Cheviot City

Cheviot City

This is an old place, founded by an early settler named John Craig in 18 18, and was incorporated March 2 1 St, of that year. It is pleasantly situated upon the hills west of the Mill Creek valley, on the Harrison turnpike, a mile and a half west of the township line. It had seventy-one inhabitants in 1830, and three hundred and twenty-five fifty years afterwards.

In his later years the Hon. Samuel Lewis, the famous philanthropist and educator, long of Cincinnati, resided near Cheviot, upon a farm he owned there. He continued his labors for humanity almost to the end of life, often preaching in the neighboring churches. He died upon his place here, after a long career of usefulness, July 28, 1854.

At Cheviot, on the Fourth of July, 1832, there was a noteworthy celebration. Fenton's Cheviot infantry and Palmerton's Delhi infantry made a brave parade, escorting the orator of the day. General William Henry Harrison, to the Presbyterian church, where the exercises took place. Mr. Enoch Carson was reader of the declaration, and the Rev. Messrs. Williamson and Biddle were the chaplains of the day. Messrs. Price and Carpenter served as committeemen. The dinner was at Rush's hotel, where the popular old time song, "The Death of Warren," was given amid much applause.

At the celebration of 1841, at the same place. Judge Moore was president. Rev. George Cott, chaplain, W. J. Carson, reader, and Dr. J. D. Talbott, orator. The day seems to have gone off gallantly and pleasantly enough.

is a small place on the township line, one mile west of the southeast corner, half a mile northwest of Warsaw, and on the road connecting that place with the Five Corners.

Dent

Cheviot, and two miles from the northern and western township lines, respectively. It has about two hundred inhabitants. Here lives the Hon. Charles Reemelin, formerly member of Congress, who is noticed at considerable length in the chapter on the German element in Cincinnati, in the second division of this work.

Dry Ridge

is a hamlet of probably fifty inhabitants, on the Cleves turnpike, a mile west of Bridgetown, at the junction of that highway with the road down the south fork of Taylor's creek. The Ebenezer church and a school-house are situated at this point.

Five Corners

This locality, with a little scatter of houses, is at the junction of three country roads, on the dividing line of sections eight and fourteen, a mile and a half south of Cheviot, and the same distance northwest of Covedale.

Mount Airy

includes a tract of more than three square miles, lying mostly in Mill Creek township, in the chapter devoted to whose history it wDl be more particularly noticed. Five hundred and seventy-nine of its acres are in this township.

ST. Jacob's, in the extreme north of the township, a mile and twothirds west of the northeast corner-, and a mile from the Colerain pike, on the projected Cincinnati & Venice railroad, has a population of about one hundred, and a flourishing Catholic church and school. sheartown. This is a village near the extreme northwest corner of the township, with fifty to seventy-five inhabitants, a church, and a school. It is on the Harrison turnpike and the main stream of Taylor's creek.

WeisenburgK is a small place inhabited chiefly by Germans, one mile south of St. Jacob's, and two miles and a half north of Cheviot, on the surveyed route of the Cincinnati & Venice railroad.

This considerable suburb covers, with residences and grounds, more or less thickly, nearly four sections, being the whole of sections two, three and eight, the eastern half of section nine, and part of section fourteen, being in all two thousand three hundred and twenty-five acres. Along the east line of section two, it immediately adjoins the city in its northwest part. The Cincinnati & Westwood narrow guage railway runs for about two miles through the southern part of the suburb.

The village was incorporated in 1868. Among its earlier mayors were John Gaines, 1869-70; F. H. Oehlmann, 1871; Thomas Wills, 1872-4. It had seven hundred and fifty-two inhabitants in 1880.

