Gasper Township (part 1 of 3)

Gasper Township

This is a fractional township, and prior to 18 - was embraced in Washington township, which was at first twelve miles long and six broad. Eaton was the official center of the township, and it was not long before there was a demand for a division of the territory and the establishment of a new township. This demand became popular and resulted in the shape of a petition urging that of the southern part of Washington township a new township be established. But the county commissioners were inclined to be conservative and the petitioners did not receive a favorable answer. 'Though for a time the project was an apparent failure, the cause survived. The people of the little township owe their independence to their importunity of one of the first settlers.

Gasper Potterf, living in the southern part of the long township, felt the necessity of a division. In addition to the argument that a new township would be a great convenience to the people, he urged that it would be a great saving of money to them, inasmuch as the growing wickedness and the consequent increase of illegitimate children, who would have to be supported at public expense, would greatly increase the township taxation. 'This master stroke of logic cut off twenty-four sections from the southern half of Washington township, and the commissioners immortalized the name of the persistent advovate by naming the new township Gasper, after the Christian name of Mr.. Potterf.

The township as it now stands is six miles from east to west, by four miles from north to south. It is bounded on the north by Washington township, on the east by Lanier, on the south by Somers and on the west by Dixon.

Physical Features

'The surface of the township is, in the main, level, the exceptions being the valleys of Seven Mile and Paint creeks, both of which streams flow from north to south through the township, the former through the eastern, and the the latter through the western part. A portion of the land adjacent to the streams is somewhat broken. Besides the streams named there are numerous tributary streams fed by springs, affording an abundance of water for stock.

Soil

This township has a variety of soil. The watercourses are bordered with.rich bottom land. The rolling land extending on either side is covered with a reddish clay limestone soil, while the level portions of the township are supplied with a black loam interspersed with a good clay soil.

The soil of the township produces bountiful crops of corn, wheat, oats, barley, flax, and grasses of every description. The productive capacity of the land has of late years been much increased by a judicious rotation of crops, and the growing of clover as a fertilizer. The fact is well remembered by the writer, that when the virgin soil first began to fail to produce remunerative crops under the old system of farming, a large number of farmers became discouraged, and believing that their land was about worn out, and that it would soon become worthless and sterile, many sold at a nominal price and went west in search of better land. Much of the land thus deserted produces better crops to-day than it did a quarter of a century ago, and no doubt the productiveness will increase if the system of cultivation continues to improve.

Owing to the good natural drainage, this township is peculiarly free from the more malignant types of fever. Malarial and bilious diseases seldom occur, and the township has a reputation for the general good health of its citizens.

Timber

Originally the township was heavily timbered with poplar, oak, walnut, ash, hard maple, beach, and a great variety of other trees. Although these heavy forests have fallen victims to the woodman's axe, there are still considerable areas of woodland and many majestic poplars are still standing.

In earlier days there was a heavy undergrowth of spice wood, prickly ash, Indian arrow, and leather wood. All of these shrubs were useful to the pioneers, although the grubbing and picking of them required about onethird of the labor of clearing the forests. The prickly ash was a medicine for bilious attacks; the spicewood was in universal use for the making of tea; Indian arrowwood was extensively used by the settlers, as well as by -

Indian bowmen, and the leatherwood was extensively used in the manufacture of primitive harness. The primeval forest teemed with game of all kinds, especially bear, deer, and wild turkeys. These furnished the supplies of meat, and the skin of the bear and deer furnished excellent material for wearing apparel.

The Pioneers Of Gasper

It has generally been thought that the first settler in this township was Gasper Potterf, after whom the township was named, but after a careful investigation the writer finds that Silas Dooley, sr., settled on Paint creek, in the western part of the township, in 1805, while Potterf located on Seven Mile creek, in the eastern part, in 1806. We will therefore, begin with Silas Dooley, sr. The writer gleans most-of his facts respecting the settlement of Mr. Dooley from an interview held with a friend a few years prior to the death of the aged pioneer, and published at the time in the Eaton Register, February 20, 1873.

Silas Dooley, sr., was born in a blockhouse in Madison county, Kentucky, March 8, 1786. He was the seventh child of Moses Dooley, who emigrated with his family - a wife and five children - in 1781, from Bedford county, Virginia, a distance of five hundred miles, the mother carrying her youngest child in her arms and walking most of the way, having no other way of travelling, except on pack horses. The route led through mountainous country, and numerous dangers lurked in their pathway, but despite the hardships endured they arrived safely in Kentucky. The savage barbarities of the Indians compelled the settlers to live in forts strongly garrisoned. The Indian massacres of 1782-3 disheartened the settlers very much, and they longed for liberty Moses Dooley, chafing under the long confinement and apprehensive of the safety of the morals of his children, who were often thrown into bad company, concluded at all hazards to move to a farm.

In 1805 Moses Dooley, with his son, Silas, accompanied by Jacob Railsback, started for Ohio in search of land. They came to Springfield, now Springdale, Hamilton county, Ohio, and spent the first night with Elder Thompson, a Presbyterian minister. As Mr. Thompson was at that time in need of a hand Silas was hired for one month.

On Monday morning the company started for Seven Mile, arriving on the next Sunday at the house of John Pottenger, which was located about a mile and a half north of the present site of Camden. They made his home their headquarters during the three or four days they were prospecting for suitable locations for settlement. Mr. Dooley chose one hundred and sixty acres of land on Paint creek, now owned principally by John Overholser. Jacob Railsback selected a quarter section on Seven Mile, in Gasper township, which land is now owned by the Huffmans. The party then turned their faces homeward, Silas stopping at Springfield to fulfil his engagement with Elder Thompson. His work was rail splitting, at ten dollars per month. With a part of the first money received he paid for his axe.

Moses Dooley and Jacob Railsback went on to Cincinnati, and then éntered the land they had selected. The price was two dollars per acre, to be paid in specie, one fourth in hand and the residue in three annual instalments. The payment of sixteen dollars gave the settlers the refusal of the land for forty days, and a second payment of eighty dollars secured it for two years.

After finishing his job of rail splitting Silas Dooley came back to Seven Mile and engaged to clear two acres of land one foot and under, for James Crawford, commonly called "Big Jimmie." He also cleared two acres for John Pottenger.

Now comes the turning point in Silas Dooley's life. Homesick, out of work, without money and poorly clad, he became discouraged and resolved to go home to his native Kentucky. Having no other means of accomplishing the two hundred and fifty miles that lay between himself and his relatives, he resolved to walk. Just as he was getting under way he met Captain David E. Hendricks, who immediately hired him to clear six acres of land, for which he was to receive three dollars and fifty cents per acre. This clearing is now occupied by the town of Camden. The same year Robert Runyon put the cleared land in corn. At the same time Captain Hendricks had three other hands chopping and splitting rails, viz: Isaac Wiseman, James Wright, and Thomas Combs, a half Indian. The chopping went steadily on until the deer became so tame that they would browse off the tops of the trees while the men would be cutting up the trunks. They worked in different places for Captain Hendricks, and cleared part of the ground on which Eaton now stands. Messrs. Wiseman and Dooley cut down a giant poplar tree on the lot now occupied by the Presbyterian church. Thus was his time occupied until the arrival of his father, mother and brother, David, who came toward the close of the year

The family was soon busily engaged in making the farm previously entered habitable. "The first house consisted of a camp hut, constructed of round poles, enclosing three sides and leaving one end open for the fire in front. They had a skillet and a Dutch oven, in which they boiled and baked, and made sugar. 'Their farm was well stocked with sugar trees, and the largest and best of them were tapped, and a considerable quantity of sugar made by Mrs. Dooley. She tried the Indian plan of making sugar, viz: To allow the sugar water to freeze and to throw away the successive coats of ice that would form on the surface of the liquid until nothing but the finest quality of molasses would remain. She made sugar.also by making a clay furnace, and then inverted the skillet lids and baked a clay rim around them, in which she boiled the sugar water. By dint of hard labor the family felled the timber, picked and cleared away the brush, and thus prepared six acres of land for the reception of corn, which they constantly attended, and managed tolay by. A few days after the noted eclipse, which occurred in June, 1806, they went to James Crawford's and held a Thanksgiving meeting. After this they started back to Kentucky to remove the balance of their family; and in August of the same year they got started, bringing their teams and a number of cattle with them. They were accompanied by one or two neighbor families. Upon their arrival they cut and hewed the logs for their cabin. The Indians often came from Fort St. Clair, and camped by the big sulphur springs on the farm of Silas Dooley, afterwards owned by his son, Hayden.

In the spring of 1807 Silas Dooley entered a quarter section on Paint creek, three and a half miles southwest of Eaton. In that same year he cleared five acres of this land, and raised thereon a good crop of corn, despite the thefts of the squirrels. The following winter he was sick, and did nothing until spring, when he broke up his cleared ground again and prepared to plant. But at this junction Silas stopped work, and Cornelius, Katie and Polly VanAusdal, and perhaps Sallie Curry, were the guests invited to the wedding, for Silas Dooley wouldn't stop work for anything short of his own wedding. On the fifth of May, 1808, he was married to Johanna Westerfield, the daughter of Samuel Westerfield. The infair was held on the sixth at his father's, and the honeymoon was spent in planting corn. Then he set to work to construct a round log cabin, fourteen feet square, with a puncheon floor and large, open fireplace, and he testified that there were spent the happiest days of his life.

