Preble County, Ohio - Chapter 18: Jackson Township, 1915

Chapter 18: Jackson Township

Jackson township is township 8 on the United States government survey, range i east, being the eighth township north of the Ohio river, and in the first row of townships east of the Ohio-Indiana line. The intention of the government surveyors was to make the surveyed townships exactly six miles square, with an area of twenty-three thousand forty acres. But, owing to the difficulty of running accurate lines in the dense forest which covered the land at the time the survey was made, and owing also, perhaps, to some lack of skill on the part of the early surveyors, Jackson township lacked something of being the standard size, and contains about twenty-one thousand seven hundred acres of land.

Natural Features

The surface of the township is gently rolling, with sufficient slope of the land in different directions to admit of very thorough drainage without any very great trouble or expense in securing outlets. About one-third of the township on the east side is drained by various small streams, which flow eastward and empty into Seven Mile creek above Eaton. Another one-third in the southwestern part of the township is drained by three or four different branches of Four Mile creek, which heads near Campbellstown in the center of the township. Four Mile creek empties into the Miami river at Hamilton, Ohio, and is joined a few miles above its mouth by Seven Mile, which also takes its rise in Preble county.

A narrow strip of land along the northwest border drains into Adams creek in Jefferson township. Adams creek empties into the east fork of Whitewater, a short distance above Richmond, Indiana. With this exception, the northwest one-third of the township is drained by Elkhorn creek, which rises in section 4 and flows in a southwesterly direction, emptying into Whitewater river near Abington, Indiana.

While the greater part of the township is naturally well drained, yet some parts are flat, with poor natural drainage, and in early times, in the rainy seasons of the year, were covered to a large extent with ponds of water. One of these level sections extends from the northern part of section 15 in a northeasterly direction across section 2 into Jefferson township. Another is located in the southeast corner of the township in sections 25 and 36, and was known at one time as the "Rich Woods." Still another one is in the southwest quarter of the township and takes in the greater part of sections 19, 30 and 31 and a part of section 32.

To get rid of the surplus water in these level sections, the owners of the land resorted to surface and under-drains, using for the latter whatever material they could get, but chiefly wood in some form. The first tile drains were put down as early as 1862, possibly a little earlier, one of the first being laid in April of that year in section 9. Since that time the work has gone 'on continuously in all parts of the township and many thousands of rods of tile have been put in the ground, to the very great improvement of the land.

While the surface of the land has plenty of fall for drainage requirements, there is no hilly or broken land and all parts of the township can be readily and easily cultivated. The soil for the most part is a clay loam, interspersed with areas of black or mulatto soil. All kinds have a considerable admixture of sand and gravel, making them friable and easily cultivated. The land is fertile and productive and, under the careful and intelligent management of the fanners at the present time, the yield per acre of the crops grown in the township is gradually increasing.

Agricultural Statistics

Below is given the average number of acres of the principal crops grown in the township for the ten years. 1904- 19 13, also the highest and lowest acreage and the year, as returned to the township assessors :

In 1913 there were one thousand nine hundred and eighty-three acres in timber. A small acreage of rye is grown, somewhat variable in amount. A sufficient amount of garden crops and the different kinds of fruit are grown to supply the home demand. The only fruit growing on a considerable commercial scale is done by J. S. Kuth, in section 6.

The newly sown crop of wheat was attacked by Hessian fly in the fall of 1899, again in the spring of 1900, and totally destroyed. Not a bushel of wheat was harvested in the township that year.

The farmers of the township early learned the use and need of rotation of crops. The rotation followed has varied somewhat from time to time, the rotation at the present time being chiefly corn, wheat and clover. About the year 1883, or a little later, the use of commercial or chemical fertilizers was introduced into the agriculture of the township, being used first with wheat almost exclusively. Its use has gradually extended to other crops, but it is still used very largely for wheat. Acid phosphate is in most common use, generally the fourteen per cent, or sixteen per cent, grade. Some experiments in the use of lime are being made and its use is likely to be extended in the future.