The Harvest Home

A few enterprising residents of Green township started the first Harvest Home organization in the county, which still maintains its annual meetings with great interest and success. On the Fourth of July, i860, a little group of citizens, comprizing Messrs. R. H. Fenton, W. L. Carson and N. Gregory, happening to meet in one of the central groves of the township, the suggestion of a regular Harvest Home was started by Mr. Fenton, and cordially acceded to by the others. Several townships had previously made spasmodic experiments in this direction, but had all proved failures after a short run. The foundations of the new Harvest Home were more strongly laid. Judge Robert Moore was secured as president, and dratted the original constitution of the Home. Mr. Samuel W. Carson, now vice-president, was also the first to fill this office. Mr. Joseph B. Boyd was secretary; Nehemiah Gregory, treasurer; S. W. Carson, R. H. Fenton, James Wise, Samuel Benn and James Veasey were directors. A very hopeful organization was thus effected. The next thing was to obtain memberships, at fifty cents apiece, and to this the principal officers of the Home addressed themselves. It was uphill business for a time, but finally good results were reached, especially by Mr. Fenton, who had obtained a large number of memberships in the city. The first gathering to celebrate the "Harvest Home" was held the next year, August i6, 1861, in Carson's grove, half a mile north of Cheviot, where most or all of the annual reunions have been held. The Home has since never failed of its annual celebration, and has never experienced a wet or unfavorable day at the appointed time. The last meeting was in Carson's grove, August 25, 1880, when at least ten thousand people were present (it is said that there are never less than ten thousand at the meetings), and a number of excellent and interesting speeches were made. An exhibition of grain, vegetables, fruit, flowers, garden products, bread, butter and other articles grown or made in the township, is nowadays held in connection with the Home, with premiums as at the annual fairs, and the managers think of adding a series of prizes for stock, poultry, improvement in farming implements and other exhibits. The reunions are always accompanied with a bountiful banquet, dancing upon a platform erected for that purpose and owned by the society, and other amusements. Liquor is never sold at the celebrations, so far as is known. Mr. E. C. Reemelin is now president of the home. No political or sectarian matters are allowed in any way to enter into its operations.

Historical Notes

Green township has just twice and a half the number of inhabitants it had a half century ago. The census of 1830 developed a population of one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five in the township; that of 1870 showed four thousand three hundred and fifty-six; of 1880, six thousand six hundred and eighty-nine.

At one time, in the early day, nearly the whole tract now covered by Green township was sold at sheriff''s sale for seventy-five dollars. After the original proprietorship of Bendinot & Sims, it was owned mainly by Generals Harrison and Findlay, and Judge Burnet, of Cincinnati, for whom it was sold out in parcels by the father of Colonel E. T. Carson, now chief of pohce in that city.

Thomas Wills, Esq

This venerable gentleman, one of the best known citizens of the village of Cheviot in this township, is of Irish lineage on both sides of his family. His paternal grandfather, James Wills, immigrated from Ireland to the new world about the year 1780, with a brother, and settled in eastern Pennsylvania for a time, but shortly afterwards removed to the present Fleming county, Kentucky, upon or near the site of Flemingsburgh. He was among the earliest pioneers to this part of the "dark and bloody ground," and was driven from his improvements by the marauding savages as many as three times, once being obliged to remain away for the period of two years. When preparing for flight, Mr. Wills was compelled to bring all his farming utensils in which there was iron, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Indians. He had many troubles with the redskins, and for a long period could hardly consider his life secure at any moment. James Wills is believed to have been a native of county Down, Ireland, so also was the maternal grandfather, George Dowler. He came to this country in 1790, and likewise located in eastern Pennsylvania, where he died some years afterwards. His son, George Dowler, jr., was a man of marked ability, and became a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. When his family removed westward, he was kept behind in Wheeling, through his mother's fear of the Indians, and grew to manhood in that place. After the death of the elder Dowler, his widow married James Grimes, of eastern Pennsylvania. They removed to Hagerstown, in the same State, and remained there until 1795, when they came to Newtown, in Anderson township, Hamilton county, Ohio, being among the very first settlers of this region. Here Mr. Grimes spent the remainder of his days, in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, and died about four years after his immigration.