In the War of 1812 Mr. Dooley was a member of Captain David E. Hendricks' rifle company, which was not subject to the draft, as the militia volunteered in a body. It was a full company of sixty-four men, rank and file, and was raised in the Paint and Upper Seven Mile settlements. Many families were thus left destitute of male help, but the parents, wives, and daughters put their hands to the plow, rolled logs, and carried and burned brush.

Mr. Dooley, sr., traveled extensively through parts of Indiana and Ohio while engaged in the ministry of the Gospel. In the winter of 1822 he was suddenly smitten with winter fever, and sending for Silas and George, he told them of his approaching death, and requested George to take his measure for his coffin, which was to be made similar to-that of his wife. George replied, "Oh father, I can't do that!" "The old gentleman told him to measure Silas, who was of the same height as his father. Moses Dooley soon breathed his last, and in order to get the coffin there in time, secured the assistance of the late William Caster. Silas Dooley, died July 8, 1877, aged ninety-one years and four months. Of his family of five sons and two daughters, all are dead save Silas Dooley, jr, who lives on the home place.

Hayden W. Dooley was born in Preble county, in 1814, and in 1836 was married to Adaline A. Runyon, born in 1817, and died in 1872. They had two children. Marquis L. was born October 16, 1837, and Mary E. was born December 7, 1838.

Silas Dooley, jr., the youngest son of Silas Dooley, the pioneer of Gasper township, was born on the home place, where he now resides. In 1846 he was married to Isa-. bel, daughter of Alexander and Rebecca McCracken, who settled in Preble county about 1818. To Mr. and Mrs. Dooley have been born two children, one of whom, Emma, wife of William Morton, is still living. Mr. Dooley owns a farm of one hundred and sixty-two acres of land adjoining his residence.

Early Incidents

Ordinarily the daily life of the pioneers were made up principally of hard work, plenty of good, though plain, fare, and sound, invigorating sleep. In the main their life was uneventful. True little things occurred every day, which, if they occurred nowadays, would cause each particular hair to stand on end; and at night the howl of hungry wolves approached the very doors of the settlers' cabins, and such sounds would destroy modern nerves ; but to the brave, hardy, and fearless pioneer, these daily occurrences were scarcely noticed. In those days nerves were knit into muscles, and cowardice was almost unknown.

Occasionally, however, little events happened which were worthy of pioneer notice. The death ofa settler, a bear hunt, the visits of Indians, a big meeting, and the like called for more than passing notice. 'The experiences of the pioneers were much alike, and what happened to one man was a characteristic event in the history of all the settlers.

On this account, in narrating a few noteworthy incidents, we select some portions from the life history of a representative pioneer, and as Silas Dooley was the first man to make a permanent settlement his eventful career

Hayden W. Dooley, son of Silas Dooley, the pioneer, was born in Gasper township, Preble county, Ohio, September 1, 1814. He was brought up on his father's farm, and enjoyed no other opportunities for the acquirement of an education than the district school of his neighborhood afforded; but possessing a natural energy of character, and making the most of such advantages as he had, he qualified himself to occupy, as he did subsequently, important positions in the county and State. He was president of the Agricultural Society of Preble county for a number of years, and in 1856 was elected a representative to the State legislature and served one term. He was well and favorably known in the county, and was universally respected for his uprightness of character. He was an active and leading member of Friendship (Universalist) church, from its earliest organization, and his life was consistent with his religious professions.

He was united in marriage to Adaline A. Runyon, daughter of Robert Runyon, October 27, 1836, and settled where his daughter now lives. He resided there until his death, which took place May 31, 1874. His They had but two children, Marquis L., born October 26, 1837 (died February 25, 1865), and Mary E., born December 7, 1838, who occupies the homestead.

Silas Dooley, Sr

So much has been written in another place in this history concerning the pioneer experiences of the subject of this sketch that it will be unnecessary to narrate them here.

The Dooleys were formerly quite numerous in Preble county, but at the present time their number is comparatively few. Moses Dooley, the oldest representative of the fnmily in Preble county, removed, in the year 1781, from Bedford county, Virginia, to Madison county, Kentucky. In 1805 he emigrated to this county and located a quarter section of land on Paint creek, in what is now Gasper township Moses Dooley died in Wayne county, Indiana, January 12, 1822, and his wife on the home farm, January 7, 1819. They had a family of seven sons and three daughters. Abner, the eldest, was an associate judge of common pleas of the county for several years; Reuben was a minister of the Christian denomination;George, Moses, Thomas, and Silas were farmers; David died at seventeen. The daughters - Mary, Nancy, and Jane, were the wives respectively of Samuel Kirkum, Thomas Harris, and Richard Leeson. After their removal to Kentucky the family were compelled, owing to the depredations of the Indians, to tive in a block-house, and there Silas was born, on the eighth day of March, 1786. His paternal ancestors were Welsh and his mother,

Silas came to Ohio with his father. He hired out as a hand for some time, and in 1807 entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on Paint creek, Gaspe: township - the northeast quarter of section eighteen. His son Silas still has the patent for this land which was issued December 30, 1811. On the fifth day of May, 1808, Mr. Dooley was married to Johannah, daughter of Samuel Westerfield, who lived on the pike east of Eaton. Mr. Dooley was born December 2, 1785. The marriage license of Silas Dooley and Johannah Westerfield was without doubt the first document of the kind ever issued in Preble county. The Westerfields were of Dutch descent, having originally come from Holland. Samuel Westerfield was born in New York. When about seventeen years of age he removed with his parents to New Jersey. While upon the journey the father and some of the children were massacred by the Indians. His mother and two children besides himself escaped. He came to Preble county about the year 1807 or 1808, having for some time previous lived in Clermont county, Ohio. The next day after their wedding Mr. and Mrs. Dooley returned to his father's in Gasper, and the following day they began work in real earnest, Mrs. Dooley helping her husband in his corn planting. They soon moved into a cabin of their own, and they both spent the remainder of their lives on the farm where they first settled. Mr. Dooley's subsequent life was an uneventful one. His occupation was one which in his day required unceasing toil, the practice of economy and self-denial. He was a man of excellent character, lived 2 blameless life, possessed the repect due to such a character and such a life, and passed away peacefully, July 8, 1877. His wife died April r4, 1859. They had seven children: Catharine, Reuben, Hayden W., Mary, Isaac H., Warren B., and Silas. Catharine was born February 5, 1809, married born July 11, 1811, died in 1841, in Schuyler county, Illinois; Hayden was born September, 1814, died in 1874. Mary, died in infancy; she was born May 12, 1817; Isaac, born May 5, 1818, died September 20, 1858; Warren, born May 25, 1821, died December 7, 1850; Silas, the only servivor, and now living on the homestead in Gasper, was born May 2, 1825; he was married September 27, 1846, to Miss Isabel McCracken, who was born August 15, 1826, in Washington township, Preble county, Ohio. They have had two children, Emma I., wife of William Morton, and a son who died in 1850, aged three months.

The first death of which there is any remembrance that took place in the Seven Mile settlement after the arrival of Mr. Dooley was that of an infant child of William and Sarah Sellers. The burial was on the place ship. James Crawford made the little coffin of puncheons, and it fell to the lot of Silas Dooley to dig the grave. While engaged at this work there came an Indian and two squaws, who appeared strangely interested, staying while the digging was going on, and watching with the closest attention all the details of the burial, never once speaking a word.

The first marriage license issued in Preble after it was severed from Montgomery county, was procured at Eaton by Silas Dooley, though many were married previously, having procured licenses at Dayton. This first license, issued about the first day of May, 1808, authorized the solemnization of the marriage of Silas Dooley and Hannah Westerfield, the particulars of which marriage we noted in another place.

In 1806 a Mr. Enoch and son came from the Big Miami to the farm of Isaac Enoch, now occupied by Robert Runyon, that they might fatten their hogs upon the abundant mast. The son was left in charge, and one day suddenly took sick with something like a fit. As her husband was from home, Mrs. Enoch called upon the Dooleys for help. The sick boy lay in convulsions, and there was no doctor nearer than Franklin. It was de cided to send for Big Jim Crawford, who had acquired some reputation as a practical "medicine" man. Silas Dooley, though bare foot and thinly clad, ran the distance of three and one-half miles to Crawford's, over frozen ground pretty well covered with snow. Mr. Enoch who came home during the day started immediately for the boy's father and Dr. DeBoyce. They travelled all night, and a dark one it was, with nothing but a blazed path to guide them through the forest But they only arrived in time to see the sick one breathe his last.

In the autumn of 1806 a family encamped near these springs and were very friendly with their white neighbors, who treated them kindly, giving them pumpkins and other articles of farm produce. The Indian one day, after killing a bear and a deer, thought that he would return the compliment. He came to the house and enquired for the old man, and when Silas told him that he was not at home, the Indian said, "maybe you have some meat; me go show you." 'They started back along a cow-path aud came to the place where Abraham Overholser's hous ow is, here he had killed and dressed in good order a acct, and had taken all but the forequarters which he gave to Silas, who tied the quarters together and swung them across his shoulder preparatory to the homeward trip. The Indian made all manner of fun of the pale face's way ^ carrying a load, and while leading the way toward the house took particular pains to lead him under a big hornets' nest. The hornets commenced aggressive operations, and as they swarmed about him, the now thoroughly aroused Silas ran for dear life, never letting go of the deer meat upon his shoulders. The Indian stood off at a safe distance, convulsed with laughter, and at the close of the race innocently asked: "What you call um?" But Silas could take a joke even if there was in it a bitter sting.

