Ohio History Journal

REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS BURIED

IN CLARK COUNTY OHIO

 

BY A. L. SLAGER.*

The attached roster of men who served on the side

of the Colonists during the War of American Inde-

pendence, and who are buried in Clark County, has been

compiled from partial lists of names furnished by

Colonel George I. Gunckel, Dayton, Ohio, president of

the Ohio Society Sons of the American Revolution, and

a similar list taken from the records of the George Rog-

ers Clark Chapter, S. A. R., of Springfield, as well as

a list prepared by a committee of Lagonda Chapter,

D. A. R., of the same city, composed of Mrs. C. M.

Clark, Mrs. A. A. Wright, Mrs. Albert Greaves, Miss

Dora Rubsam and Mrs. E. E. Otstott.

Comparison of these lists with township histories of

Clark County, both printed and in manuscript, has re-

vealed that several of the names given, are of men who

were not in the Revolutionary War, but who enlisted in

the American Army during the War of 1812-14. One

other, mentioned in the S. A. R. records, as having

been born in 1775, may have been in the War of 1812,

but there is no available record to substantiate the claim.

A fourth name is that of a man who was not in either

army.

These names have been eliminated from the roster

presented herewith, which after careful investigation, is

* Secretary of the Clark County Historical Society, Springfield, Ohio.

(86)

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  87

believed to be as accurate as it is humanly possible to

make it at this late date, and with the historical data

available.

It is to be regretted that so little of the war record

of these patriots has been preserved.    Such isolated

sketches, as can be found in the history of Clark County,

have been collected and are presented as memorials of

these Revolutionary heroes who came into the wilder-

ness of western Ohio, and settled in what is now Clark

County, in the early years of the nineteenth century, and

to whose loyalty, energy and industry, we owe much

that is now the heritage of its present population.

The removals, as noted, from farms and small ceme-

teries, were made with perhaps a few exceptions, in

December, in the year 1906, and such graves as could

be located have been designated by suitable iron markers.

 

ROSTER OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

BURIED IN CLARK COUNTY, OHIO.

Albin, John ................ Ebenezer Cemetery, Green Town-

ship.

Bacon, Capt. Richard .......Ferncliff Cemetery, Springfield.

Baird, William .............Asbury Chapel Cemetery, Pleasant

Township.

Baker, Nelyn ..............Enon Cemetery, Mad River Town-

ship.

Bancroft, John.............. Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field.

Bardwell, Simeon .......... Thompson Cemetery, Near Old

Columbus Road.

Bayley (or Bailey),Timothy. .Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Har-

mony Township.

Beardsley, Elijah ............ Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field. Northeast corner.

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Bridge, Benjamin ...........Enon Cemetery, Mad River Town-

ship.

Brown, Frederick ......... Green  Lawn    Cemetery,  South

Charleston.

Christie, Lieut. Jesse........ Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field. Northeast corner.

Craig, John S.............. Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Har-

mony Township. (Removed from

Wragg Cemetery.)

Dawson, Lieut. Henry ......Asbury Chapel Cemetery, Pleasant

Township. (Removed from Daw-

son farm.)

Ebersole, Jacob ............ Donnel's Creek  Cemetery, Pike

Township.

Farnum, John S............ Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Har-

mony Township.

Frantz, Benjamin .......... Old  Frantz  Cemetery,   Bethel

Township.

Galloway, James ........... Enon Cemetery, Mad River Town-

ship. (Removed from Galloway

farm, August, 1906.)

Garlough, John Henry ......Garlough Cemetery, Green Town-

ship.

Harriman, Stephen ......... Lisbon Cemetery, Harmony Town-

ship.

Hempleman, George ........ Green  Lawn    Cemetery, South

Charleston

Jones, Benjamin ...........Garlough Cemetery, Green Town-

ship.

Keller, John ............... Old  Frantz  Cemetery,  Bethel

Township.

Kelley, James.............. Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field.

Lamme, James L. ...........Lamme Cemetery, Bethel Town-

ship, Section 4.

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  89

 

Lane, Robert ..............Ferncliff  Cemetery, Springfield.

