Bunker Hill, Ohio

Indian Creek passes through Reily Township from north-west to south-east. Its principal tributaries are Little Indian, which flows from the west, taking its rise in the neighborhood of Peoria. Chase's Run flows from the north, and takes its name from Valentine Chase, a pioneer in this part of the township. Mr. Chase entered the south-east quarter of Section 5, the same quarter on which the Indian Creek Baptist Church stands. Further east is Boone's Run, also am affluent of Indian Creek. This creek took its name from a distant relative of Daniel Boone, who settled in this region far back in the 20's. Reserve Run flows from the north through Sections 5'and 6, emptying into Indian Creek one-quarter of a mile below Reily. Indian Creek has a bottom some three-quarters of a mile in width, which is very fertile. These bottoms are very fine lands for raising corn. It was along this stream and its tributaries, in the opening of Indian Creek Valley to agriculture, that such fine crops were raised. The other streams named have no bottoms of any size. In the south-west corner of the township the lands are avell adapted to agricultural purposes. The soil is a dark, rather heavy loam, inclined to be wet. When drained it produces the best of crops. The north-east corner is broken somewhat, and not so well adapted to farming; the soil is clayish generally? In the vicinity of Ogleton and Woods' Stations the surface is flat, and the soil a dark loam, naturally wet. All kinds of timber abounded here when the first settlements were made. There has been a very great quantity of good timber destroyed, but there is still standing a sufficient forest for many years. This township, like Morgan and Hanover, was plentifully supplied with pea vines along the creek bottoms in early times. The undergrowth was mainly spice bushes. Many hooppoles were cut from the forests when still-houses were running their best. Flour barrels, as well as whisky barrels, commanded a good price in those days, and it is said ''a cooper-shop was kept going on every section."

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

The first white child buried in Reily Township was Thomas D., son of George and Nancy Allhands, who died March, 1803, and was buried in a grave-yard on Section 9, a few rods south-west of the center, on a farm now owned by Colonel William Stephens, one hundred and fifty yards due east from the house. In 1837 there were thirty-three graves here, two of them being colored people. But one tombstone was erected in this graveyard - an old sandstone, which now lies on the ground. This child was scalded to death by hot sugar water. There have been no burials here since 1837. The yard is now under a state of cultivation.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

In 1807 there were but three or four houses from where the Miami was crossed at Venice and Brookville. From where James Stephens settled, in 1809, on the south-east quarter of Section 7, to Brookville, a distance of fourteen miles, there was not a single house. Andrew Lewis, below Reily, was the first settler below Stephens's and Venice for a number of years. During the years of 1808, 1809, and 1810 there were many families who came here from all sections. In 1834 there were three hundred and thirty-six voters in the township. There are now about four hundred voters, a very small gain in nearly fifty years.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Reily Township - it names this place 8 more 8 times.