At another time Mr. Dooley went over on Twin creek, some eight miles distant, to purchase some bacon, for which he paid all the money he had in the world. The weather being very warm, the fat meat came very near melting before he reached home. Arriving at the house about dark, he hung the meat against the cabin to cool before putting it away, and went to bed feeling rich in the possession of meat in August, - a rare luxury - but entirely forgetting to secure said meat. In the morning the meat was cool, but it was gone, and Mr. Dooley considered it one of the heaviest losses he had ever sustained.

Gasper Potterf, sr, was a native of Virginia, and was born in 1754. He was married to Susannah Ridenour in 1784, and settled on section number twentysix, of Gasper township, in 1806, being the second settler. He was a man of great energy and industry, and was of German descent. In 1808 he built the first mill of the township, on Seven Mile creek. This rude and simple structure was of great utility to the pioneers, doing the principal part of their grinding for several years, and had to be run day and night to accommodate its customers; the bolting had to be done by hand. In connection with this mill he also erected a distillery about the same time, and, doing his own grinding, this was a source of great profit to him. During the War of 1812 the demand for whiskey at the forts advanced the price to one dollar per gallon. The profits of this enterprise enabled him to purchase large tracts of Government lands, and also to erect, some time before the year 1820, a large and well equipped mill - which is still standing, though idle - which did a very large business in its day. The building is still in a pretty good state of preservation. In addition to this he also built and run a saw-mill, which did a very large business. In addition to the foregoing he for many years carried on the farming business on a farm of some three hundred acres, and when the infirmities incident to his strength and energy began to fail, he made a partial distribution of his property among his children. Prior to this he had, however, given each of his children one hundred and sixty acres of land.

His first wife died November 7, 1831, aged sixty-five years, and forty-seven years after her marriage. The fruit of this marriage was thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters, all of whom are now dead except one daughter, who lives in Indiana. There are quite a number of grandchildren still living in the township.

Some years after the death of his first wife he married a widow lady by the name of Nancy Jane Longnecker, by whom he had three children, two sons and one daughter, The elder son, who was named for his father, married to Julia Leech who was born in 1836. Eight of their ten children are living. Jacob Leech died in 1880, and his widow is still living with her daughter, Mrs. Potterf.

Jacob Potterf, born in 1786, emigrated to Ohio from Virginia in 1806, and settled in section sixteen, Gasper township He died in 1862, on the farm in section thirty-four. He married Christina Brown, born in North Carolina in 1793, who died in 1878. Her parents settled ata very early day in Harrison township, on the land now occupied by the village of Euphemia., Of.their nine children, four are living.

Isaac R. Potterf, born on the home place in 1821, in 1844 married Miss A. C. Campbell, who was born in Delaware in 1821, and came with her parents to Gasper township in 1829. To them have been born four children,three of whom are living: Lydia F., wife of Jacob A. Guild, lives in Camden; Emma M. and Ella L. are at home. They took a child to raise.

Catharine, the eldest daughter of Jacob Potterf, married Thomas F. Stephens who resides in Gasper township. Elizabeth is the wife of Henry Neff, of Camden.

John Railsback was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in the year 1783, and married Hannah Conger, who was born in Kentucky in 1787. In 1806 they settled in Gasper township, Preble county. He entered land in section eighteen, before he brought his wife from Kentucky. He built a log cabin, and commenced clearing his land. "

Their son, Isaac C. Railsback, was born in Kentucky in 1806, and when but three months old, came to Gasper township with his parents. He married Elizabeth M. Runyon, who was born in 1841, and died in 1878, one year after the death of her husband.

Isaac and Elizabeth Railsback had five children, two of whom are living: Martha A., widow of James M. Davis, resides in Washington township, and Julia F. Mc- Clanahan, wife of Thomas F. McClanahan, lives on the old farm.

Robert Runyon, born in Kentucky in the year 1785, emigrated from that State to Preble county in 1810, and settled in this township, where he died in 1873. He was twice married, first to Elizabeth Burns, and second to Mary Slayback who was born in 179r, and died in 1867. Wilson, the only surviving child of the first marriage, lives in Eaton. Three children of the second marriage are living. A son, Harvey, resides in Richmond, Indiana, and two daughters live in this county - Mary Runyon in Eaton, and Sarah, widow of William N. Duggins, in Dixon township. Mrs. Duggins was born in 1829, and was married at the age of twenty, to her husband (now deceased) who was born in 1824. He died in

The next in order of the pioneers is Stephen Allbaugh, who is a native of Maryland, and who came to Gasper township 1n 1812, and has resided here continuously ever since. He is now in the ninetieth year of his age, although he has been somewhat afflicted more or less for several years; but is, at this writing, enjoying good health. In 1814 he married Nancy Potterf, daughter of Gasper Potterf. They have had eight children - three sons and five daughters, all living but one son, who died in Iowa. One son and two daughters are living in Gasper township, two daughters in Eaton, and one son in Indiana. Mr. Allbaugh has been engaged in farming, and in former years carried on the distilling business. He often speaks of the superior quality of whiskey made in an early day, when the practice of its adulteration was unknown, and when delirium tremens were never heard of. He is sincerely of the opinion that copper distilled whiskey is not injurious to health, and can refer to men who for many years made a daily use of whiskey without mental or physical injury, but thinks persons had better abstain from using the drugged whiskey thrown upon the market now.

Last spring, when the weather was yet disagreeable and he had been confined to a sick bed and under medical treatment for a long time, troubled with a cough and heart disease, he had the convicton that it was his duty to have the ordinance of baptism adniinistered by immersion. So he sent for the ministers of the Dunker church with a view of discharging that duty. - The preachers came and the time for immersion arrived. The water of the creek being chilly Mr. Allbaugh's neighbors held a council, believing that in his feeble condition immersion would prove fatal; they thereupon procured a large bath box and filled it with water, intending to take the chill off by putting in some warm water. Finaly the preacher came apd council was called, and it was finally agreed to submit the whole matter to him. He quickly decided to go to the creek. So he was placed in a large arm chair, surrounded by bedding and placed in a spring wagon, taken to the creek and immersed, and taken to his home, and improved more rapidly than he had done at any other time. This, perhaps, may be taken as an evidence that a determined will has a great influence on our physical organization.

The subject of this sketch has resided in the township sixty-eight years. His wife died September 9, 1874, aged eighty years and twenty days.

Shortly after these pioneers came, the township was rapidly settled, among whom may be named the Jones family, the Kincaid family, the Peters and Wilkinson families in the western part of the township, also the Baily family. In the central part may be named the Huffman family, the Stephens family, and the Shideler family. In the eastern part of the township may be named the Sayler family, who came in 1814 (Abraham Sayler now lives on the tract of land npon which his father settled in 1814), the Burns family, the Shewman family, the Barnhart family, the Brower family, the Young family, and the Yost family. Some of them are further mentioned.

The principal part of these families settled on government land, and are properly classed among the original settlers. There might be many other families named of original settlers, who, with their posterity, left the township many years since, who sold their lands to a second

Armstead Huffman was one of the early settlers of Gasper township, and a prominent, useful man. He was born in Virginia in 1788, and was an early emigrant to Kentucky, from Byron county, from which State, he came to Preble county after marrying Nancy Burton. He located on the farm in Gasper, now owned by Porter Webb, when all around was still forest and game plenty. He died in 1859, surviving his wife a quarter of a century. Their children were Ambrose, Thomas M., Sally (Mattox), Overton, Morgan, Nathan, Nancy (White), Mary (Stephens) Alzina (Campbell) and James. Of these, Ambrose, Sally, Overton, Mary, and James are deceased. Morgan and Nancy reside in Eaton, Nathan in Dixon township, Alzina in Gasper township, and Thomas M., the oldest of the family, living in Camden. He was born in 1808, and was consequently seven years of age when his parents settled in Gasper, and saw much of the manners of pioneer life. He resided upon the old home farm until 1866, when he removed to his present residence. Mr. Huffman was married in 1831 to Annie Conger, who died in 1877. J. A. Huffman, a prominent citizen of Camden, was their only son, and was born in 1835.

Mary Taylor was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1810, and in 1813 came with her parents to Preble county, and settled in Gasper township, on the land now owned by Job Shinn. Samuel Stephens and Rebecca Bailey were her parents. Mrs. Stephens emigrated from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, Ohio and at an early day came to Butler county. Mr. Stephens served six months in the War of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens were the parents of eleven children. Their daughter, Mary, married James B. Taylor in 1842, who was born in 1809, and died in 1854. They had three children, two daughters and one son. Margaret Elizabeth lives in Eaton, and Bailey L. Taylor resides at home. Mrs. Taylor owns fifty-five acres of land in section sixteen.