(Known as Grandaddy                      (Removed   from   McCullough

Lane)                                                  farm.)

Lippencott, Samuel .........Myers Cemetery, Pike Township,

Northampton. (Removed from

Seventh-Day Baptist Cemetery.)

McCleave, George ..........Ferncliff  Cemetery,  Springfield.

(Removed from Columbia Street

Cemetery.)

McIntire, William .......... Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field.  (Removed from   Miller

farm, southeast of Springfield.)

Nauman, Thomas..........Nauman farm, German Township,

Section 13.

Parsons, John ..............Mad River Township. Cemetery

unknown.

Pool, William ..............Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Har-

mony Township.

Rodgers, William ........... Moorefield Township.  Cemetery

unknown.

Servase, William ...........Bethel Township. Cemetery un-

known.

Toland, John Cornelius...... Columbia Street Cemetery, Spring-

field.

Tuttle, Sylvanus ...........Tuttle Farm Cemetery, Springfield

Township.

Vicory, Merrifield ...........Greenmount Cemetery, Springfield.

Wilson, Isaac .............. Madison Township. Cemetery un-

known.

In 1906, the following petition was presented to the

County Commissioners of Clark County, by five free-

holders in each township, as provided by law:

The undersigned freeholders of the Township of Springfield,

desiring to avail ourselves of the provisions of an act passed

(by the Legislature of Ohio) April 21, 1904, authorizing the

County Commissioners to furnish Memorial Tablets for the

graves of deceased soldiers, sailors and marines, do hereby peti-

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tion your honorable body to furnish suitable and proper metal

markers, such as hereafter described, for the graves of the sol-

diers who served in the war of the American Revolution.

The form and character of the metal Tablets is described

on pages 20, 22 and 24 of the catalog herewith submitted and

made a part of this petition. The undersigned earnestly request

your honorable body that immediate action be taken on this

petition as authorized by the act above referred to.

In response to this petition, the Commissioners fur-

nished markers for twenty-two graves, which had been

located by Attorney Oscar T. Martin, Forrest M. Run-

yan and persons in the vicinity of the burial-places. The

markers were placed over the graves by Messrs. Mar-

tin and Runyan, in 1906.

Additional graves were located and markers placed

at their head in later years by the Lagonda Chapter,

Daughters of the American Revolution.

 

HISTORICAL DATA.

JOHN ALBIN. Father of Gabriel, George and William

Albin, came from Winchester, Virginia, with his son, George, in

1810, and settled in the western part of Green Township. His

war record has not been preserved in the County or Township

histories. His son, George, served in the War of 1812, and his

grandson, Cyrus (son of George), served in the Civil War, hav-

ing enlisted in Captain Asa S. Bushnell's Company, Fifty-second

Regiment, in May, 1864. John Albin is buried in Ebenezer

Cemetery, Green Township.

WILLIAM BAIRD was of English origin, his father's

family having come from England to the Colony of Maryland

at an early day. He was born at Hagerstown, March 16, 1762,

and when eighteen years of age joined the Revolutionary Army.

At the close of the war he married Dorothy Camerer, who was

also born at Hagerstown, in the year of 1760. She was of

Holland-Dutch descent, her father having come to the Colonies

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  91

 

from Holland, before the war. In 1790, William Baird and his

wife removed from Maryland to Westmoreland County, Penn-

sylvania, where they resided about four years, and then came

down the Ohio in a flatboat to Limestone (now Maysville), Ken-

tucky, going from there to a land claim given him by his father,

in Fleming County, in that State. The claim having been proven

invalid, he again removed, coming with his family to Clark

County, Ohio. Here he entered 160 acres of land in Section 30,

Range 9, Harmony Township. He obtained his patent for this

land in 1812.

During his residence in Kentucky, William Baird had be-

come acquainted with the noted pioneers and Indian Scouts,

Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton. Besides himself and wife,

his family consisted of three sons and five daughters. He ac-

quired 394 acres of land, which he left to his surviving children.

The mother, Dorothy, died in 1824, and the father in 1836. He is

buried in Asbury Chapel Cemetery, Pleasant Township.

