Cass Township

Cass Township

E WILL give, as some of the first settlers of Cass township, the following noted characters : Isaac Doan, Mr. Howell, old father Richey and sons, David, Barney, Daniel, Pleasant and William Richey. Afterwards came William Bynum and sons, Samuel, John D., Daniel A., William and James Bynum. Old Uncle John O'Neal, Benson Jones, Peter R. Lester, old father John Slinkard and sons, Andrew, Frederick, Moses, Henry, John, Daniel and all the rest ; Robert Clark, from New York State, Abner Bogard, Sajrauel Ewing, the hatter, Warren D. Lyles, Bazil Lyles, Nathan Chandler, Joseph Beals, Doctor Dennis, and others.

Mr. I)oan settled at the hig weeping willow, in the field belonging to Mrs. Hattabaugh, near the bridge, on the north side of the creek, near where old man Richey built the little water mill.

Henry O'Neal, father of William and John F. ()'Neal, came from South Carolina, Newbury District, and* settled on the Scomp place, and remained there two years, after which he moved over in Daviess county.

Henry F. O'Neal Married Mary Miles, and raised twelve children - seven boys and five girls. John F. O'Neal married Anna Chandler, daughter of Nathan Chandler, and they had seven children.

Mr. John F. O'Neal was among the leading party politicians in Greene county, and was a member of the State Senate and House of Representatives, several times ; but being raised a Quaker, and the old, timehonored Quaker religious creed being yet in the ascendancy, and when Col. Fremont was the Abolitionist candidate for President, Mr. O'Neal changed his vote, and cast the only

The old time preachers were, old John O'Neal, the Friend Quaker, the old Mormon Prophet, Joe Smith, the founder of the old Mormon Church, at the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, Joe Wilson, Wm. Plusky, Ephraim Hall, and Mr. Lynn. Old Wm. Roach, just over in Daviess county, must not be omitted here, as we have been told that he was a very noted man, seventy-five years old, six feet and seven inches high, and had the biggest feet of any white man in this country.^ - He always had to send to Louisville, Kentucky, for numberfourteen boots, every time he wore anything except Indian moccasins. He would cut five acres of wheat with a scythe and cradle for a day's work.

James Madison O'Neal was born in Newbury District, South Carolina, and came to Greene county over forty years ago. He married Miss Sophia Bynum, daughter of William Bynum. Six children was the result of their union - three boys and three girls. After the death of his first wife, he married Miss Ellen McElroy,^ Mr. O'Neal is a well-to-do farmer, and a manufiicturer of tobacco, and lives on the farm where Hugh O'Neal settled, nine miles from Bloomfield, on the Newberry road.

Old Father Richey settled on the creek, about a mile above the Doan place, on the Lester farm. The old man and all of the family were members of the Methodist church, and theRichey boys were the most active, stoutmeninall the country. At three jumps, they could make forty feet forward or thirty fee^ backward, with the greatest of ease.

AVilliam Bynum and sons settled at the Widotv Bynum place, at an early day, where the wife novr lives. One of the boys, while carrying pumkinsout of the corn field, on a sharp stick, in climbing a fence, the pumkins slipped off of one end of the stick, and by some means the stick was run through his body, killing

^istead farm. Mr. O^Keal was n noted old Friend Quaker preacher^ and his house was the home fOr ?iU the old Indians and preaqhers for many years. He entered the most land and made the best farm, and entertained all of the candidates in this part of the State ; and It was also a stoppingplace for all the judges,

Old Benson Jones and family settled at the place where t)r. Stoddard now lives, near Newberry. Mr. Jones has passed to the other world many years ago. John Jones married Miss