Christian Sayler was born in Frederick county, Maryland, June 5, 1785, and subsequently removed with his brothers, Daniel, Martin, and John, to Franklin county, Virginia. In 1806, he and his brothers, and their widowed mother, emigrated to Preble (then Montgomery)

` county, Ohio. In 1811 he was married to Mary, daughter of Samuel Teal, also of Franklin county, Virginia, He settled in 1814 in what is now Gasper township (then Washington), in section thirty-six, where his son, Abraham T. now lives. At that time the region round about him was an unbroken forest. He continued to live there until the day of his death, which occurred on his sixtyseventh birthday, June 5, 1852. His widow is still living with her son, Abraham, on the old homestead, at the advanced age of ninety-one. She was born in Frederick county, Maryland, September 11, 1789. They had a family of nine children, four of whom are now living, as follows: Abraham T., on the old homestead; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Shewman; Joseph, and Maria, wife of John W. Allen, all in Monroe township.

Abraham was born in Lanier township, March 5, 1812, and was married to Elizabeth Rinehard in 1838. He has three children living and six deceased.

In 1815, Abraham Overholser settled in this township, having emigrated from Virginia, where he was born in 1805. He resided in Gasper until his death in 1877, and was a worthy citizen. He served as township trustee two terms. His widow, who is still living, was, before her marrirge, Lydia Brower, and was born in 1813. Her family at present consists of the following named children: Sarah, widow of George Runyon, residing in Monroe township; Barbara, wife of Robert Harris, in this township; Lovina, widow of John W. Blair, living with her mother; John H., who married Mary A. Bennett, daughter of Elijah and Lucinda Bennett, and isa farmer of Dixon township. To them were born three children, two of whom are living.

Charles and Elizabeth Wilkinson emigrated to Preble county from Kentucky, at an early day. Their youngest son, Curtis H., was born in 1827, and in 1852 was married to Sarah Jane, daughter of Christopher and Catharine Wysong, of Gasper township. She was born in 1831. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have been born eleven children, of whom six are living, viz: Redmon E., Alice E., wife of Jacob H. Shideler, of Washington township; Catharine Eleanor, Ida B., and Minnie M.

There are four hundred and sixty-six acres of land at Mr. Wilkinson's residence, and one hundred and fortyseven acres in Gratis; all under a good state of cultivation.

William Campbell was born in the State of Delaware, in 1793. In 1815 he married Lavina McCabe, who was born in 1795. In 1827 Mr. and Mrs. Campbell emigrated from Delaware, intending to go to Illinois. Their settlement in Gasper township was an accident. When they arrived at Eaton Mr. Campbell learned that he was in Preble, and thereupon determined to visit an old friend of his who lived two miles south of Eaton, near where the old seven mile bridge now stands. While enjoying the hospitality of his friend he was delayed by a spell of sickness, and by the time he recovered he had decided to settle in the neighborhood, and thus Preble county gained one of its most substantial citizens. He settled on the farm in section fourteen, where Jehu B. Campbell has resided ever since his father's settlement. William Campbell died in 1860, and his wife died in 1879. Five of their children lived to maturity, three of whom are still living. Jehu B., the only one living in this county, was born in Delaware in 1823, and was married in 1847 to Alzina Huffman, daughter of Armstead Huffman. She was born in Gasper township in 1827. Five of their seven children are living, viz.: Zippora, Nancy L., wife of Dr. Porter Webb; Sallie C., wife of Isaac Young; Dr. William A., married Minnie Surface, and practices in Eaton; and Thomas H. Mr. Campbell has filled all the township offices, and from 1852 to 1868 was justice of the peace. Inthe year 1873 he was elected

Jonathan Flora settled in Gasper township in the year 1831, having emigrated from Franklin county, Virginia. He was born in 1792, and died in 1863. His widow, whose maiden name was Mary Bowman, is still living in Dixon township. She was born in Franklin county, Virginia, in 1796. They had a family of ten children, namely: Hannah, deceased, was the wife of David Spitler; Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of Ahraham Cooper; Susan, wife of Benjamin Cooper, of Dixon township; Catharine, wife of John Studebaker; Nancy, who died young; Peter, who died in 1865; John, living in Dixon township, who married Mary Potterf; Mary, wife of Thomas Charles, in Dixon township; Jonathan F., residing in Eaton; Christian, born in 1824, in Franklin county, Virginia, now living in this township, married (1848) Sarah Potterf, granddaughter of the pioneer, Gasper Potterf. She was born in 1830, in Gasper township.

Levi Mann was born in Gasper township in 1830, and in 1873 married Catharine Rogan, who was born in England in 1855, and came to this country in 1871. To them have been born four children, all of whom are living. Mr.and Mrs. Rogan reside in Gasper township. Mr. Mann owns one hundred and sixty acres of land.

John F. Huffman was born in 1831. His people emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky, and thence to Ohio at an early day. Allen Huffman's wife was Nancy Mc- Campbell. John F. Huffman was married to Susan, daughter of Alfred Bell, of Somers township They have five children - Henry R., Charles F., Mary J., James, and Jennie, the two latter being twins. Mr. Huffman owns a well-improved farm of two hundred and sixty acres of land.

T. F. McClanahan came to Preble county from Champaign county, Ohio. In 1869 he, was married to Mrs. Juliet L. Hugget, widow of James E. Hugget, by whom she had two children - Vestilla and Georgie E. Mrs. McClanahan is the daughter of John and Hannah (Conger) Railsback, who were both born in Kentucky, the former in 1783 and the latter in 1787. They were married in 1805, and in the fall of the following year came to Preble county and settled on the farm of one hundred and eighty acres now occupied by Mr. McClanahan. Mr. Railsback died in the spring of 1873, and his wife survived him five years, dying in 1878.

John B. Williams emigrated from New Jersey to Butler county, Ohio, as early as 1814. He died in 1851, aged sixty-three years. His son, John S., the youngest of nine children, born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1829, married in 1852 Susan Litehiser, who was born in 1831, and moved to Preble county in 1863, settling in Gasper township. He has five children - Joseph E., William H. S., Charles B., Mary A., and Rosella. Joseph E. married Mary Aukerman in 1876, and has one child, John A. Miss Alice is by profession a school teacher, having commenced in Washington township when only sixteen. She taught the New Lexington school in the spring of 1879, and afterwards in Gasper township, where she is now teaching.

emigrated from that State to Ohio many years ago, and settled near West Alexandria. The former died in 1852 and the latter is still living in Camden. They had ten children; eight are living, six in this county. Henry, their first born, was born near West Alexandria in 1832, and in 1861 was married to Ellen Cosbey, the youngest daughter of Thomas and Anna Cosbey, who were old pioneers of Gasper township. To Mr. and Mrs. Early have been born three children - E va May, Clarence B., and a child that died in infancy. Mr. Early is the miller at Barnet's mill, where he has been for nine years. He is a miller by trade, and has always been engaged in the milling business. He has lived on his present farm, in section twenty-six, for twelve years.

John D. Campbell was born in Gasper township in 1846. In 1865 he married Miss Nancy M. Kelley, who was born in Washington township in 1845, on the farm now owned by J. C. Kelley. To them was one child born, in 1866 - Nancy A. Campbell - who died in 1867. Mr. Campbell owns ninety-one acres of land in section twenty-one of Gasper township.

Social And Industrial Habits Of The Pioneers

The dependence of the pioneers on each other for assistance in raising houses, barns, rolling logs and harvesting crops of small grain, when it had to be cut with a sickle, was such as to produce the finest social relations, and the man who would have refused his neighbor assistance when needed would have been looked upon as entirely unworthy of respect, and would have received the contempt of the entire community. It was not an uncommon occurrence for fifty, and sometimes one hundred men to meet for the purpose of raising those large log barns that were then in use, but have now passed away.

When clearing up a farm it was customary for the owner to cut or burn the trees into convenient length for rolling, then invite his neighbors to assist in rolling them into log heaps for burning. Sometimes when the company of men was large enough to divide into two companies, two of the most energetic men of the crowd would be selected and entitled captains, who would proceed to divide the crowd into two companies, and divide the territory to be rolled into equal parts, and then the rush to work would commence, one division striving to outwork the other.

When harvest came on a counsel was held to learn whose grain needed cutting first. That question settled, all hands met and cut it, and continued in :his way until all was cut in the neighborhood, and frequently from twenty to twenty-five men could be seen in a wheat field. When grain was sown in corn ground the space between the rows of corn was termed "a land" and constituted "a through" to be cut by each man, and sometimes an expert reaper could, by the assistance of a boy, who was called a gouger, cut two of these "throughs," and was, therefore, entitled to double wages. The writer often acted in the capacity of gouger on a "land" with his father.

