CEDARVILLE HISTORY

(EARLY SETTLERS - CONTINUED)

dug a well, and cleared a small spot of ground, the first year of his residence here. He was a man noted for his honesty and uprightness, and was a prominent person in the community during his lifetime.

   James Small, emigrating from Kentucky, came to this township, and purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land just north of Cedarville, upon which he located permanently in 1805. He also bought a quarter section of land in Miami Township, but did not reside there. He had a family of ten children, two of whom yet live in the township, a son and daughter. The former, born in 1810, is probably the oldest native of the township who resides in its limits at present, and his sister, who was about twelve years old when the family came here, is the oldest resident in the township. Neither of these persons was ever married, and prove a living exception to the general belief that unmarried persons are short lived. There was about ten acres cleared land upon Mr. Small's place when he carne here, and upon this he raised his first crop of corn in the summer of 1805. The country at that date presented a very wild appearance, and Mr. Small never became fully reconciled to his surroundings. This, however, did not deter him from exerting himself to the utmost to better his condition, and he was ever foremost among those who were interested in the advancement and well being of the neighborhood in which he lived. He remained upon this farm till he died, at a good old age, regretted by all who knew him.

   Samuel Kyle, a brother-in-law to James Small, immigrated to this township from Kentucky in 1805. He was the father of twentyone children (?). Upon arriving here he entered a large tract of land on Massie's Creek, west of  Cedarville, and built a log cabin, which would today be considered a limited concern to hold comfortably. His numerous progeny, however, in those days a little crowding was not objectionable, and served to keep out the cold in winter, and this family thrived well in their narrow quarters, and the boys grew to be powerful men in physical strength, and prominent men in the community. Samuel Kyle was among the first associate judges in the county, which position he accepted in 1810, and creditably filled till 1845. He was a man of ability, and his descendants in the township are influential and highly respectable people.

   William McFarland, Esq., emigrated from Kentucky, and camewith his family to this township about 1804, and purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land on Massie's Creek, a short distance from where Cedarville now stands. There was no trading point then nearer than Xenia, and that was a small affair. Salt was hauled from Chillicothe, and could not be had nearer. Mr. McFarland soon became a prominent man in the sparsely settled neighborhood, and served as foreman on the first grand jury in the county, in 1804.

   Joseph McFarland came here from Kentucky in 1814, with a family of thirteen grown children, and settled on land now owned by Mr. Stewart. The Indians had nearly all left the county at that date, but wild animals were plenty, and many families fed on venison during the entire year. Priscilla, a daughter of Joseph McFarland, instituted the first Sunday school in this township, in the old log Baptist Church, in 1835. She was one among the earliest school teachers in the township. She is now the wife of James Currie, who resides in Cedarville, and is the oldest shoemaker in the township

   Thomas Paris, a native of Virginia, immigrated to Cedarville Township about 1809, and bought about five hundred acres of land on Massie's Creek, where he put up his cabin and .set out an orchard the same year. The first orchard in the township had been planted by the Townsley brothers in 1803. Quite a number of orchards had been put up prior to 1810.

   The Rev. Armstrong came from Kentucky, with his people, in the capacity of pastor in 1803 or 1804, and entered the land now owned by the Widow Corey, upon which he built a house and lived till his death.

   James Bull, a native of Virginia, came to this township, with his family in 1803, and located upon the farm now owned by his son, where he resided during the remainder of his life. The cabin into which he moved at first was without doors or windows, and the floor was of the roughest plank. He only resided here, however, a short time, when he put up a hewed log house, which, next to Townsley's, was the best in the township at that date.

   James Reid, a native of Ireland, immigrated to this township from Kentucky in 1805. He became the owner of a good farm in this township, which he improved, and upon which he resided till his death, in 1822. He, was the father of a large family of children, one of whom, Robert Charlton Reid, married Marion Whitelaw Ronald in 1826, and to them was born a son, Whitelaw Reid, who can justly claim to be the most illustrious man ever produced by Cedarville Township. Mrs. Reid still continues to reside upon the old farm, where her young days were spent, happy in the con-sciousness of being the mother of one of America's most distin-guished and successful journalists.

   Robert C. Reid was, by trade, a carpenter, and in 1817 he built the first frame house in this township for James McCoy, who re-sided in it till his death. This building is still standing, and is occupied as a residence by John Gibson. The first brick house in the township was owned by Colonel Duncan, who had it built in 1818. This structure is still in a good state of preservation, and is occupied by a colored family.

   Jacob Miller is the second oldest resident of Cedarville Township. He came here from Pennsylvania, with his mother, who was a widow with seven children, in 1806. In journeying hither, this family boated down the Ohio River as far as a place called "boats run," where they were driven ashore by a severe storm; all nar-rowly escaped being drowned. From there they journeyed to this township, along an Indian trail through the woods, carrying all their household goods. They could not have been encumbered much, however, as a camp-kettle and skillet, with a few pans and a little provisions, constituted all their worldly possessions at that time. After a journey of several weeks through the woods, they finally reached their destination in this township, and moved in a cabin with John Stephens, a brother of Mrs. Miller, who had come here from Pennsylvania, a short time before, and built a cabin on land entered by his father, Benjamin Stephens, but now owned by Jacob Miller. The woods at that time were thronged with Indians, bears, wolves, and deer; and it seems almost impossible to the timid women of today, that so few years since one of their own sex should have braved the perils of the wilderness, and traveled alone with her infant family for weeks through a trackless forest. Yet such instances of heroic endurance are by no means rare; nor are they confined to any one locality in our country; but in almost any township in our state can be heard the story, telling how some woman came into the country when the foot prints of civilization were very few indeed, and by her bravery and indomitable will succeeded with her husband in procuring homes for themselves and children. The pages of history never grow weary repeating the heroic deeds of the Grecian women who lived when old

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