Samuel, son of James, and father of Thomas Wills, was born at the pioneer home near Flemingsburgh, Kentucky. He learned the trade of a stone-mason, and became proficient in all branches of the business. About 1808 he went to Newtown, in search of work, and there met Miss Mary, daughter of James Grimes and Mrs. Dowler Grimes, aforesaid, whom he married the next year. He died in 1822, when Thomas was but seven years old. About two years afterwards Mrs. Wills was united in marriage to William Hatfield, a shoemaker at Newtown. Thomas was the third son of the previous union. Upon the remarriage of his mother, he lived with his grandmother three years, and then returned home, where he learned the trade of shoemaking with his stepfather, and followed it in the paternal shop until the age of seventeen, when he left Newtown. In 1839 he removed to Cheviot, in Green township. Nine years after he was married to Miss Eliza Richardson, by whom he has had seven children, of whom three are still living. He continued the boot and shoe business and remained at it as long as he was able to work. He was soon called, however, to the performance of public duties, in which he was more or less engaged all the rest of his life. When he settled in Cheviot that region was almost entirely isolated, and material for official service was rather scarce; he was hence, in a manner, forced into prominent positions which he would not voluntarily- have asked or accepted. For twenty-nine years he was a justice of the peace in this township, retaining remarkable popularity, and commanding general approval by the integrity and impartiality of his decisions. For thirtyone years, the entire period of a generation of the human race, he was postmaster at Cheviot. In 1865 he was chosen by his fellow citizens to a yet more responsible position, as director of the county infirmary, and was thrice reelected, serving in all, three terms in that position, with entire acceptance to his associates of the board and to his constituents. He then declined further service, on account of increasing infirmities and disabilities; and has since declined to assume official duties. He died Sunday, February 27, 1881, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, leaving abundance of proof that the sunset of his life was as glorious and peaceful as had been the purity of his relations toward his -fellow men.

Frank Frondorf

Frank Frondorf, an enterprising farmer,, lives about two miles from Cheviot, Green township, on the Cleves turnpike. His farm consists of over two hundred acres of choice lands, which he has secured for a homestead, having bought the same in parts at different times as opportunity and business prosperity would permit.

His father, George Frank Frondorf, his wife Catharine, Elizabeth, their daughter, and four sons, Phillip, Frank, Christopher, and Henry - the youngest who died soon after their arrival - left Hesse Darmstadt in the year 1840, and after landing in New York made their way to the State of Iowa, where the father and part of the family remained.

Frank Frondorf came back to Ohio after a short stay of three months, and began life working for himself, remaining thereafter in Hamilton county. He was born the tenth of March, 18 19; was about twenty-one years of age when he first began working for R. H. Fenton, who kept the tavern at the Seven Mile house. After a stay here of three years he worked about five years at the Buckeye house for Reid & Anderson, who were proprietors. During the second year of his stay at the last named place he became acquainted with Miss Mary Elizabeth Kcelling, from Melle Hanover, who came to this country alone in the year 1842, arriving first in New Orleans, from there coming to Cincinnati, where she married Mr. Frondorf in the year 1846. She was born December 26, 1818. The young couple, after working two or three years longer in the hotel, added their pennies together and bought eighty acres of the present homestead, to which they added, at different times, from thirty to fifty acres, until finally the farm increased to two hundred and forty acres, the amount of which he owns at present. He also worked two years at the Mill Creek house. This was previous to going to the Buckeye hotel, and making in all several years service as a hired hand, by which he saved earnings sufficient to start him as a farmer.

After Mr. Frondorf moved to his farm the young couple began a system of labor and economy that laid the basis of their future wealth. They not only worked and economized, being sparing of their earnings, but they added improvements, from time to time, to their little home until now their beautiful place somewhat resembles a miniature town. They not only have an elegant mansion (the second one, the first burned down) for the rest and repose of themselves, but by a singular foresight, common only to the most industrious and thriving classes of society, have looked as closely after the wants and necessities of their stock and domestic brutes as to themselves.