Stephen Allbaugh, Sr

This venerable gentleman, now aged nearly ninety years, is one of the oldest citizens and pioneers of the county. He was born in the town of Liberty, Frederick county, Maryland, on the tenth day of March, 1791. He was the third child and second son in a family of thirteen children. When about fourteen years of age he removed with his parents to Blair county, Pennsylvania. He enjoyed but meagre educational advantages, attending but a few weeks in the winter such schools as existed in those early days. In the spring of 1812, accompanied by another young man, he started out to seek his fortune in the "far west," as Ohio was then regarded. He came on foot to Pittsburgh, thence down the Ohio on a flat-boat to the mouth of the Scioto, thence on foot to Dayton. Soon after his arrival there he found his way to an uncle near Winchester, Preble county, where for some time he made his home. While living there he erected for Henry Young the first two story log house in that vicinity. In the spring of 1814 he was engaged by Gasper Potterf, of Gasper township, to build him a barn. 'This was a large log structure, requiring the entire summer to complete it. He received for this job two hundred dollars, making day's wages of about one dollar per day. While employed at this work he formed the acquaintance of his employer's daughter, Nancy Jane, to whom he was married in September, 1814. He built him a log cabin on one hundred and sixty acres, just east of where he now lives, and moved into iton Christmas day. He resided there until 1827, when he erected the brick dwelling in which he now lives. Mr. Allbaugh has lived a quiet, uneventful but-industrious life. He experienced the various hardships which fell to the lot of the pioneers, but his memory, which is uncommouly clear, reverts to those times with a lively interest, and even pleasure. He is a man of large frame and remarkable vital power. Although nearly four score and ten years his faculties, mental and physical, are in a good state of preservation. He is descended on both sides from an ancestry remarkable for longevity. His maternal grandfather lived to be one hundred and one years old, and his maternal great-grandfather was one hundred and six or seven at the time of his death. His paternal grandfather died at ninety years of age, and a brother of his father, Samuel Allbaugh, died some years since near Springfield, Ohio, at the great age of one hundred and nine years; he was a school teacher and continued in his profession until one hundred years old. 'The wife of the subject of this sketch died September, 1874, at the age of nearly eighty years, having been born November 9, 1794. He has raised a family of eight children, two having died when young, as follows: Mrs. Polly McLean, born July 3o, 1816; Allery, born February 20, 1818; Samuel, born September 20, 1819; Mrs. Julia Ann Bloom, born June 21, 1824; Stephen, born March 9, 1827; Mrs. Susannah Smiley, born February 21, 1629; Nancy Jane, born May 6, 1834; Mrs. Sarah Ann Glunt, born March 18, 1837.

In March, 1880, Mr. Allbaugh became a member of the Dunker church. His wife was a member of the Christian denomination. Mr. Allbaugh lives with his grandson, Frederick A. Bloom, whom he has raised since he was eight years of age. Mr. Bloom received from his grandfather forty acres of land in consideration of remaining with him until twenty-one years of age. Some four vears ago he assumed charge of the home place. He was born April ro, 1853; married January 11, 1877, to Miss Margaret M. King, of Indiana, who was born in 1859. They have two children - Charles S. and Lawrence.

No poor man was permitted to be under the painful necessity of begging for the necessaries of life for himself or family. It was a common practice of those who had a bountiful supply to ascertain the necessities of his less fortunate neighbors, and to generously share with them. The stranger was ever a welcome guest, and taken in and cared for.

Having given some space to our pioneer fathers in this history, it is due to that noble generation of women, who have nearly all passed away - to give at least an outline history of the manner in which they discharged the duties devolving on them during the pioneer days of the township.

Domiciled in a rude log cabin, surrounded by a dense forest, inhabited by wild beasts and savage Indians; her lot was truly a hard one, and her true history at this day seems to partake more of fiction than of reality. Compelled by force of circumstances to perform manual labor which at this time would seem impossible for her to endure, deprived of society, deprived of the luxuries, and sometimes, no doubt, of at least a bountiful supply of the necessaries of life, she had a hard task to perform in assisting her husband to provide the necessaries of life for the family, and with her own hands to manufacture from flax and wool the fabrics to clothe the family.

In those days flax was grown almost exclusively for the lint which was manufactured into linen. The process of manufacturing was as follows, and was principally done by female labor: 'The flax was pulled by hand, tied into small sheaves, then shocked until dry enough to beat out the seed - the seed being threshed out. The flax was thinly spread on a meadow or lawn to rot or to make the wood or stem of the plant brittle, so that it could be separated from the lint. It was then housed in a dry place. The next process was breaking it on a large wooden brake, which was heavy work and had to be done by men; next came what was called scutching; this was done by the women and children. "This was about the first labor the writer ever performed, and he has not lived long enough yet to overcome his aversion to this kind of labor. The process was this: A board was driven into the ground and stood about waist high. A hand of broken flax was hung and held across this, and then with a wooden scutching knife the woody part was knocked out of the lint. To stand in one position all day and handle a scutching knife had no'attraction for a boy. - ning wheel, then to the loom, and came out linen. Out of flax linen our shirts were made. The tow which was heckled out of the flax made a coarser quality of linen, out of which pants for summer wear were made.

For winter apparel they depended entirely on the fleece of their own sheep; the fleece being taken off, washed and picked by hand, then taken to the carding -

carded and made into rolls. It was then ready for the spinning-wheel, two of which constituted an outfit for a family - a small one for old ladies. On this she could spin sitting, and the large one for the daughter. This spinning had to be done walking which was hard labor, and there are still a few of these relics to be seen at farm houses. The spinning done, it went to the weaver - nearly every farm house containing a loom - and manufactured into jeans for coats, vests and pants. Linsey was used for female apparel, and for coverlets and blankets for the bed.

Goods thus manufactured were of superior wearing quality. In addition to this labor, when sugar-making time came, the women and children superintended that almost exclusively, and a large supply of maple sugar and molasses was annually made.

Pioneer School-Houses And Schools

'The writer having received the rudiments of his education in the school-houses erected after r825, a detailed history of those and the schools generally can be given from personal knowledge. But for the history of pioneer schoolhouses proper he is indebted to his friends, Captain Abraham Sayler and Thomas Huffman, esq., who were school boys at an earlier day.

The first school-house of the township was built on section twenty-five. This was a much better building than was common then, being a hewed log house with cross bars or sticks covered with oiled paper in the place of glass to admit light. The inside furniture consisted of slab benches destitute of backs, the urchin's spinal column being sufficient to keep him in an upright position. Writing desks were of the most substantial kind. Two inch-holes were bored into the wall, and a heavy slab pinned on them. For heating apparatus we had a large fire-place, very near across one end of the room, into which could be rolled large logs, the larger boys cutting them at noon, and all hands rolling them in. The school-house being generally built in the forest, fuel was easily obtained. This house was built in 1818, and William Botton was the first teacher. He kept what was then called a *loud school," that is, when no class was reciting, the school was permitted to spell as loud as they pleased.

A difficulty originating between the northern and southern part of the district, the south dissolved the union, and set up for themselves. "They went to the little village of Camden; employed a man by the name of John Simson to teach their school. "They built him a cabin, he being a man of family. All hands went to work on Friday, to build a school house of poles or round logs, got it up, chinked, and daubed it, and had it ready for school the next Monday.

The plastering was done in the following manner: When the building was as high as wanted, they threw across the center of the building a log or girder, then laying rails from this to the sides of the wall "close enough to hold mud mortar which was made by mixing with cut straw, and tramping with ahorse. This was then thrown on the rails, which made it air-tight. A roof of clapboards was then put on, and the house was finished, the windows and furniture being the same as the first one described. This house was located on the section line between sections thirty-five and thirty-six.

Since writing the foregoing, the writer has obtained reliable information that a school-house had been built on section eighteen in house with open fire-place, large enough to take in large logs of wood and furniture the same as described in school-house in the eastern part of the township. The first teacher was Joseph A. Dally or Joseph Anderson - the writer's informant is not certain which. So the question is settled that these teachers were the first two of the township.

'These rude structures in the way of school-houses, after the township was properly divided into more convenient districts, were superseded by better ones, but the furniture remained about the same for many years.

The State school fund was very small until about 1852, when the school system of the State was revised under the new constitution, and ample provision made for public schools. Prior to that time the public fund was insufficient to maintain a school more than three months per year, and when a longer term was desired by the people, the residue of the money had to be raised by subscription. This remark does not apply to pioneer schools proper, but to that period between, perhaps, the years 1830 and 1850. Prior to that period schools had to be maintained almost entirely by subscription.

The county being sparsely settled school districts were necessarily large, children frequently having to go from two to three miles to school, and generally through a dense forest. When snow was deep, a log was dragged from the residence to the school-house to break the snow. We had no boots then but very low quartered shoes, so our mothers would draw a pair of old stockings over our shoes to keep out the snow. Children of that period of our history did not go much on style of dress and did not believe that fine clothes made the boy or girl more respectable, and it was a very common thing to see a young urchin wending his way to school in very rough weather with his father's old pigeon tailed felt coat on for an overcoat, the skirt dragging the snow; or the girl with her mother's cast-off shawl, to keep her comfortable. 'This was then the fashion, and all were satisfied as long as they were able to follow the style of the day in dress. No child refused to attend school on account of homely dress, no distinction being made on that account.

The writer has a distinct recollection of one of his preceptors, who taught a term of sixty days for thirtythree dollars. Wages, however, advanced and when it got to one dollar per day, it was considered a remunerative business.

Pioneer teachers were not required to procure a certificate of qualification from a board of examiners, The most formidable ordeal he had to pass was when he came across a school director who was fond of assuming an air of learning and would administer his catechism.

The first law enacted by the legislature providing for a board of county examiners provided that applicants should be examined in orthography, reading, writing, and arithmetic, and if found qualified to teach these branches, a certificate should be granted. Sometime after the legislature amended the law so as to include English grammar and prohibited school directors from paying any such a certificate. This law was unpopular in the start for the reason that there was a lack of teachers to supply the demand. This wise legislation. immediately advanced the compensation of teachers, and ambitious young men soon qualified themselves to comply with the requirements of the law. The whole tendency of legislation from that day to this has been to raise the standard of qualifications of teachers - and Ohio can now boast of having a school system second to none in the Union.