Between twelve thousand and thirteen thousand bushels of wheat are consumed in the township each year. The balance is sold to be shipped away. In a general way, about ninety per cent, of the com produced is consumed in the township, being fed to farm animals, to some extent to beef cattle for market, but to a much larger extent to hogs.

According to the assessor's returns there were 880 horses in the township in February, 1914; 642 milch cows and 848 other cattle; 491 sheep, and 7495 hogs. Farmers of the township have suffered considerable loss at different times because of the ravages of hog cholera. In 1913 the loss from this cause amounted to something over eleven hundred head, valued at more than nine thousand dollars. It seems probable that the loss from this source will be greatly reduced, if not entirely prevented, in the future by the use of hog cholera serum.

The history of Jackson township begins, for our purpose, with the coming of the white man. The Indian occupied the land before the white man came. The Mound Builder was here before the Indian, and no doubt some race, or possibly many races, lived here before the Mound Builder.

tracted man and beast through many ages. The Indian had gone, or was going, as the white man came in. All the others had gone, and had left but little in the way of record behind them, less in Jackson township than in some other sections.

Probably the first settlement in Jackson township was made in the year 1805 by Ayres Taylor, near Four Mile creek, in section 29. He entered a quarter section of land and settled on it, but, being discouraged by the hard life of a lone pioneer in the wilderness and despairing also of being able to make the back payment on his land, he sold out the next year, 1806, to Henry Paddack and went back to Kentucky. The United States government was selling land at that time on the following terms: Two dollars per acre, either cash or in payments, one-fourth down, one-fourth in two years, one-fourth in three years and one-fourth in four years. As the early settlers had but little to sell and little or no market, it can be readily understood that making payments for land, even at two dollars an acre, was no easy undertaking. Henry Paddack, who came from Kentucky, was more fortunate than* Taylor, or perhaps made of sterner stuff, and he stayed on. He raised the first crop in the township and planted the first orchard. He lived to see his family grow up around him, and died at an advanced age. Many of his descendants are still living in the township.

In this same year, 1806, John McCormick settled about a half mile north of Henry Paddack, and Robert McCormick built a log cabin in section 34, but rented it to Rice Price, who became a permanent resident of the township. McCormick went back to Kentucky.

In March, 1807, Andrew Morrow settled in section 9, on Elkhorn creek, coming from North Carolina. The same year, or the next, John* Hardin came from Germantown, Montgomery county, and settled lower down on Elkhorn creek, near the state line.

During the next two or three years Michael Browell, David Sidwell, John Bosworth, Amos Higgins, William Neal, and the three Wade brothers, Joseph, John and William, settled near Hardin, and, together with others who came later, formed what was known as the Elkhorn settlement. Settlers were coming in on the Indiana side at the same time, and as many of them on both sides of the line came from Kentucky, the whole section of country came to be known as "Kaintuck." John and James Melling, and probably others, came in about the same time in the eastern part of the township. John Wolf settled in 1811 in section 10, John McCord about the same time in section 4, William Cooper in section 34 and the same year, Jacob Neff in section 36. Between 1812 and 1820 came Thomas Mc-

Whinney and his family, including his three married sons, John, William and Matthew, John Campbell, Jacob Cline, Jacob Swain, Jeremiah Frame, Archibald Stark, John and George Morrow, brothers of Andrew Morrow, John C. McManus, Jesse Stamback, James McCowen and family, including his sons, John, William and James, and many others.

By this time the extreme pioneer conditions were passing away. Some of these early pioneers remained but a few years and then moved on. Others became permanent residents and the descendants of many of them are still numbered among the people of the township. The census of 1820 showed there were 615 people living in the township. Immigration continued' and the population increased until in 1840 it reached 1,260. The population in i860 was 1,578; in 1880, 1,296 ; in 1900, 1,255, and in 1910, 1,157.

With the passing of the years and the increase of population came improved living conditions. The one-room log cabin gave wave to the frame dwelling, a little larger and more commodious. These, in turn, later on were replaced by other dwellings, still larger and better arranged and more permanent. The log stable has been succeeded by large and well-appointed barns and other necessary buildings, until today the improvements on the average Jackson township farm have cost thousands of dollars.