George Frank Frondorf, the father, lived in Iowa until 1856. His wife died in 1843. He was a shoemaker, and also owned a fine farm, but seemed never contented in America, and died in the seventy-third year of his age in the year 1856. The last two years of his life were spent with his son Frank in Ohio.

Mr. Frondorf has also been a useful member of society in various ways. He was the founder and chief supporter of the Catholic church in Cheviot, being not only the prime mover but a munificent giver until the church building was erected and the church established, having furnished the brick for the building himself. He is the father of three children. The son has charge of the farm entire, Mr. Frondorf having retired from business altogether. One daughter is a member of the Sisters of Charity; the other remains at home.

Daniel Isgrig

Daniel Isgrig, of Dent, Green township, is one of the oldest residents of the county, having been born June 30, 1796, in Baltimore county, Maryland, and most of the time since which period has resided in the immediate vicinity of his present home. His father is of English and his mother of German descent. His father, Daniel, was born in Maryland, March 2, 1775, and died in Ripley county, Indiana, July 17, 1854. His mother, Rachel Barns, was the eldest daughter of John Barns; was born in Virginia, March 22, 1760. She died in Ripley county, Indiana, August 16, r8s4. The parents were both buried near Moor's hill, in the above named county, where the father died in the eightieth year of his age. His widow was the mother of seventeen children, one hundred and twenty-three grandchildren, and one hundred and ten great-grandchildren, and before she died could say to her daughter, "Arise, daughter, and go to your daughter, for you daughter's daughter hath a daughter."

about the year 1725. He had two sons, Michael and Daniel, the last named betng the grandfather of our subject. Mr. Isgrig's father being born in the time of the Revolution gave him some opportunity of witnessing the consequences of the war. The Tories were troublesome, having burned his father's barn, and committing other depredations that caused fear and alarm to the family. After the war his father moved to the Alleghany mountains, eight miles above Fort Cumberland, and remained there until 1789, when the family removed to Maysville, Kentucky, going down the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers in a boat. The usual hardships of a pioneer life with the Indians as well as in many other respects, were experienced by the family, and as usual many tales of adventure and heroism could here be told. Suffice it to say Mr. Isgrig's father was a bold and daring man, capable of enduring what would have overthrown most men, and withal was a strict man in his family, observing the Christian duties of a father and husband himself In 1806 the family removed to Green township, Hamilton county, Ohio, where Daniel Isgrig, the subject of this sketch was married, in the year 1817, to Miss Elizabeth McMahcn.

In 1 83 1 he bought the present homestead, consisting of seventy-three acres, living for a time at Mt. Healthy, but at the above named time moved to the present homestead two miles north of Dent, on the Pleasant

In 1841 he was married the second time, his second wife's name being Mary Underwood, and from which union he was blessed with three children : Viola, the daughter of this wife, now Mrs. Marks has her abode with her father; Robert, a son, was nine months in the war of the Rebellion, and a regular nine years after the war. His third wife, Miss Seal, is still living; from this union he is the father of one child,' and of eighteen children in all.

Mr. Isgrig is of a hardy, robust nature, has seldom experienced sickness during his long, eventful life, and has been a character of some position and influence during his time. His education was necessarily limited, having mastered the rudiments of an education more by sheer contact with the problems of life than from instruction - nor in this do we find him unsuccessful. For thirty years and over he was the principal surveyor of his county, and during that period, but few roads or farm.s, and tracts of lands of his township have escaped from his glazing axe. He was also, many years, administrator, serving for different parties at different times. He was also for a number of years notary public, township trustee, etc., so that in summing up his life, we find him to have been a very useful and prominent citizen of his county.

Source changes here: from 1789 History of Hamilton County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, by Henry A. Ford and Kate B. Ford, published 1881; 3,213 words in this source stream.