In comparing the advancement of the pupils of to-day who have commodious and well furnished school-rooms and school apparatus of every description - text books of superior arrangement, and school terms of from eight to nine months per year, taught by highly educated teachers, with the .dvancement of pioneer pupils of the same age, who were cooped up in their little log cabin schoolhouses, destitute of anything entitled to the name of furniture, destitute of school apparatus, and entirely destitute of graded readers, by which pupils may be classified, but being compelled from force of circumstances to use asreaders, anything that could then be procured, from the Testament down to the almanac, with school terms of from three to four months per year, taught by poorly qualifed teachers, we are forced to the conclusion that pioneer children accomplished more - or that our children are now accomplishing less than could reasonably be expected.

Were we asked the question how did the children of the pioneers accomplish so much in the way of education, with the limited means of schooling they enjoyed, the answer would be, they did it by habits of industry, energy and perseverance. Their school terms were short, and they made the best possible use of them. Their books were carried home every evening, and those who had no candles or lard to burn in the old iron lamp, would strip the ross bark from shellbark hickory trees, and carry it home, which, by administering to the fire in the large fireplace of the cabin, would furnish them with a brilliant light. It was by this system of close application to their studies that the pioneer children accomplished so much under the unfavorable circumstances by which they were surrounded. Books were scarce, but those they had were well and carefully read.

It was also a common practice during the winter months to organize lyceums or debating clubs, and discuss religious, moral, and sometimes political questions, and this produced a taste for reading. Much of their time was thus employed when not employed in manual labor, and notwithstanding the limited. means of education possessed by pioneer children, and the privations and hardships many of them had to endure, many of those who adopted a system of self-culture in after life became intelligent and useful citizens, and some of them were promoted to honorable official positions, among whom may be named Hayden Dooley, the eldest son of the first settler of the township, who had the honor of representing Preble county in the lower branch of the legislature of Ohio; Peter Shideler, one of the early settlers, who was one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas of Preble county for some time; Martin F. Stephens, who was elected county treasurer two terms, and representative one term; and Henry Shideler, who represented Preble and Montgomery counties in the State senate two terms.

The first church of the township was located on section eighteen, and was built in 1818. It was a hewed log house, twenty-six by thirty feet, roofed with shingles, and was free for all denominations of Christians to worship in. This spirit of liberality was characteristic of pioneer inhabitants - selfishness and illiberality were then unknown, The trustees were Silas Dooley, William Caster, and John Railsback. This house served the double purpose of school-house and church. Elder David Purviance was the first minister of the Christian denomination who preached there.

The writer is indebted to Silas Dooley, jr., for the original subscription list for the building of this church, which is deemed of sufficient importance to insert, at least the names of those who contributed to the building. The condition of subscription was that those who were able should pay in money, and those who were destitute of that great luxury, and had nothing but muscle, might discharge it in work:

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In the central and eastern portions of the township there were no churches built at so early a day. But Elder Benjamin Skinner, a minister of the Baptist church, frequently held religious service at the dwelling house of Armstead Huffman, and ministers of -the Methodist church often preached at the house of Margaret Stephens, and sometimes at an old log school-house near by; and ministers of the New Light or Christian denomination frequently preached at the dwelling house of William Sellers.

The second church built in the township was located near Paint creek, in the southwest corner of the township by the Baptist denomination. Under the guidance of Elder Benjamin Skinner the church prospered, and accessions to the church were made rapidly. Elder Skinner was a self educated man, and had fine natural qualifications for a revivalist, and succeeded in building up a prosperous church.

The writer has been unable to get the date of the building of this church, but from the best information attainable he believes it to have been built shortly prior to 1840.

Antioch church, near the center of the township, was built in 1845. The first trustees were Ebe Campbell, Conrad Bloss, James McCabe, William Stephens and William Jefferson. Jefferson is now the only survivor of the board. There was a pretty strong and prosperous church of the Methodist denomination maintained here for a number of years, and regular services held by the ministers in charge of the district, but since the large and commodious church was erected at Eaton by the Methodist Episcopal denomination, Antioch has been abandoned.

Biographical Sketches The Sayler Family

The Sayler homestead, located at the northwest corner of section thirty-six, in Gasper township, a view of which is herewith given, was purchased by Christian Sayler in 1814. Christian Sayler was born of Swiss parentage, in Maryland, in 1785. When he was twelve years old, the father having died, the family moved to Franklin county, Virginia, and remained there unbroken till 1806, when Christian, with his brother John, came to Ohio and settled in Lanier township, on the east side of Twin creek. In 1811 Christian married Mary Teal, daughter of Samuel Teal, born in Frederick county, Maryland, September rir, 1789. While yet in childhood, her father moved to Franklin county, Virginia, and remained there until 1805, when he emigrated to Ohio, and settled at the mouth of Aukerman's creek, on land previously entered by relatives. At the time, therefore, of the marriage of Christian and Mary, both were well accustomed to the hardships of the forest and the toils of pioneer life. Three years after their marriage and two years after the birth of their oldest son, Abraham, who is the principal subject of this sketch, the young couple purchased the farm, which is now known as the Sayler homestead, and began to battle against an unbroken forest. The day time was occupied in the clearing by the husband and at the wheel by the wife, and night was made hideous by the horrid howl of wolves in the surrounding thickets.

The family of Christian and Mary Sayler consisted of nine children, four of whom are living - Abraham T., Elizabeth Shewman, Joseph, and Maria Allen. Christian Sayler was a hard-working, through-going man, who, with the assistance of his sons, improved the farm, and at the time of his death, in 1852, left the family in good circumstances. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Sayler made her home with Abraham, who purchased the homestead. It is now pleasant to see this old lady, enfeebled by ninety-two years of toilsome life, sitting at a window of her son's comfortable home, contemplating with pleasure the changes which her eyes have seen and her hands helped to bring about.

Abraham T.,the oldest son of Christian and Mary Sayler, and present owner of the homestead, a pictorial sketch of which appears in this volume, was born March 5, 1812. In early boyhood he became expert with the axe, and was a valuable assistant in reducing the farm to a state of cultivation. He never was strongly inclined to sports, as is proved by the fact that he never owned a gun, although the howl of the wolf was yet heard, and the extensive woodlands were filled with deer. Log rolings were the fashionable parties of those days, and Mr. Sayler says he once attended frolics of this kind seventeen days in succession, except Sundays. There was a distillery on the farm, which Abraham assisted to operate.' He was always closely attached to home, and like other young men of his time, knew what hard work meant. He was married to Elizabeth Rinehart, third child of Abraham Rinehart, August 12, 1838. She was born May 25, 1817, her parents being among the early settlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs, Sayler have had nine children, three of whom are living. Mary Magdalene, born February 8, 1843, is married to N. S. Bennet, and living in Camden; Minerva, born November 2, 1847, is married to Patrick Guckain, and living on a farm in Gasper township, and Martin S., born July 19, 1850, is living on the homestead. He is married to Sarah A. Swihart, who was born June 26, 1857. Martin S. and Sarah have had three children: Charles A. and Hugh J., born January 8, 1875, and Theodore, born March 21, 1878. Charley A. died July 24, 1876.

'The remaining children of Abraham and Elizabeth Sayler were: William H. Harrison, born May 27, 1840, died November ro, 1840; Benjamin F., born October 24, 1845, is now dead; Fannie Ann, born October 22, 1852, died January 11, 1864; Selinna, born April 1, 1855, died March 1, 1856; Cicero, born February 3,

Benjamin F. was a volunteer in company E, Eightyfirst Ohio volunteer infantry, which entered the service in 1862. Benjamin remained in the service till the confederacy received its death blow at Appomattox He was in General Logan's corps and was color bearer while on Sherman's famous march to the sea. While in the army he contracted inflammatory rheumatism, with which he died. His widow, whose maiden name was Mary Cosbey, is yet living. d

In politics Abraham Sayler was Whig until the disintegration of that party, when he became a Republican, and since the war has supported the Democratic party. In religion, he holds to the Universalist faith, but has never united himself with any religious society.

His whole life has been one of busy toil, and his accumulations are amply sufficient to support him during declining years and start his children well on toward the goal of wealth.

William Morton

A highly respected and substantial farmer of Gasper township, is William Morton, the subject of this sketch. He is the thirteenth child of Benjamin and Hannah Morton, who were among the earliest settlers of the county, being natives of New Jersey. William was born on the Morton homestead in Israel township, March 2, 1838. A complete and elaborate sketch of his parents will be found in the biography of Hezekiah Morton, published elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Morton received the benifit of an education such as the common schools of the time afforded. When he was sixteen years old his father died (June 7, 1854), and William was left in care of the home. He began life for himself in 1862, when he purchased the farm of one hundred and sixtyseven acres on which he now resides. Being unmarried, he lived with a tenant, and farmed the place, until 1873, when the tenant left the premises, and Mr. Morton was left entirely alone. He continued to be his own housekeeper as well as his own farmer until May 21, 1874, when he quit bachelor life, and was married to Emma I. Dooley, only daughter of Silas and Isabel (McCracken) Dooley. Emma was born June 1, 1847. Her parents were pioneers of the county, and among the most highly respected citizens of the township.