MELYN BAKER enlisted in the American army in 1776,

and was wounded in the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey. In

1790, he, with two brothers -- Jonathan and Donald -- came from

New Jersey and settled on the present site of Cincinnati, and a

few years later removed to Butler County, Ohio; in 1805 they

came to the present County of Clark, where Melyn Baker en-

tered in a section of land in Section 13, Range 9, Mad River

Township. Melyn was given to hospitality, and on more than

one occasion, incoming pioneers were invited to his cabin, to

remain until they could erect cabins upon their own lands. His

remains now rest in the Enon Cemetery.

LIEUTENANT JOHN BANCROFT enlisted as a private,

with the eight months troops, in Capt. Isaac Bolster's Company,

under Col. Eben Larned, at the beginning of the Revolutionary

War, and was given a commission as second lieutenant by the

Council of Safety, prior to the election of Washington to the

presidency. Some time after the close of hostilities he applied

for a pension and sent his commission to Washington, D. C., but

it was never returned. He was the son of Moses and Mary

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Bancroft, and was born at Reading, Mass., September 18, 1748.

On December 1, 1777, he was married to Anna Walters, to whom

were born four sons -- Amasa, John, Lewis and Lawson -- and

one daughter -- Nancy. He died September 28, 1837, and is

buried in the Columbia Street Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio.

TIMOTHY BAYLEY (or BAILEY). Beyond the fact

that he is known to have served in the War of the Revolution,

but little is known of William Bailey. He is said to have walked

from New Hampshire to Ohio, and after a residence of a few

years, returned to his native state, married and brought his

bride and his father's family to Clark County. He is buried in

Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, Harmony Township.

ELIJAH BEARDSLEY was born in New Fairfield, Conn.,

May 27, 1760, and entered the army of the American Patriots

at the age of sixteen years. On June 27, 1780, he was married

at New Fairfield, to Sally Hubbell, to whom were born fourteen

children -- six sons and eight daughters. About the year 1796

he removed with his family to Delaware County, N. Y., and

from thence, early in the year 1812, to Urbana, Ohio. Three

years later he and his family took up their abode in Springfield.

Here they first occupied a log house near the southeast corner

of Plum and Main Streets, where with pioneer hospitality, they

provided a pleasant stopping place for many a weary traveler

who wished to tarry for the night. One of the daughters married

Ira Page, prominent in the early history of Springfield, and

another daughter married another useful and highly esteemed

citizen of the place -- James S. Christie. Elijah Beardsley's

good wife died in Springfield on July 23, 1813, and his own

death occurred October 2, 1826. They are buried in the north-

east corner of the Columbia Street Cemetery, Springfield.

There has been, for a long time, a local tradition that Elijah

Beardsley was one of the "Indians" who comprised the "Boston

Tea Party." This tradition, however, like many others, does

not appear to be founded on fact. Boarding British ships and

destroying their cargoes was serious business, piracy in fact.

Beardsley, at the time of this occurrence, was a thirteen-year-old

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County      93

 

boy, living at New Fairfield, Conn., more than two hundred miles

to the southeast of Boston, by the water route, and it is not at

all probable that he was in Boston on that memorable day; and

if he had been, no group of men would have tolerated the pres-

ence of a boy of his age among them in so hazardous an under-

taking. The following account of this revolutionary proceeding

is given by the well-known historian -- John Clark Ridpath:

At Boston, the tea had been consigned to Governor Hutchinson and

his friends; and special precautions were taken to prevent a failure of the

enterprise; but the authorities stubbornly stood their ground and would

not permit the tea to be landed. On the 16th of December (1773), the

dispute was settled in a memorable manner. There was a great town

meeting at which seven thousand people were assembled. Adams (Samuel)

and Quincy (Josiah) spoke to the multitudes. Evening came on and the

meeting was about to adjourn, when a war-whoop was heard, and about

fifty men, disguised as Indians, passed the door of the Old South Church.