Cheviot City

This is an old place, founded by an early settler named John Craig in 1818, and was incorporated March 2ist, of that year. It is pleasantly situated upon the hills west of the Mill Creek valley, on the Harrison turnpike, a mile and a half west of the township line. It had seventy-one inhabitants in 1830, and three hundred and twenty-five fifty years afterwards.

In his later years the Hon. Samuel Lewis, the famous philanthropist and educator, long of Cincinnati, resided near Cheviot, upon a farm he owned there. He continued his labors for humanity almost to the end of life, often preaching in the neighboring churches. He died upon his place here, after a long career of usefulness, July 28, 1854.

At Cheviot, onthe Fourth of July, 1832, there was a noteworthy celebration, Fenton's Cheviot infantry and Palmerton's Delhi infantry made a brave parade, escorting the orator of the day, General William Henry Harrison, to the Presbyterian church, where the exercises took place. Mr. Enoch Carson was reader of the declaration, and the Rev. Messrs. Williamson and Biddle were the chaplains of the day. Messrs. Price and Carpenter served as committeemen. The dinner was at Rush's hotel, where the popular old time song, "The Death of Warren," was given amid much applause.

At the celebration of 1841, at the same place, Judge Moore was president, Rev. George Cott, chaplain, W. J. Carson, reader, and Dr. J. D. Talbott, orator. The day seems to have gone off gallantly and pleasantly enough.

Dent

COVEDALE isa small place on the township line, one mile west of the southeast corner, half a mile northwest of Warsaw, and on the road connecting that place with the Five Corners. DENT is a village on the south fork of Taylor's creek and the Harrison turnpike, two miles and a half northwest of

Cheviot, and two miles from the northern and western township lines, respectively. It has about two hundred inhabitants. Here lives the Hon. Charles Reemelin, formerly member of Congress, who is noticed at considerable length in the chapter on the German element in Cincinnati, in the second division of this work.

Dry Ridge

isa hamlet of probably fifty inhabitants, on the Cleves turnpike, a mile west of Bridgetown, at the junction of that highway with thé road down the south fork of Taylor's creek. The Ebenezer church and a school-house are situated at this point.

Five Corners

This locality, with a little scatter of houses, is at the junction of three country roads, on the dividing line of sections eight and fourteen, a mile and a half south of Cheviot, and the same distance northwest of Covedale.

ri MOUNT AIRY includes a tract of more than three square miles, lying mostly in Mill Creek township, in the chapter devoted to whose history it will be more particularly noticed. Five hundred and seventy-nine of its acres are in this township.

St. Jacob'S

in the extreme north of the township, a mile and _ twothirds west of the northeast corner, and a mile from the Colerain pike, on the projected Cincinnati & Venice railroad, has a population of about one hundred, and a flourishing Catholic church and school.

This is a village near the extreme northwest corner of the. township, with fifty to seventy-five inhabitants, a church, and a school. It is on the Harrison turnpike and the main stream of Taylor's creek.

Weisenburgh is a small place inhabited chiefly by Germans, one mile south of St. Jacob's, and two miles and a half north of Cheviot, on the surveyed route of the Cincinnati & Venice railroad.

This considerable suburb covers, with residences and grounds, more or less thickly, nearly four sections, being the whole of sections two, three and eight, the eastern half of section nine, and part of section fourteen, being in all two thousand three hundred and twenty-five acres. Along the east line of section two, it immediately adjoins the city in its northwest part. The Cincinnati & Westwood narrow guage railway runs for about two miles through the southern part of the suburb.