The value of land has gone up from two dollars an acre in 1805 to one hundred dollars or more at the present time. The assessed valuation of real estate in the township for taxation purposes in 1914 was $1,913,600.00; of personal property, $504,620, and of the public utilities, $572,310, or a total valuation of $3,014,460.00. The tax rate for all purposes is 8.9 mills, divided as follows: School levy, 4 mills; road, 1.65 mills; total township, 1.9 mills; county levy, 2.55 mills; state, .45 mills, form the total taxes levied and collected.

Pioneer Life

It is difficult for us to realize or appreciate what the pioneer life meant to the early settlers. Life was reduced to its simplest and lowest terms. The father of the family was. at once a farmer, a carpenter, often a blacksmith, a hunter, a tanner and a shoemaker. He might, on occasion, be forced to turn his hand to some other trade, or even profession, and to fail would mean hardship and suffering, or even death.

thread, wove the cloth, and made the garments which clothed her children. She helped with the necessary preparation of the raw material before it was ready to spin, and in the hour of need she was the family doctor. Of necessity, every family had to prove sufficient unto itself, and no better proof could be offered of the wisdom and hard sense of the men and women of that day than the fact that so often they proved equal to the occasion. All honor to the courage, resolution and persistency of the pioneers who made the present Jackson township possible.

Jackson township became a separate township by act of the county commissioners on December 18, 1816, being formed out of portions of Jefferson and Dixon townships. The first election was held at the house of Adam Starr. John Starr and John McCord were elected justices of the peace. William Stevens, who emigrated to Louisiana soon afterward, was elected township clerk. It is not known who the other officers were. The township house and township offices are located at Campbellstown, in the center of the township. The township trustees at the present time are H. E. Ashinger, John Barr and S. S. Hart. Frank G. Thompson is township clerk and James Shumate treasurer.

Religious Societies

The first meetings of a religious nature were held at homes of the early settlers. About 1810 a congregation of the Christian, or "New Light" denomination was organized under the leadership of Elder David Purviance, who had come out from Kentucky a few years before and settled in the southwest corner of what is now Jefferson township. Shortly afterward, probably about 1815, a frame church building was erected on the Indiana side of the state line, opposite section 7 of this township. The church, and congregation adopted or received the name of Shiloh and became the religious center for miles around. The membership lived in both states, but the greater part of it on the Ohio side. A graveyard was established nearby and many of the early settlers found a last resting place there. Later on, the congregation declined in numbers and became extinct, and the church building was removed many years ago. About the time the Shiloh congregation became extinct - 1840 - a new congregation of the same denomination was organized in the neighborhood around New West

In the year 1851, under the leadership of Elder James Neal, the Union Chapel society, also of the Christian denomination, was organized in the southeastern part of the township, and a church built on the township line in section 25. This congregation held regular services until about 1890, and occasional services a few years longer, when the society passed out of existence. In the year 1842 a Christian church was built at West Florence and sendees were held there for a few years. In 1859 people belonging to different denominations about West Florence, the Christians and Universalists leading, united together and built a large brick church, known as the People's church. Services were held in this church for about twenty years, when the organization, owing to differences among the members, passed out of existence. Occasional services were held in the church until 1905, when the church building finally became the property of the owner of the land on which the building stood.

In the years 1899 a congregation of the Christian denomination was organized and a modern and well-equipped church built at Campbellstown. This society is strong and vigorous and promises to be a potent and lasting influence in the future of the community. It will thus be seen that the Christian denomination has had a church and congregation somewhere in the township from the earliest times and has been a constant factor in the religious life of the people. Among the ministers of this denomination have been David Purviance, John Adams, Reuben Dooley, Josiah Conger, Levi Purviance, James Neal, T. M. McWhinney, W. A. Gross, Hiram Simonton, W. A. Broderick and Peter Sullivan.

In very early times a small congregation of the Methodist Episcopal church was formed in the northern part of the township. They held services first at the houses of members, but later in a building erected about 1825 for the purpose, on the farm of James Morse in section 3. This society ceased to exist after a few years. It was succeeded about 1845, largely through the efforts of Robert McCord, a local preacher, by a society which had a church about a mile south of New Westville. This society continued to hold services until about 1880, when it passed out of existence.

