Wayne Township (part 2 of 2)

Soon after completing the land purchase, Mr. Walker, the father, went back to Pennsylvania. The son also went back some time in 1800, to return in 1802 and take up a permanent residence. The first cabin occupied by Walker stood some thirty rods northwest of Christian Stock's house. In 1804, he commenced the building of a hewed-log house, situated on lands now owned by Thomas D. Walker. This house was not finished until some years later, and still stands a landmark of early days.

In about 1803 or 1804, Gabriel Morgan bought a tract of land, where Thomson Spence now owns, and moved into a cabin on it. In 1802, Francis Eltzroth, of Maryland, settled on the farm now owned by Benj. Eltzroth, near Cainargo. In 1808 or 1809, Elijah Mounts came from New Jersey and settled near Camargo. Among the very early settlers we omitted to mention in the proper place, was William Burton, who came from North Carolina, and settled near the Phillip Hill farm, in the year 1802. In 1806, John Gilles settled near Salt Springs. In 1804, Abraham Haney came from Pennsylvania and settled in the northern part of the township, near Hopkinsville. In the same year (1804), James Hopkins came from Kentucky and settled on the old Hopkins' place a little south of the village. Judge Michael H. Johnson, at an early date, settled on the Grandin farm. Robert Shields came from Pennsylvania in 1810, and settled below Hopkinsville, and in 1811 moved into a cabin on the farm now owned by Mrs. William Ertel. The Bakers, Kibbys, Kellys, Rosses, Roats, Stevens,^ Ludlums, were also among the early settlers, and they and their posterity are closely identified with the affairs of the township. Many other names of early settlers deserve honorable mention, but want of information of details forbids the attempt

Geological Structure

The geological structure of Hamilton Township belongB almost entirely to the Cincinnati Group. The only exception to this is the alluvial land in the valley of the Little Miami River. The system of rocks denominated ''The Cincinnati Group " is a formation of blue limestone, partially stratified, and has an aggregate thickness of nearly eight hundred feet. It was undoubtedly a ridge cast up at the close of the Lower Silurian age, and extended from near Nashville, Tenn., through Kentucky, and far into the State of Ohio. This great ridge separated depressed areas during the whole of the Upper Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous ages. The Cincinnati group contains many of the characteristic fossils of the Hudson River group and the Trenton limestone of New York. The blue limestone floor of Hamilton Township is covered by a blue glacial clay. Above this clay lies an ocherous deposit of from four to seven feet in thickness. On this ocher rests a light vegetable mold of surface soil. The land is very productive when properly cultivated. Building stone of excellent quality is abundant The township is well watered. The principal streams are the Conococheague Creek, (so named by Samuel B. Walker, a Government surveyor, who emigrated from the banks of the famous Conococheague Creek in Pennsylvania, in 1798, and located a large tract of land on this stream) Hen Run, Salt Run (so named on account of a salt lick and spring on its bank), Bear. Run and Mounts' Run. These streams all abound in the remains of extinct life so characteristic of the Cincinnati group. The Lower Silurian brachiopods and Upper Silurian trilobites and ptilodictya are numerously found along the bed of the Conococheague Creek, on the farm of A. J. Walker. There is a hill just below the old saw-mill on Mr. W alker's farm that abounds in fine specimens of the Orthis plicatella , one of the most interesting forms of ancient life.

The bed and banks of Salt Rim are strewn with specimens of the well-known Orthoceras and the Atrypa type of the the Devonian brachopods. Some beautiful specimens of the Orthis hiforata have been foimd in Hen Run on the farm of Henry Burton, and along the Conococheague Creek below the Camargo Schooihouse.

Striated rocks, those strange, mute witnesses of one of the stupendous glaciers that brought them from their Northern home and cast them out along its broad and icy path, are scattered all over this township.

Here, too, are strewn the stone implements and weapons - both nealithic and paleolithic - of the Mound Builders. Indeed a rude manufactory of those implements was discovered in the early part of this century, near the Conococheague Creek, on the farm of James Hall, Esq.

Their great highway of commerce and war, which extended from the old copper mines of Lake Superior, to Florida, ran through this township, and we believe is yet traceable on the farm of the late James Ford near Zoar.

Topography

The surface of the township, in the Southwest and North, is somewhat broken, but the hills are neither high nor precipitous, and most all the lands admit of easy cultivation. In the east and central part of the township, the land is more level, but sufficiently rolling to insure good drainage.

Numerous springs of excellent water abound in different parts of the township ; water is obtained by digging to the depth of from twelve to forty feet.

At the time white settlers first appeared, the land was covered with a heavy growth of timber, consisting of oak, hickory, walnut, ash, maple, sugar, elm and other varieties of small growth.

The Cincinnati, Montgomery & Hopkinsville pike, passing through the Northern part of the township via Hopkinsville and Zoar, was graded in the year 1835, and was the first pike built in the township. The township is traversed by three gravel roads, constructed under the "Free Pike" law. The Maineville & Foster's Crossing road, extending from the latter place to the eastern line of the township, the Murdoch pike, extending from Loveland, via Murdoch, to a point one mile east of Murdoch, and the Foster's Grossing and Loveland road connecting those two points.