The village was incorporated in 1868. Among its earlier mayors were John Gaines, 1869-70; F. H. Oehlmann, 1871; Thomas Wills, 1872-4. It had seven hundred and fifty-two inhabitants in 1880,

The Harvest Home

A few enterprising residents of Green township started the first Harvest Home organization in the county, which still maintains its annual meetings with great interest and success. On the Fourth of July, 1860, a little group of and N. Gregory, happening to meet in one of the central groves of the township, the suggestion of a regular Harvest Home was started by Mr. Fenton, and cordially acceded to by the others. Several townships had previously made spasmodic experiments in this direction, but had all proved failures after a short run. The foundations of the new Harvest Home were more strongly laid. Judge Robert Moore was secured as president, and dratted the original constitution of the Home. Mr. Samuel W. Carson, now vice-president, was also the first to fill this office. Mr. Joseph B. Boyd was secretary; Nehemiah Gregory, treasurer; S. W. Carson, R. H. Fenton, James Wise, Samuel Benn and James Veasey were directors. A very hopeful organization was thus effected. The next thing was to obtain memberships, at fifty cents apiece, and to this the principal officers of the Home addressed themselves. It was uphill business for a time, but finally good results were reached, especially by Mr. Fenton, who had obtained a large number of memberships in the city. The first gathering to celebrate the "Harvest Home" was held the next year, August 16, 1861, in Carson's grove, half a mile north of Cheviot, where most or all of. the annual reunions have been held. The Home has since never failed of its annual celebration, and has never experienced a wet or unfavorable day at the appointed time. The last meeting was in Carson's grove, August 25, 1880, when at least ten thousand people were present (it is said tnat there are never less than ten thousand at the meetings), and a number of excellent and interesting speeches were made. An exhibition of grain, vegetables, fruit, flowers, garden products, bread, butter and other articles grown or made in the township, is nowadays held in connection with the Home, with premiums as at the annual fairs, and the managers think of adding a series of prizes for stock, poultry, improvement in farming implements and other exhibits. The reunions are always accompanied with a bountiful banquet, dancing upon a platform erected for that purpose and owned by the society, and other amusements, Liquor is never sold at the celebrations, so far as is known. Mr. E. C. Reemelin is now president of the home. No political or sectarian matters are allowed in any way to enter into its operations.

Historical Notes

Green township has just twicé and a half the number of inhabitants it had a half century ago. The census of 1830 developed a population of one thousand nine hundred and eighty-five in the township; that of 1870 showed four thousand three hundred and fifty-six; of 1880, six thousand six hundred and eighty-nine.

At one time, in the early day, nearly the whole tract now coyered by Green township was sold at sheriff's sale for seventy-five dollars. After the original proprietorship of Bendinot & Sims, it was owned mainly by Generals Harrison and Findlay, and Judge Burnet, of Cincinnati, for whom it was sold out in parcels by the father of Col- 'onel E. T. Carson, now chief of police in that city.

Biographical Sketches Thomas Wills, Esq

This venerable gentleman, one of the best known citizens of the village of Cheviot in this township, is of Irish lineage on both sides of his family. His paternal grandfather, James Wills, immigrated from Ireland to the new world about the year 1780, with a brother, and settled in eastern Pennsylvania for a time, but shortly afterwards removed to the present Fleming county, Kentucky, upon or near the site of Flemingsburgh. He was among the earliest pioneers to this part of the "dark and bloody ground," and was driven from his improvements by the marauding savages as many as three times, once being obliged to remain away for the period of two years. When preparing for flight, Mr. Wills was compelled to bring all his farming utensils in which there was iron, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Indians. He had many troubles with the redskins, and for a long period could hardly consider his life secure at any moment. James Wills is believed to have been a native of county Down, Ireland, so also was the maternal grandfather, George Dowler. He came to this country in 1790, and likewise located in eastern Pennsylvania, where he died some years afterwards. His son, George Dowler, jr., was a man of marked ability, and became a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal church. When his family removed westward, he was kept behind in Wheeling, through his mother's fear of the Indians, and grew to manhood in that place. After the death of the ela@er Dowler, his widow married James Grimes, of eastern Pennsylvania. They removed to Hagerstown, in the same State, and remained there until 1795, when they came to Newtown, in Anderson township, Hamilton county, Ohio, being among the very first settlers of this region. days, in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, and died about four years after his immigration.