For more than sixty years, beginning with the year 1847, a Methodist Episcopal congregation had a church and held services at New Hope. This society has now ceased to exist and the church building is devoted to other uses. Many of the ablest men in the Methodist Episcopal church ministered

A congregation of the United Brethren existed from the earliest times, partly in Jackson and partly in Washington township. At first, services were held in the houses or bams of members, but about 1815 a log church was built, and in the year 1830 a better house was erected near the township line in Washington township. In 1847 a brick church was built in New Hope and this became the home of the congregation. A handsome frame building took the place of the brick structure in 1882, and this was remodeled and improved in 1905. This society has had a continuous existence of more than a hundred years, and has exerted a great influence on the life of the people of that community. It is flourishing and vigorous and has before it, apparently, many years of useful service. Rev. E. P. Huddle is the present minister.

About 1872 a society of the Christian denomination was organized and a church built at New Westville. Elder James Neal conducted services in the church for a few years, when it passed under the control of the Main Street Friends meeting at Richmond, Indiana. It has since been maintained as a mission branch of that society. Rev. Irwin Stegall is the present minister.

The Baptists had a society at one time in the southwestern part of the township and built a church about 1820, near the southeast corner of section 20. About 1840 the society passed out of existence, and a little later the church was removed.

In 1900 a society of the Disciples, or "Campbellite" church, was formed and a church built at Campbellstown. There have been no services in this church for two or three years.

Burial Places

The first burial place in the township was in section 19 on the Indiana line. The first person buried in this graveyard and the first who died in the township was Thomas Hollet, a young man, who was killed by a falling tree. This cemetery is still used and is well care for. There was a graveyard at Shiloh church, but it was abandoned many years ago and is grown up with bushes and small trees.

At a very early time there was a graveyard near the northwest corner of section 10. Only a few persons were buried there and it has long been abandoned, and is now a part of the adjoining cultivated field. What is known as the Frame graveyard is in section 25. The first burial there was in July, 1816. It is still used and properly cared for. The New Westville graveyard adjoins the site of the New Westville Methodist church. The first burial there was in September, 1845. It is still used as a burying ground.

New Westville

New Westville was surveyed and platted by George Worthington, due acknowledgment being made before Isaac Stephens, justice of the peace, July 16, 1816, and this became the first town in Jackson township. The town was known at first as Westville, and letters were addressed to Me- Cowen's Cross Roads. The name was changed to New Westville in 1840, when the postoffice was established.

The first store in the village was conducted by James McCowen. The town thrived and grew, and in the forties was a place of considerable importance. A number of the people of the town died in the cholera epidemic of 1849. Others were frightened away, never to return, and the building of the railroad, a mile away to the south, in 1852, was the finishing touch. The town never recovered its former importance. The population at the present time is about sixty-five. Milo Stegall keeps the general store.

West Florence

West Florence was laid out by John McCowen in 1816, but the plat was not recorded until March 18, 1835. McCowen named the proposed town Knoxville, after the county seat of Knox county, Tennessee, his former home. When the plat was received the name was changed to Florence, and when the postoffice was established in 1839, the name was again changed to West Florence. At first, part of the town was in Dixon township, but for many years the town has been entirely in Jackson township. John Mc- Cowen had the first store, opened in 1816. P. C. Flora conducts a general store and does a good business. The population is about sixty.

New Hope

New Hope was laid out by Daniel Hawk, June n, 1841. Additions were made in 1842 by Abraham Leedy, and in 1847 by Jacob Cline. The first store was kept by William Brown, and he became the first postmaster April 2, 1844, the postoffice being called Upshur until it was discontinued. The population is about one hundred.