The early pioneers of this section were generally men of starling character, who endured the dangers and trials of a new country, not solely far their own sakes, but for their children, and notwithstanding the settlements were sparse, and the people, as the pioneers of all new countries are, were poor and lacked the means of paying teachers and procuring books, yet we find that at a very early date in the settlement, schoolhouses were built and schools opened in various neighborhoods as occasion made necessary. The houses were not built by subscription in money, but by contributions of labor. On a given day the neighbors assembled at some place previously agreed upon, and with their axes cut the necessary logs and then raised the walls. The roof was made of clapboards, kept in place by heavy poles reaching the length of the house. The door made of clapboards, was hung on wooden hinges; the latch of wood, and raised by a string. The floor was of trees, split, with the face and edge dressed wi lh the ax. . The crevices between the logs were filled with chinks and daubed with mud. The fire-place was of huge dimensions, built on the outside of the house, usually cf stone to the throat of the flue, and the remainder of the chimney of split sticks of wood, daubed with clay. The windows consisted of an opening, made by cutting out one of the logs for almost the entire width of the building. In the winter, this opening was covered with paper saturated with grease, to keep out the cold as well as to admit the light. The furniture corresponded with the house. The writing desk was constructed by boring auger holes in one of the logs below the window, and in these strong wooden pins were driven, on which a wooden slab was placed, which served as a writing desk for the whole school The seats were hewed slabs supported by wooden pins or legs. These seats had no support for the back These were indeed rude structures, but the wonder is not that they did not build better houses, and have better facilities for learn* ing, but that they, laboring under so many disadvantages, had any schools whatever. Those who can remember back for a period of fifty or more years will recognize this general description as applicable to all school buildings in the township. From the best available information, the writer concludes that the first of these rude structures built in the township, was located on the present site of Bethel Graveyard. The exact year when this house was built cannot be given, but there seems to be no doubt that it was as early as 1804 James Coghlan was the first teacher. Alexander Hall, Samuel Gillispie, Samuel B. Walker and John Hill were among the early teachers. After some years, a new log schoolhouse was erected a short distance south of the old one, and in turn this was replaced by a stone structure, situated a little further south and near the Run. In 1850, the old stone building gave place to a more modern brick one, and the site was changed to the south side of the Run and on top of the hill. This served its time and was replaced by the present house. Another of these early educational landmarks was located on the southwestern part of the township and a half-mile west of the Hill Graveyard. Some years later, this was replaced by a larger and more tasty log house, the logs being hewed, windows with glass lights, etc. The early teaohers, as remembered, were John Clinton, Alexander Hall, Benjamin Tufts,

Hamilton Town8Hip

Jamee Clinton, Margaret Coddington and Elizabeth Gaskin. In 1840, a brick house was completed and the log building was for many years thereafter used for a meeting house. The new building was known as the Butterworth Schoolhouse. It was situated a mile or more north of the old one, and on a lot obtained from Mormon Butterworth. This house was in turn replaced by the present one, situated three-fourths of a mile west, and on the banks of the same creek, near Robert Smith's farm. About the year 1818, a rude stone school building was erected at Zoar, in the northern part of the township. This was, if not the first building for school purposes in that part of the township, among the first. About 1849, it was replaced by a brick building, located a few feet east of the present Zoar Church ; and again this building gave way to the present one, which was built about the year 1870. The early teachers at Zoar were Joseph Patton, Benjamin Ludlum and Joseph Keever. Dr. Mounts taught at a later date. Many of the boys who went to school to Jo. Keever, doubtless still have a vivid recollection of him, as it is said he had the peculiar faculty of leaving a lasting impression on the mind, of those who were so unfortunate as to incur his displeasure in the schoolroom.

The township at present is divided into eight subdistricts and three special ones, provided with neat, comfortable buildings and modern furniture.

The following contract, copied from the original, is appended to show the remuneration teachers received for their services in early times :

Articles of an Agreement, made and entered into by and between Samuel B. Walker, of Warren County, and State of Ohio, of the one part, and the underwritten subscribers of the county and State aforesaid, of the other part, Witnesseth, that the said Samuel B. Walker, doth agree to teach such children as may be placed under his tuition, reading, writing and arithmetic, according to their respective capacities, for the term of three months to come, as soon as twenty-four scholars are subscribed for, and a house prepared suitable for the business. The underwritten subscribers do, for their part, agree to fix a house fit for teaching in, and each subscriber to furnish a sufficient quantity of firewood, in proportion to the number of scholars annexed to their names, and to pay unto the aaid Samuel B. Walker, at the expiration of said term, the sum of one and one half dollars per scholar, one-third to be paid in cash, and two-thirds in either wheat, lye, corn, oats, sugar, flax, linen or wool, at the market price.

Maine Ville Academy

A history of this academy would doubtless be of interest to many, but the writer is not in possession of the early records, and cannot enter into details. The enterprise was undertaken by a joint-stock company, and was incorporated in the spring of 1847. The building, a two-story brick, was completed and ready for use in 1849. Owing to financial embarrassments, there was a re-organization in 1857. The organization continued with varied success until the year 1874, when the property was transferred to the Maineville Special School District, since which time the building has been used for a public graded school. The names of the teachers in the academy, as remembered, are as follows: Prof. John W. F. Foster, Prof. C. W. Kimball, N. F. Cotton, Robert

This academy, like most other similar institutions, was crowded out of existence by an advanced system of public school instruction, but it did much to inculcate an educational spirit in the township.

We give below Hamilton Township's contribution (so far as we can learn) to the leading professions, most of whom are, in part, indebted to the old Maineville Academy for the basis of a solid education : Hon. Benjamin But-

To this list may be added the following names of those who were pupils in the school, but non-residents of the township: Josiah Morrow, lawyer,

There are many others, doubtless, whose names deserve mention in this connection, but the writer only has his memory to draw from, and cannot recall others.