Samuel, son of James, and father of Thomas Wills, was born at the pioneer home near Flemingsburgh, Kentucky. He learned the trade of a stone-mason, and became proficient in all branches of the business. About 1808 he went to Newtown, in search of work, and there met Miss Mary, daughter of James Grimes and Mrs. Dowler Grimes, aforesaid, whom he married the next He died in 1822, when Thomas was but seven years old. About two years afterwards Mrs. Wills was united in marriage to Williarn Hatfield, a shoemaker at Newtown. Thomas was the third son of the previous union. . Upon the remarriage of his mother, he lived with his grandmother three years, and then returned home, where he learned the trade of shoemaking with his stepfather, and followed it in the paternal shop until the age of seventeen, when he left Newtown. In 1839 he removed to Cheviot, in Green township. Nine years after he was married to Miss Eliza Richardson, by whom he has had seven children, of whom three are still living. He continued the boot and shoe business and remained at it as long as he was able to work. He was soon called, however, to the performance of public duties, in which he was more or less engaged all the rest of his life. When he settled in Cheviot that region was almost entirely isolated, and material for official service was rather scarce; he was hence, in a manner, forced into prominent positions which he would not voluntarily have asked or accepted. For twenty-nine years he was a justice of the peace in this township, retaining remarkable popularity, and commanding general approval by the integrity and impartiality of his decisions. For thirtyone years, the entire period of a generation of the human race, he was postmaster at Cheviot. In 1865 he was chosen by his fellow citizens toa yet more responsible position, as director of the county infirmary, and was thrice reelected, serving in all, three terms in that position, with entire acceptance to his associates of the board and to his constituents. He then declined further service, on account of. increasing infirmities and disabilities; and has since declined to assume official duties. He died Sunday, February 27, 1881, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, leaving abundance of proof that the sunset of his life was as glorious and peaceful as had been the purity of his relations toward his fellow men.

Frank Frondorf

Frank Frondorf, an enterprising farmer, lives about two miles from Cheviot, Green township, on the Cleves turnpike. His farm consists of over two hundred acres of choice lands, which he has secured for a homestead, having bought the same in parts at different times as opportunity and business prosperity would permit.

His father, George Frank Frondorf, his wife Catharine, Elizabeth, their daughter, and four sons, Phillip, Frank, Christopher, and Henry - the youngest who died soon after their arrival - left Hesse Darmstadt in the year 1840, and after landing in New York made their way to the State of Iowa, where the father and part of the family remained.

Frank Frondorf came back to Ohio after a short stay of three months, and began life working for himself, remaining thereafter in Hamilton county. He was born the tenth of March, 1819; was about twenty-one years of age when he first began working for R. H. Fenton, who kept the tavern at the Seven Mile house. After a stay here of three years he worked about five years at the Buckeye house for Reid & Anderson, who were proprietors. During the second year of his stay at the last named place he became acquainted with Miss Mary Elizabeth Keelling, from Melle Hanover, who came to this country alone in the year 1842, arriving first in New Orleans, from there coming to Cincinnati, where she married Mr. Frondorf in the year 1846. She was born December 26, 1818. The young couple, after working two or three years longer in the hotel, added their pennies together and bought eighty acres of the present homestead, to which they added, at different times, from thirty to fifty acres, until finally the farm increased to two hundred and forty acres, the amount of which he owns at present. He also worked two years at the Mill Creek house. This was previous to going to the Buckeye hotel, and making in all several years service as a hired hand, by which he saved earnings sufficient to start him as a farmer.