Campbellstown came into existence with the coming of the railroad in 1852. A station was placed at the center of the township and named Florence Station. The postoffice was named Campbellstown. Harvey Mc- Whinney opened a general store soon after the railroad began business, and bought and shipped grain and stock. Later he operated a saw-mill and pork-packing establishment. McWhinney died in 1863, and a few years later the packing business was discontinued. O. B. Cooper has the general store at the present time and W. C. Swisher ships grain and live stock. Both do a good business. Miss Amy Arrasmith has charge of the postoffice. The population of Campbellstown is about one hundred. C. C. Gard ships live stock from Riota, and Richards Brothers & Company run the grain elevator at that place. I. N. Watts owns and operates the only saw-mill in the township at the present time, at "Jughandle," on the Eaton and Richmond pike, in section 10. A saw-mill has been operated continuously at that place since 1850.

The first roads in the township probably were made by the settlers in their efforts to get to their newly purchased lands with their wagons. These trails were afterward extended in different directions as the requirements of the settlers made it convenient or necessary. For a long time but little in the way of improvement was attempted, and the roads remained practically in a state of nature. About 1810 a road was surveyed and opened across the township from Eaton to Richmond, entering near the middle of the east line and leaving at the northwest corner of the township. About the year 1837 a company was formed for the purpose of grading and graveling this road and making a toll road out of it. It was completed to the Indiana line in the fall of 1844, the gravel being placed on the portion from New Hope westward in that year. The gravel was hauled from banks a little more than a mile west of the Indiana line. It remained a toll road until the year 1886. when it was turned over to the county to keep up. For forty years it was practically the only improved road in the township. About the year 1885 the people began in earnest the work of improving their roads. When once begun, the work of improvement went on rapidly and at the present time there is scarcely a mile of unimproved road in the township. The supply of gravel has been nearly exhausted and crushed stone is taking its place for repairing the roads.

In 1852 the Hamilton, Eaton & Richmond railroad was built across the township, very largely through the aid of local capital. The building of this road resulted in greatly improved markets.

In the year 1902 the Dayton & Western Traction Company began the construction of an electric road from Eaton to Richmond, Indiana, following the line of the Eaton and Richmond turnpike. The work of construction was completed the next year, 1903. On July 4, 1903, cars were run from New Westville to Eaton during the day, carrying passengers, but regular service was not inaugurated until two or three months later.

During the year 1901, the Eaton Telephone Company extended its lines into thev township, something near one hundred patrons becoming subscribers. Service was begun in October of that year. The Jackson township business was handled at first through an exchange at Campbellstown, but later this was abandoned and the telephone connected directly with the exchange at Eaton. There are now about one hundred and sixty subscribers in the township.

Sometime during the year 1900 the United States government established a rural free mail delivery route out of Richmond, Indiana, which gave sendee to about twenty families in the northwestern part of Jackson township. About a year later this route was extended to include about thirty more families. April 1, 1902, E. H. Cook began delivering mail on a route starting from Campbellstown and which gave service to about one hundred families. Other routes starting from Eaton which had begun delivering mail February 1st of the same year, gave service to a large number of families in this township. A readjustment of the routes early in the year 1906 gave service to all the families in the townships. After eleven years of carrying the mail, Mr. Cook resigned as mail carrier and J. W. O'Hara took his place March 16, 1913, and is still acting in that capacity.

In the first years of the settlement of Jackson township the population was too sparse and the families too far apart to make it possible to establish or keep up schools. There was little or nothing in the way of a school system. There were no public school funds whatever, and the early schools were all "pay," or subscription schools, maintained wholly at the expense of the patrons. The school houses were built of logs (in one case an abandoned blacksmith shop was used as a school house) and were lacking in about everything that goes with a modern school house. The school term was short, not over three months, and about all there was of the school was a teacher, often with little qualification, and the children, eager to learn. The schools were far apart and apparently were changed about from one neighborhood to another. Thus the children of one family, living near the east line of section 9 attended a school one winter near the present site of the New Westville graveyard ; another winter the school was nearly a mile over into Jefferson township, and another winter it was near the east line of section 11. The children made their way through the dense forest as best they could.

The first school house in the township, it is said, was built on the present site of West Florence in the year 1814, and the first school was taught there the next winter by John Taylor, known to his neighbors as "the little Scotchman/* There were twenty-five children in the school and it was very difficult to get that many. Taylor appears to have been a good teacher, and afterward taught in other parts of the township. Jesse Hopkins was another one of the early teachers, and still another was Alexander Barr, a native of Ireland, who grew up to manhood in that country. He was a very well educated man for that time. He moved with his family from Pennsylvania in the year 1815, and made a home in the southern part of Jefferson township. He taught school for many years in southern Jefferson and northern Jackson. As the pioneer conditions passed away the township was divided into nine sub-districts, with a school house in each one, at first built of logs, but succeeded later bv frame houses. During the years 1869 to 1872 substantial brick school houses were built in all the districts, with spacious yards and necessary outbuildings.

In April, 1895, v°ters of the township decided, by a majority of twenty-eight, to establish a township high school. A handsome and convenient building was erected, at a cost of five thousand dollars, and school commenced early in October, with R. K. DeMotte as teacher and fifteen pupils in attendance. The length of term was six months each year and the course of study covered three years. The term has since been extended to eight and one-half months and the course of study to four years. In the fall of 1896 Mr. DeMotte was elected county surveyor and B. S. Davis took his place in the high school in the fall of 1897. He, in turn, was succeeded three years later by C. R. Coblentz, the present township superintendent. In November, 1912, the voters of the township gave a majority of seventy in favor of centralizing all the schools of the township. Because of decreased attendance many of the schools had already been consolidated.

Township high school, established 1895; cost of building, $5,000.00, now township house. Consolidation of sub-districts began in 1910; completely centralized since January 1, 1913.

Bond issue for present centralized school building voted in January, 1910; amount, $15,000 at 5 per cent., $1,000 payable annually, with accrued interest. First direct vote on centralization, November, 1910, defeated by 33 votes.

New building occupied January 1, 1911, by high school and six subdistrict schools-, New Hope, New Westville and No. 7 schools being left out. No. 7 brought to the central school on September 1, 1911. New Westville school brought in in September, 1912.

Second vote on centralization, November, 1912, carried by seventy votes. Last school, New Hope, brought in January 1, 1913, completing the consolidation of all the schools in the Central school.

Cost Present System

Transportation : Hacks, 11 ; average cost, new, $175.00; owned by township. Drivers, n ; two paid $2.25 per day, eight paid $2.50 per day, and one paid $2.75 per day. Drivers under contract and bond of $100 to carry out contract to satisfaction of board of education.

Present Corps : Edna Homer, first and second grades, salary, $60 per month; Mabel Cail, third and tourth grades, sewing, $60 per month; Myrtle Benham, fifth and sixth grades, cooking, $60 per month; W. H. Wisman, seventh and eighth grades, $65 per month ; Clarence Thompson, high school, manual training, $65 per month; Blanche Rinehart, high school, $100 per month; J. S. DcDivitt, principal of high school, $112.50 per month; C. R. Coblentz, superintendent, $1,200 per year.

Average wages of teachers below high school, fifty cents per day higher than before centralization of schools. Average teaching experience of entire corps, eleven years. Length of school term, now eight and one-half months.

The course of study includes sewing and cooking and manual training in the grades. The high school course of study includes one and one-half years each in algebra and geometry, one year in physics, and four years in Latin. Instruction is also given in agriculture in the high school.

The Central school building is large, well arranged, well appointed and up-to-date in every respect. The school has been brought to a high degreeof efficiency through the labors of Superintendent Coblentz and his faithful and capable corps of assistants, and everything pertaining to the school is in every way creditable to the township.

The Outlook

Coining now to the end of Jackson township's first century, it may not be amiss to look forward for a moment into the future. The gift of prophecy is given to few, if any, men, but some just concept may be formed of what is to come by what has passed. In very truth, the coming event casts its shadow before.

With a school system which comes near being a model of its kind in meeting the needs and requirements of the people which it serves; with roads which are already good, and which presently are to be made better by the application of newer and more efficient methods ; with steam and electric railroads and auto-vehicles to solve the problem of transportation; with all the world brought near by the telegraph, the telephone and the free delivery of mails; with the inventions and discoveries of the coming years, whose benefits are to be for country as well as town, and, finally, with a population, intelligent, progressive and capable of grasping and using the good that is in all these things, surely for Jackson township and Jackson township's people "the pathway of the future is spanned by the bow of promise."