Mr. Morton is an energetic and thrifty farmer, who attends closely and exclusively to his own affairs. His home, a pictorial sketch of which appears on another page, is comfortable, and his farm productive. He takes little part in politics, and has never coveted official honors. During the war he was a member of the home guards of Ohio, and when Breckenridge made his famous northern raid in 1864, Mr. Morton was called into the hundred

Morton, Gaspertp, Preble Co.O.

DeWitt Clinton Stubbs, of Gratis township, is the fourth son of Jesse and Mary Stubbs, and was born where his parents now live, on the seventeenth day of October, in the year 1838. He received the rudiments of his education at the schools in West Elkton and its vicinity, and his more advanced instruction at Greenmount college, Richmond, Indiana, and the Lebanon Normal school in Warren county, Ohio. He then attended the Bryant and Stratton Commercial college at Cleveland, Ohio, and after graduating from that institution, returned to his home, and engaged for a time in teaching. This occupation, however, he followed only for a short time, giving it up to take the management of his father's farm while he was in the Ohio legislature in the sessions of 1860-61. This line of work, too, he was destined to follow but for a brief period. He left the farm, as many thousands of the young men of his time did, for the army. Entering the service as a private of the Eleventh regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, he served until the close of the great struggle, and came back to the quiet and peace of civil life, bearing an enviable reputation and the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was successively promoted to the rank of sergeant, sergeant major, captain and lieutenant colonel, receiving his commission as the latter February 23, 1865. The regiment to which Colonel Stubbs belonged, was mustered out of service at Camp Dennison on the twenty-first of June, 1864, with the exception of two companies of men whose time had not expired. These two companies and the veterans of the regiment were officially recognized as the Eleventh Ohio detachment, and assigned to Baird's division of the Fourteenth corps. 'They were commanded by Colonel Stubbs, and did excellent service during the remainder of the war, accompanying Sherman in his splendid campaign, and marching from Atlanta to thes ea.

Upon returning home Colonel Stubbs engaged in the pursuit of agriculture upon the fine farm of two hundred and eighty acres, on which he now resides, just east of the village of West Elkton. This calling received his entire attention until he was called to public life, and its duties imposed upon him. He had, ever since attaining his majority, been an active political worker, and intensely devoted to the principles ofthe Republican party. He had worked merely from a desire for ,the success of the great organization, which he believed to be the champion ofright, and having no personal political ambition, sought no preferment at the hands of the party in whose cause he had exerted himself. It was not through his seeking that he became, in 1877, the nominee of the Republicans in Preble county for the legislature. He had one hundred and thirty-five out of one hundred and sixty-eight votes in the county convention, and was elected by a majority of one hundred and sixteen in this then very close county. The estimation in which he was held where best known is effectively evidenced by the fact that in Gratis township, which gave the Republican State ticket in 1877 only forty-seven votes more than the Democratic, Colonel Stubbs had a majority of one hundred and forty-four. Mr. Stubbs was reelected after serving two years, and is Preble county's present representative, his term expiring withthe term of 1881. In his second election he had a majority in the county of three hundred and sixty-two, and in his own township, as in the first election, ran far ahead of the State ticket. During his two terms' service as representative, Colonel Stubbs has been a member of the committee on public buildings and land, on agriculture and on public works - of the latter chairman. He is perhaps most widely and well known as the man through whose instrumentality the notorious O'Conner was exposed to the people, who, ignorant of his antecedents, had elected him to a seat in the legislature. Colonel Stubbs has represented his county with the best of credit to himself and the satisfaction of his constituents. His substantial ability, capacity for hard work and his shrewd practical judgment, together with his earnestness of purpose and conscientious adherence to his convictions while fitting him for the duties of public life, also made him eminently worthy ofits honors. Mr. Stubbs was married December r, 1869, to Samantha, daughter of John and Charlotte Hankins, of Fayette county, Ohio, who was born October 31, 1838. They have two children, Lenora and Harriet.

days' service, and placed on guard duty at Washington. Mr. Morton is a Republican, but holds liberal views, in both matters of politics and religion. He is known in

Gratis

Gratis township lies in the southeastern corner of the county. In the congressional surveys it is designated *township four, of range three." On the north it is bounded by Lanier township, to the east and south lie Montgomery and Butler counties, and on the western boundary lies Somers township.

those long reaches of level country met with in so many of the other townships, until you approach the southern boundary, where, stretching out into Butler county, there is quite an extensive plain, embracing several thousands of acres. By far the greater part of the township is hilly. Numerous streams, some of considerable size, flow through this part of the county, and along their banks is found a limited amount of fine bottom land. In most cases, however, the hills rise from the very banks. These hill-sides are not, by any means, covered with inferior soil, but show, in every direction, their capability for richly repaying the efforts of the husbandman. Bordering, as it does, on the edge of the Miami valley, Gratis partakes largely of the characteristics of that region; and, at an early day, attracted the attention of the pioneer Settler.

The soil, like that of the rest of the county, is of a clayey nature, with an underlying sub-soil of limestone, except in the bottoms, where a rich loam is found. The forests at the present day are covered with a heavy growth of beech and sugar maple. These are, however, far more numerous now than when the country was first settled. At that time the principal growth was poplar, with a large intersprinkling of walnut. These latter have now almost entirely disappeared and given place to the present varieties. About twenty per cent. of the township is covered with timber, the rest is under an advanced system of cultivation. The buildings show by their size and careful attention, the healthy and progressive ideas of their owners. No mere bare subsistence contents them. Their lands are made to yield their utmost, and, in consequence, these farmers are the wealthiest class in the township. Owing to the fact that many of them belong to the societies of Friends and German Baptists, both of whom discourage extensive display, they are enabled to lay up a large portion of their earnings and are now the moneyed class of the county.

The chief crops grown are the same as those of the other townships in this county. Corn is more extensively grown than the other grains. Wheat raising, also, receives a large share of attention. The culture of tobacco is yet in its infancy in this part of the country. The greater amount of labor required compared with that expended on other crops is an impediment to any extensive cultivation.of this plant. This branch of agriculture is, however, occupying a considerable degree of attention, and while the quantity is still small, the quality is in no way inferior to that raised in what may be styled, more strictly, the tobacco-growing country. The soil and climate seem admirably adapted for its culture, and the day approaches wher it will be classed among the chief productions of the township. At present a small patch of from one to six acres is all that is grown on one farm, and even this amount is found to pay handsomely for the labor expended.

There are no streams of any size in the township. The country is well watered but it is by small branches that flow through in large numbers. None of the streams which pass through the other townships do more than touch Gratis. Twin creek, on the northeast, enters sections one and two; on the south, Elk creek passes through the southern parts of sections thirty-five and thirty-six, and, again, in the north, a small creek called Aukerman's branch, for a short distance, enters sections three and four, but the body of the township is untouched. The existence of a water-shed across the middle of the township is doubtless the occasion of this avoidance by the waters. From the very northern and southern boundaries the land ascends until it reaches its highest point in a ridge of land extending nearly due east and west across the township - about a mile north of West Elkton - and from this point the waters flow north to Aukerman's branch, or south to Elk creek. Although these larger bodies of water do not do more than touch the township, they, nevertheless, are, at these points, associated with the earliest events of the county. It was at these points that John Leslie in the south, and Hezekiah Phillips in the north, entered the county and made the first entries of land, and here the first settlements of any size were made.

township, nor have the people any prospects at present of ever getting any. Their nearest railroad 'tation is at Camden, Somers township, a distance of some four or five miles. They are fortunate in the possession of good roads, extending in every direction, and connecting the chief points within the township with each other and with the outside world. Most of these roads are free pikes. One, however, passing southeast through Winchester to Middletown is a toll pike. A few years ago, the pike from Winchester to West Elkton was also a toll pike, but it has since been made a free thoroughfare.

There are three towns in this township. Two, Winchester and West Elkton, are regularly incorporated towns, and are places of considerable importance. The third is Greenbush, a small collection of houses clustering at a crossroads, and supplied with a saw-mill, post office and a few shops of no great importance.

The Origin Of The Name

is a matter of dispute as to the particulars, although there is the same idea in each way of explaining it. Some relate that at the first election of officers, the finances of the new township were in such an unsatisfactory condition that the first officers volunteered to serve without pay, offering their time and services gratuitously, and that the name arose from that proposal. The objection to this explanation is that it makes the name to have been given some time after the organization of the township, and also to have been given by the citizens of the township, whereas it was the custom for the county commissioners to name the township at the time of organization. To our mind, the following explanation seems, of the two, to be the more worthy of credence: Owing to the fact that the most of the settlers at an early day were located in the extreme sounthern part of the township, it was troublesome te have to go to the elections in the northern part of the then existing township, which bore the name of Lanier, which was of much greater extent than at present. In consideration of this, a party of Friends went in a body to the county commissioners and petitioned that a new township be made in the southeastern part of the county. The commissioners, thinking the number of settlers in the territory which would be embraced by the new township to be too few to justify their granting this petition, refused to give it their consent. Before leaving, the Friends determined to make one last effort. Samuel Stubbs, who was the spokesman of the party, went over the former arguments, and at the close remarked that he not only thought that they were justified in their petition for a new township, but that he even thought that it should be granted them gratis. His arguments carried his point, and the clerk of the board, Mr. A. C. Lanier, not only advised the granting of the township, but also that it should be called Gratis. His advice was followed, and the Friends went home victorious.