After Mr. Frondorf moved to his farm the young couple began a system of labor and economy that laid the basis of their future wealth. They not only worked and economized, being sparing of their earnings, but they added improvements, from time to time, to their little home until now their beautiful place somewhat resembles a miniature town. They not only have an elegant mansion (the second one, the first burned down) for the rest and repose of themselves, but by a singular foresight, common only to the most industrious and thriving classes of society, have looked as closely after the wants and necessities of their stock and domestic brutes as to themselves.

George Frank-Frondorf, the father, lived in Iowa until 1856. His wife died in 1843. He was a shoemaker, and also owned a fine farm, but seemed never contented in America, and died in the seventy-third year of his age in the year 1856. The last two years of his life were spent with his son Frank in Ohio.

Mr. Frondorf has also been a useful member of society in various ways. He was the founder and chief supporter of the Catholic church in Cheviot, being not only the prime mover but a munificent giver until the church building was erected and the church established, having furnished the brick for the building himself. He is-the father of three children. The son has charge of the farm entire, Mr. Frondorf having retired from business altogether. One daughter is a member of the Sisters of Charity; the other remains at home.

Daniel Isgrig

Daniel Isgrig, of Dent, Green township, is one of the oldest residents of the county, having been born June 30, 1796, in Baltimore county, Maryland, and most of the time since which period has resided in the immediate vicinity of his present home. His father is of English and his mother of German descent. His father, Daniel, was born in Maryland, March 2, 1775, and died in Ripley county, Indiana, July 17, 1854. His mother, Rachel Barns, was the eldest daughter of John Barns; was born in Virginia, March 22,1760. She died in Ripley county, Indiana, August 16, 1854. The parents were both buried near Moor's hill, in the above. named county, where the father died in the eightieth year of his age. His widow was the mother of seventeen children, one hundred and twenty-three grandchildren, and one hundred and ten great-grandchildren, and before she died could say to her daughter, 'Arise, daughter, and go to your daughter, for you daughter's daughter hath a daughter." about the year 1725. He had two sons, Michael and Daniel, the last named being the grandfather of our subject. Mr. Isgrig's father being born in the time of the Revolution gave him some opportunity of witnessing the consequences of the war. The Tories were troublesome, having burned his father's barn, and committing other depredations that caused fear and alarm to the family. After the war his father moved to the Alleghany mountains, eight miles above Fort Cumberland, and remained there until 1789, when the family removed to Maysville, Kentucky, going down the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers in a boat. The usual hardships of a pioneer life with the Indians as well as in many other respects, were experienced by the family, and as usual many tales of adventure and heroism could here be told. Suffice it to say Mr, Isgrig's father was a bold and daring man, capable of enduring what would have overthrown most men, and withal was a strict man in his family, observing the Christian duties of a father and husband himself. In 1806 the family removed to Green township, Hamilton county, Ohio, where Daniel Isgrig, the subject of this sketch was married, in the year 1817, to Miss Elizabeth McMahon. In 1831 he bought the present homestead, consisting of seventy-three acres, living for a time at Mt. Healthy, but at the above named time moved to the present homestead two miles north of Dent, on the Pleasant

In 1841 he was married the second time, his second wife's name being Mary Underwood, and from which union he was blessed with three children: Viola, the daughter of this wife, now Mrs. Marks has her abode with her father; Robert, a son, was nine months in the war of the Rebellion, and a regular nine years after the war. His third wife, Miss Seal, is still living; from this union he is the father of one child, and of eighteen children in all.

Mr. Isgrig is of a hardy, robust nature, has seldom experienced sickness during his long, eventful life, and has been a character of some position and influence during histime. His education was necessarily limited, having mastered the rudiments of an education more by sheer contact with the problems of life than from instruction _-nor in this do we find him unsuccessful. For thirty years and over he was the principal surveyor of his county, and during that period, but few roads or farms, and tracts of lands of his township have escaped from his glazing axe. He was also, many years, administrator, serving for different parties at different times. He was also for anumber of years notary public, township trustee, etc., so that in summing up his life, we find him to have been a very useful and prominent citizen of his county: