long as the organization was kept up, and when that ceased the proceeds to go to the American Baptist Foreign Missions.

The burial grounds attached are covered by the same endowment, and were set apart for that purpose at the same time. Mercy Collett died December 22, 1839, and was the first laid away in these grounds, at the age of nearly fifty years.

Caesar Creek Monthly Meeting. - The early settlers of Chester Township were by a large majority members of the church of Friends, or Quakers. The customs of their fathers and grandfathers were rigidly enforced and complied with, and none more so than the necessary provision of erecting at once a suitable building in which to meet and worship God. As early as 1807, the settlers along Caesar Creek erected the " old log house," yet standing on their grounds, and on which the Caesar Creek Monthly Meeting-House now stands, in Warren County. The meetings held there in those days were " indulged," and among those known to its earliest organization were Henry Millhouse, Sr.,, Robert Millhouse, Sr., John Furnas, David Whitson, Joel and William Sanders, Amos Hawkins, Sr., Mordecai Spray. " At Miami Quarterly Meeting, held the 12th of 5th month, 1810, the committee appointed to attend Centre and Caesar Creek Preparative Meetings produced the following report: ' We,, the committee appointed on the proposition of Centre Monthly Meeting, having attended Centre and Caesar Creek Preparative Meetings, after a free conference on the subject of our appointment, agree to report as our sense that weapprehend it may be useful to concur with the proposition, and that Centre Monthly- Meeting continue to be held at Centre, at the usual time in each month, and that another monthly meeting be established at Caesar Creek, to beheld the last seventh day in each month, to be called Caesar Creek Monthly Meeting,' which, claiming the attention of this meeting, is united with. Joseph Cloud, Joel Wright, John Stubbs, Thomas Horner, are appointed to attend at the opening thereof, on the last seventh day of the present month, and. their preparative meeting to be held on the fifth day preceding."

Pursuant to the foregoing minute, Friends assembled at the time appointed, and when the afore-mentioned attended, and a monthly meeting was opened, the minutes and proceedings of which are as follows: "At Csesar Creek

This is the history of Caesar Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends. Time,, on its relentless wings, has flown on, and seventy-two years have gone since then, and with them all those who assembled there on that occasion. In 1849, the present frame building was erected, and meetings are held there on the first and fifth days of each week. If we turn to the graveyard hard- by and examine the silent marble, we find these names:

The Wesleyan Methodist. - In 1844, the great question then agitating the people politically had grown to mammoth proportions, and the public feeling one of intensity and vehemence. In fact, it grew so bitter and protracted that it became the prevailing topic, and none knew where or when, to a certainty, the end would come. For years, like the black cloud of a midsummer day,' it had muttered in the distance, with its deep voice of thunder, the occasional flash of lightning foretelling the coming storm. The Congress of our land was locked in the desperate struggle; State Legislatures had grasped and had undertaken the solving of the mighty problem; the churches, schools, and the families of our land, were and had been engaged in long and fierce debates upon the subject. The question of which I speak was the election of Polk, and the desire and demand on the part of the Southern States for additional slave territory. Already had the blighting curse extended throughout the length and breadth of fourteen States, and yet the demand was for more. Two millions and a half of human souls were then crying aloud for freedom (and had been for over half a century), in a country whose chief corner-stone was grounded on civil and religious liberty. So malignant did it finally become that a split occurred at New Burlington, in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the anti-slavexy members going off by themselves, and, on the - day of , 1844, the latter purchased of John Compton Fractional Lot No. 2 of Lot No. 1, southwest square of that village, the consideration being $100. They erected thereon, by subscription of money and labor, a frame church edifice, yet standing. The church was organized under the discipline and doctrine of the American Wesleyans, and its adherents were denominated "Woolly-Heads" by their late brethren in the church. The following are the names of the prominent movers in the new church: John Grant, Elizabeth Grant, Peter Harrison and wife, John Harrison and wife, Delaney C. Hurley and wife, Walter B. Hamilton and wife, and probably others, could their names be called. They received several adherents, and prospered for a number of years. But the war, and the liberation of those human souls from bondage, closed the prime object of these people, and they afterward identified themselves with the Episcopal Church. In 1870, the building was sold, and became the property of the Orthodox Friends, who hold therein semi-weekly meetings.

The streams in the township in days gone by furnished the motive power for saw mills, grist-mills, fulling and carding mills, which have, in every instance, long since gone into decay upon their banks. In a journey through the township to-day, one cannot help noticing their ruins, and what excites the interest of tho people of our time is to know where the water camo from by which they were made to perform their labor and furnish to tho early settlers the necessaries of life. But these little mills and their dams (if such the latter might be called) were built in the most homely manner, and fashioned to do the most work for the least outlay of expense. The machinery was in each case very simple in construction, brief in its details, and required but little skilled labor to build, or, when built, to keep in repair. Neither did owners of these little mills depend upon them, in every instance, for their chief support, but, on the contrary, made them a secondary matter, and operated them at night, wet days, or in the winter season of the year, while at other times they cleared their lands or tended their growing crops. They are gone, the cause in some cases being an insufficiency of water, but in a majority of cases they served their purpose to their owners and gave way to the mills of modern times.

In those days, the Eall and winter rains (when the country was new, and in its primeval form) did not run off all the ground, as in the torrents of today, but remained upon the land; nor did the constant action of the sun's rays then, as now, produce rapid evaporation. The beds of these forest trees were filled with fallen leaves and limbs, until the free passage of the water was held back, and, in many cases, wholly prevented from flowing at all. It then spread itself over the low places, and thus formed pools, ponds and miniature lakes, which slowly trickled out and down to the mills, where it furnished sufficient power to run them, if necessary, a great part of the year. But the flight of time went on; the lands were cleared out and, under the warm rays of the summer sun, evaporation followed, and these fountains succumbed to their magic influence. Following in the line of advancing civilization came the open, and then the blind, or tile, drain; and to-day, whore stood the heavy timber and these lakes of water, the eye is gladdened by fine farms and fields of waving grain.

Among the first of these in the township was a mill erected by Robert Millhouse, at the mouth of Buck Run, but operated by the waters of Osesar Creek. When built, it was a saw-mill only. In after years, a corn stone was placed therein, and corn grists were ground there. George Arnold erected upon his lands, and upon the banks of Buck Run (or just above the bridge, on the "Dakin Corner pike"), a saw-mill that remained in use for very many years. Lower down on the run, the Millhouses erected a carding and fulling mill, which remained there until 1828, when it was torn down and removed to the lands of David Jay, Sr., where it was made into a schoolhouse, under the supervision of the Csesar Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends.

On Trace Branch, west of the township house, in a very early day, there was in operation a carding and fulling mill. James Brown owned it in 1810, and it is presumed that he built it. In after years, a saw-mill was connected with it. It has long since gone into disuse. Another enterprise that flourished to a considerable extent in the early settlement of the township was the distilling of whisky and brandy in little copper stills. They have been so long gone into decay, however, that it is difficult to locate them with any degree of certainty.

It will be a difficult matter for me, in the absence of exact data, to settle upon the earliest road traversing our corporate limits. I am of the opinion, however, from what information I can get, that the first one to be laid out for that purpose was the one from Waynesville to Wilmington. Tradition says, in a very early day the road from Waynesville to Wilmington passed north of where Harveysburg now is, north of the McIntyre Tavern to Oakland, thence by way of Centre to Wilmington; that it was a perfectly straight lino, blazed by an Indian, who received for so doing one gallon of whisky. But let this be

'true or not, I have already referred in these pages to the remarks of John Leonard, where he says, " The points on the route that were then well known, and which we had to pass on our way" - in 1805 - " from Cincinnati to our intended home on the creek" - Todd's Fork - were Waynesvi lie and Oakland." This road, then, was there in 1805, and John Leonard passed over it. It also connected two points then well known to the emigrant, viz. , Oakland and Wavnesville.

These facts lead me to conclude that it was there in 1802, and possibly earlier yet than that. The Bullskin, that started at the Ohio River, and traversed the State due north, was laid out in 1807, and extended to the lakes. Then came the "east and west," or the "Jenkins Mill" road, that extended from Port William (now) to Mt. Holly, on the Little Miami, crossing the Bull skin in the village of New Burlington. Another started from the old State road, at the village of Clarksville, and intersected the Bullskin just south of where the latter village stands to-day. They were in those days but pathways through the woods - were filled with stumps, logs, tree-tops and sloughs, around and through which the teamster had to pilot his heavily laden wagon. To-day, after over fifty years have passed, what a change! The roads of that day are gone, and in their places we see the fine graveled and macadamized highways.

The time when this spirit took hold of the people has not been long since. The writer of this is yet a young man, but he can very well remember when there was nothing but toll pikes in Clinton County. In the winter season, to get off of a toll road was to get into trouble, and not only that, but lots of it. When spring came, the difficulties were multiplied, and on many of these roads travel was almost totally suspended, unless they accomplished the journey upon horseback; and this calls to my mind the "green leggins" so common in those days, a few of which the writer of this can remember having seen; and to go off on a journey without them in the early months of the year was something not to be thought of for a moment, for they were as much of a necessity, almost, as the horse.

Following in the wake of these' awful roads came the plank road, of which kind but one was constructed in the township, and that upon the Wilmington & Harveysburg road, in the year 1852. It was made of sawed oak plank, one and one-half inches in thickness, eight or ten feet in length, laid down on the ground. It waB never a success, for the plank would spring, or rise up at the ends, and, in wet weather, become very slippery. It was the source of several accidents, and was not favorably received by any one. In a few years, gravel was placed upon the planks, and in time they were buried out of sight. In some places, however, at this late day, ends of these planks can yet be seen, but they will soon disappear forever.

About 1867, a spirit of enterprise took a deep hold upon the people, not only in this section, but it became universal throughout the State, and continued until every road, almost, became a graveled highway. So far did this enterprise extend with us thar, every road now loading from our village is passable at all seasons of the year, for every kind of vehicle, and, in the summer season, are the resorts for pleasure riding by the people of our neighboring county towns.

Accompanying these highways came the many fine bridges, of both wood and iron, that are found suspended over the streams throughout the length and breadth of our corporation.

In the fall of 1871, it was proposed by certain capitalists of the East to build a railroad that was to extend from tho Ohio Rivor at Huntington (whore it was to connect with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad) to Dayton. It was further proposed, upon the part of the said corporation, by Col. Trimble, its President, that if the people along the line of said road would raise $800,000, the company would complete and equip the same. The first meeting in the township in the interest of this enterprise was held at the Methodist Episcopal Church in this village, on the evening of November 21, 1871, at which time Peter Harrison was called to the chair, and H. G. Cartwright made Secretary.

Col. Trimble, the President of the road, being present, addressed the meeting at length, after which a committee of twelve was appointed to solicit stock and secure the right of way.

On the evening of the 23d of November, the committee met at the store of J ohn Grant, and organized by electing Samuel Lemar permanent Chairman, and A. H. Harlan, permanent Secretary. On motion of John Grant, the papers submitted by Allen Linton, and setting forth the conditions upon which the people of Chester Township would subscribe stock, was adopted, to wit: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed do severally agree with and promise to the Southern Ohio Railway to take and pay for the number of shares of the stock of said company set opposite our names, of the value of $50 each, payable in installments on the total sum subscribed by each of us, as may hereinafter be required by the Board of Directors of said road; Provided - first. That the aforementioned road will pass from Hillsboro to Dayton via Wilmington, Clinton Co., Ohio, crossiug Caesar Creek in said county near the village of New Burlington, Ind.; that enough stock be taken to complete said road in accordance with the proposition of C. P. Huntington, President of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company; and provided further, that the amount subscribed by us be expended on the line between Wilmington and Dayton."' Forty-two shares, or $2,100, were reported subscribed at this meeting. These meetings were held weekly, and, as I remember them, were always well attended, and many times very enthusiastic. Speeches were made at every meeting, and, when they seemed to drag, some one present would increase his subscription. This spirit sometimes ran so high that subscribers would double their stock. I copy the minutes of December 5, 1871:

" Meeting called to order by Secretary - the Chairman not present. On motion of John Grant, Allen Bingamon was asked to preside. Members present: John Grant, Jesse Spray, Jr., Henry Hurley and George Mann. There not being a quorum present of the committee, the evening was spent in speeches. On motion of John Grant, duly seconded, George Mann and Henry Hurley were asked to address the committee, which the parties agreed to, provided Mr. Grant would make the first one. The latter gentleman, being then called, arose and delivered a very neat little speech, setting forth the many inducements that were calling out the support of the people in this railroad enterprise. He was followed by George Mann, who arose only to excuse himself, and to insist upon Mr. Hurley addressing the committee. Mr. Hurley then addressed the meeting at considerable length, showing plainly the benefits, to be derived from public improvements."

" Committee met at store of John Grant, Samuel Lemar in the chair. The meeting was called to order, and the minutes of the previous meeting read and adopted. The meeting was largely attended, owing to an appointment made at a former meeting by James Swindler, Esq., to be present and address the committee on the railroad question. The speaker failed to come to time. Not much was done at this meeting, but, by hard work and perseverance, it was not altogether a failure, and the receipts of the evening were one share."

The whole amount subscribed by the people of this township was over $20,000. The road was located, 10 per cent of the stock paid in, but the enterprise failed and the money was returned.