Settlement

SETTLEMENT. The first settlement in the county was made in this township in section thirty-six, by John Leslie, who entered land as early as 1802. Leslie and a man by the name of Long entered the section together, Leslie taking the south half and Long the north half. Leslie emigrated from Pennsylvania with his family, consisting of his wife, five sons and three daughters. The sons were Davis, Joseph, John, Stephen and Reese. Long had no family.

The next to enter after Wesley and Long was Alexander Pugh, who entered five quarter sections in the eastern part of the township. The most of his land lay in section thirteen. He made the first settlement in what is called Pleasant valley. He came from Georgia with three thousand dollars, and bought his land and paid for it at time of purchase. The most of the settlers who entered lands took them with the privilege of paying for them in yearly installments. The lands were 'generally sold to the settlers for about two dollars and dollars a year. At the time of his arrival Mr. Pugh was considered the wealthiest man in the settlement. Soon after Leslie's arrival William Swisher came from Kentucky and settled section one. He built on the north side of Twin creek. He was originally from Pennsylvania, but moved to Kentucky, where he stayed two years before moving to Ohio.

About the same time Hezekiah Phillips came into the settlement from - - and settled in the northern part of the township. Rebecca Phillips is said to be the first female white child born in the county. The southern part of the township was settled by a large colony of Friends, who came from the Carolinas and Georgia. The families of Stubbs Jones and Maddocks formed a large part of the number. They were originally from Pennsylvania. From there they moved to North and South Carolina, and from these latter States to Georgia. Their opposition to slavery caused their emigration to the north and northwest. They came in large numbers to Ohio, and a great many settled in Gratis township. The ancestor of the Stubbs had gone from Pennsylvania to keep in sight and sound of his lady love, Miss Ester Maddock. He saw Gen: eral Braddock when undertaking his disastrous march against the combined forces of French and Indians. As many as thirteen brothers of his name came to Ohio together, and of these, twelve settled within thirty miles of each other, in the southern part of Gratis township and the northern part of Butler county. The Stubbs are a remarkably long lived family, their average age approaching eighty years. There is in the possession of Mr. Jesse Stubbs, of West Elkton, a record of events which he has kept for over forty years.

George Kelley settled in Gratis township, and was among the earliest settlers in the county. He came from Virginia, where he was born in 1782. His wife, Elizabeth (Harrell), was born in Kentucky in 1787. They removed finally to Sullivan county, Indiana, where they both died; he in 1868, and she in 1875. James Kelley, son of George Kelley, was born in Gratis township in 1811, December 8th, and was married, in 1838, to Hannah Goodlander, and has had a family of fifteen children, eleven of whom are living.

Some of the other early settlers were John Cypole and Levi Kinman, who came from Georgia in the fall of 1804, and settled in Gratis; Abraham Neff, who settled on Twin, and built the first saw and grist-mill; the two Gifts, Nicholas and Jacob, who settled on section three, and were afterwards among the four proprietors of the town of Winchester; Abraham Wimmer, from Virginia; pioneer, and who settled on section eleven; William Hixon, from Georgia; and Abner Halland nephew, Adam, of North Carolina. The above all came before 1809.

John Brown was born about 1795, in Georgia, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Gratis township in 1804. His father, Richard, entered a threequarter section, one hundred and twenty-seven acres of which is now in the possession of his grandson, Joseph Brown. He paid a dollar and fifty cents per acre for the land. John Brown's wife was Mary, daughter of Jonas Randall who died in 1867. They had seven children born to them: Jonas, (deceased); Sarah, (deceased); John R., residing in Iowa; Jonathan, in Kansas; Richard, (deceased); Joseph and Rebecca, (de. ceased). Joseph Brown was married three times. By his first wife, Elizabeth Stanley, he had two children (both deceased). His second wife, Mary Hasley, who died of small-pox in 1875, left two children: Ellie and Milo A. His third wife is Maria Stubbs. They have had one child, Samuel (deceased). Mr. Brown has been a director on the school board for twenty-four years.

John Brown and Mary Randall moved into their log hut the day after their marriage, carrying their effects upon a horse. At the time they moved in there was no floor to their dwelling. The house was finished after they had moved in.

Jerid, son of Alexander Pugh, was born in the year 1809. His father moved to Gratis in 1805. He married Catharine Barbara Schwartzwelder, who is still living. They had six children born to them, namely: Hannah, wife of Samuel Harris; John, who married Eliza Ann Gifford; William, who married Ellen Smith; Alexander; Ellen, wife of James Burnett; and Wesley (deceased). John Pugh has three children now living: Hiram C., Charles Wesley, and Samuel J. Mr. Pugh has a farm of about one hundred and twenty-nine acres, all in a fine state of improvement. He has also been a member of the township board of education, but holds no office at present.

Daniel Chrisman emigrated from Rowan county, North Carolina, in 1803, stopping until August, 1805, in Warren county. Inthat year coming to Preble county he settled in section eleven, of Gratis township. By his wife, Mary Ozias, he had five children, four of whom are living, three of whom are in this county. John, the only one in Gratis township, married Susannah Hall (deceased). He is about the last of the early settlers, and is one of the largest land holders in Preble county.

Lewis Chrisman, son of Jacob Chrisman, was born in 1801. He married Sarah Harshman, by whom he had eight children, three of whom are still living, viz: F. M.,

Sarah Ann, and Peter; the last two are living in Indiana. Lewis Chrisman died in 1854, and his wife in 1872. F. M. Chrisman was born in Preble county, on the old homestead, in the year 1833, and in 1857, married Esther Russell, daughter of John R. Russell. He has had six children, all of whom are living. His farm contains three hundred and sixty-eight acres. Rev. Jacob Chrisman, the grandfather of John and Daniel, was the first minister of the German Reformed church who crossed the Ohio river.

Benjamin Fall came into Ohio from North Carolina, and settled in Gratis township. His father, Christian, was one of the first men in the county; he came in 1805. His wife was Mary Leslie, who died about 1864. They had four children: Hannah, wife of Joseph Haldeman; Mary Ann, wife of Daniel Snyder; Josiah, who married Susan Smith; and Elizabeth, wife of Oscar Morris. Mrs. Daniel Snyder had six children: Susannah, Benjamin, Samuel, Alice, Margaret, and Libbie.

Samuel Stubbs was born in Georgia in 1766, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, aad in 1805 settled on section twenty-nine of Gratis township. He died while on a visit to Indiana in 1846. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in Georgia in 1771, and died in Gratis in 1843. She was a descendant, in the third generation, from Sir Isaac Newton. Sir Isaac's sister Rachel married a Francis Jones.

Mr. and Mrs. Stubbs had ten children: Rebecca, William, Tabitha, Newton, Martha, Sarah Ann, Nathan, Rachel, and Jesse Stubbs. Jesse Stubbs married Mary Jones, and has had nine children, six of whom are living. Mr. Stubbs now resides in the spot where he was born, and is seventy-one years old.

Jonas Randall came to; Preble county and settled in Gratis township in 1805. He was born in South Carolina December, 1766. He married Sarah Roberts, who was a native of the same State, born May, 1766. They had nine children, all of whom grew up and raised families, but none are now living. Jonas Randall died in Gratis in 1852, and his wife in 1855. He was a prosperous farmer, owning one thousand acres of land. He gave each of his children a farm.

He was a member of Friends' church, and was a useful citizen. John Randall, his son, was born in South Carolina, in July, 1790, and was married in 1811, to Elizabeth Conarroe, who was born in Philadelphia, in 1795. They have had nine children, of whom six are living, viz: William C., in Monroe township; Mrs. John Lee in Jefferson; Mrs. Isaac Julian, in Illinois; Mrs. Isaac Wright, in Indiana; Andrew C., in Illinois, and Mrs. John Small, in Kansas. William C. was born in 1816, and has been married four times. He was appointed, in 1837, ensign in the State militia, under Governor Vance, and was afterward made lieutenant, which commission he held four years.

Thomas Stubbs was born in Georgia in the year 1770. From Georgia he emigrated to Ohio, and in the year 1805 he.settled in Gratis township. Like a good many of the emigrants from the south, he was obliged to leave on account of his antislavery views. His wife was

Mary, daughter of Charles Hobson. They had ten children born to them: Elisha, Arah, Charles (deceased), John H., Keziah, Lydia, Rebecca, Sarah (deceased), and Lorenzo. The latter, born in 1818, married Sarah Maddock, and has had five children, three of whom survive. Mr. Stubbs has a farm of one hundred and eighty acres. This farm was given him by John Overpeck, as a recognition of a kindness done him by Lorenzo Stubbs. During an illness of Mr. Overpeck's his own children deserted him and left him to Mr. Stubbs'sole care. At Mr. Overpeck's death, at the age of eighty-two: years, he left his farm to Mr. Stubbs.

John H. Stubbs, son of Thomas Stubbs, was born in Butler county in 1805. His father moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, from there to Georgia, and finally to Ohio. The first wife of J. H. Stubbs, who was Margaret E. Hart, died in 1840. They had ten children: Levi, Zimri, Aaron, Thomas, Isaac, Lydia, Ira, Esta, Elizabeth, and Sarah. His second wife was Lydia M. Eccles, by whom he had eight children: Enoch, Emma, Ezra, Harriet, Eli, Allison B., George H., and Katie.