The crowd followed to Griffin's Wharf, where the three tea ships were at

anchor. Then everything became quiet. The disguised men quickly boarded

the vessels, broke open the three hundred and forty chests of tea that

composed the cargoes, and poured the contents into the sea. Such was the

Boston Tea Party.

BENJAMIN BRIDGE enlisted in the Revolutionary Army

at the age of 22, and served during the war. He died in Clark

County, and is buried in Enon Cemetery, Mad River Township.

FREDERICK BROWN. Born October 29, 1753. Died

January 29, 1829, and is buried in Green Lawn Cemetery, at

South Charleston, Ohio.

LIEUTENANT JESSE CHRISTIE enlisted in the War

of the Revolution, in a New Hampshire Regiment, under Col.

Daniel Moore. In the fall of 1817, he with his son, Major Robert

Christie, came to Springfield, Ohio, the Lieutenant being then in

the eighty-eighth year of his age, while the Major had reached

his forty-second year. Father and son took up their abode in

a farm-house on what is now the northwest corner of Wittenberg

Avenue and Main Street. Major Christie died in August, 1822,

and his death was followed by that of his father, in January,

1823, in his ninety-fourth year. Lieutenant Christie is buried

in the northeast corner of the Columbia Street Cemetery.

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JOHN S. CRAIG was born February 15, 1753, and entered

the American Army in January, 1775. After a service of five

years, he was honorably discharged in 1780. Coming to Ohio,

he settled in what is now Harmony Township, Clark County.

He was a citizen who had the esteem of all who knew him, for

his moral worth and sterling character. His death occurred at

the home of Lewis Skillings, in Springfield, and he was laid to

rest in the Fletcher Chapel Cemetery, in Harmony Township.

LIEUTENANT HENRY DAWSON served as an officer

in the War of the Revolution, and at the close of the struggle

for American independence, settled in Kentucky. In 1804, he

brought his family to what is now Clark County, Ohio, and

located on a tract of land near Catawba, which at that time

was in the midst of a dense forest. He brought with him a

number of young apple-trees, which he planted near the cabin

he built upon his arrival. These were the first fruit-trees brought

into that locality. The trees bore fruit many years, and seventy-

six years after planting, some of them still remained.

Henry Dawson was a cooper, and supplied his neighbors

with tubs and buckets, and also manufactured barrels for the

mills and distilleries which later were established in the north-

east section of the county. He also built and operated a small

mill for grinding corn, and was thus able to supply the early

settlers in that region with corn-meal, which was an important

addition to the family larder of that day. In addition to himself

and wife, his family consisted of five children -- George, John,

Richard, Harriett and Elizabeth. A small plot of ground was

allotted on the western side of the Dawson farm for a neighbor-

hood cemetery, and here Henry Dawson and his wife were

buried. In October, 1906, their remains were removed to Asbury

Chapel Cemetery, in Pleasant Township.

JACOB EBERSOLE was a member of a Pennsylvania

Regiment, during the Revolutionary War. He died in 1828, and

is buried in the Donnel's Creek Cemetery near Northampton,

Pike Township, about one mile south of Northampton.

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  95

JOHN    S. FARNUM     (or FARNSWORTH) was born

September 9, 1763; served in the Revolutionary War; died in

Clark County (date unknown), and is buried in Fletcher Chapel

Cemetery, Harmony Township.

BENJAMIN FRANTZ came to what is now Clark County,

from Pennsylvania, in 1812, having served in the war, waged

by the mother country, against the American Colonies. He set-

tled in German Township, and is buried in the old Frantz Ceme-

tery, Bethel Township.

JAMES GALLOWAY, SR., emigrated in an early day,

from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, but on account of the inse-

curity of land titles, brought his family to Ohio, and settled about

two miles north of Old Chillicothe (Old Town), in 1798. This

location was included within the limits of Hamilton County at

that time. A short time later he removed to what is now

Section 5, in the southern end of Mad River Township, where

he entered four hundred acres of land. Greene County was

formed from Hamilton and Ross Counties, in May, 1803, and

included all of the present Clark County. James Galloway was

at once appointed Treasurer of Greene County, and his son,

James, Jr., was appointed surveyor by the newly organized county

court. The court convened for the trial of causes, August 2,

1803, and these appointments were made during the same month.

During the Revolutionary War, James Galloway, the sub-

ject of this sketch, was in the service of the Colonies in the

capacity of hunter, to procure game for the army. He was in

the fight between the Indians and Kentucky settlers, at the

Blue Licks, Kentucky, and in the campaign of 1792 was shot by

the renegade, Simon Girty, whom he well knew. Going through

the woods, on horseback and unarmed, they met face to face.

Girty, perceiving that Galloway was without his rifle, said, "Now

Galloway, d--n you, I've got you," and instantly fired three

small bullets into his body. Girty supposed he had killed him.

Although badly wounded, Galloway wheeled his horse and made

good his escape. One of these bullets passed through his shoulder

and lodged in the back of his neck, where it remained many years,

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and was there when he came to Ohio. At length, there being

no surgeon within reach, he sent for a shoe cobbler, who, with his

knife and awl, extracted the bullet.

Beer's History of Clark County relates an interesting story,

stating that the subject of this sketch was a blacksmith, and that

he brought his tools to Ohio from Kentucky. This, however,

is an error, as the narrative applies to another James Galloway,

a cousin of our hero, who had located near the banks of the

Mad River, and there carried on his trade as blacksmith, while

James Galloway, Sr., had located his 400 acres of land on

Muddy Run, where he lived during the remainder of his life.

He had a daughter, Rebecca, who, it has been stated, taught the

Indian Chief, Tecumseh, to read and speak the English lan-

guage. Tecumseh at that time was twenty-eight or thirty years

of age, and a friend of the family. During his visits for instruc-

tion, he became enamored of the young woman, and finally asked

of her father that she be given him in marriage. The father

referred him to his daughter, who politely refused his suit,

saying she did not wish to become a wild woman, and perform

the labors of a squaw. To this he replied that she need not work,

but that he would make of her a "great squaw." It is said

that notwithstanding her refusal, Tecumseh always remained

friendly to the family.

James Galloway, Sr., was buried in a neighborhood ceme-

tery upon his farm on Muddy Run. In the fall of 1906, the

remains of himself and wife were removed to the Enon Ceme-

tery, at the instance of the local chapter of the Sons of the

American Revolution, by T. J. Montgomery, of the G. A. R.

STEPHEN HARRIMAN enlisted in General Stark's Bri-

gade of New Hampshire Militia, and marched with his company

from Hopkintown, New Hampshire, July 22, 1777. After serv-

ing two months under Captain Bailey, he was discharged Sep-

tember 22, 1777, and again entered the service as a private, in

the Third Continental Regiment, Company 5, Col. Squarnell

commanding. He died February 25, 1828, and is buried in the

Lisbon Cemetery, Harmony Township. He was 71 years of

age at the time of his death.

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  97

 

JAMES KELLEY was a private in the Virginia troop,

commanded by Col. Gibson, during the Revolutionary War. He

died April 30, 1837, aged 85 years, and is buried in the Columbia

Street Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio.

ROBERT LAING (or LANE). The following is taken

from a manuscript address delivered a number of years since,

at a pioneer meeting held near Emery Chapel, by W. M. Harris,

himself a pioneer:

In the first house north of "Possum Road" (Greene Township), lived

old Mr. Lane. All knew him as "Grandaddy Lane." He was a soldier in

the Revolution, and the only one I ever saw. The boys from "Possum

School" used to go to his place for apples. The trees had grown from

seeds and the apples were sweet.

When the electric railroad was built, it became necessary

to remove his remains from the McCullough farm, where he

had been buried, and they were interred in Ferncliff Cemetery,

at Springfield.

SAMUEL LIPPENCOTT, SR., was born August 20, 1758;

he was brought to Ohio, in 1810, by his son, Obadiah Lippencott.

He was born August 20, 1758, and served in the Revolutionary

War. He died in Clark County, and was buried in the German

Baptist Cemetery, near Northampton.    He was 95 years of

age at the time of his death. His remains were removed to the

Myers Cemetery.

GEORGE McCLEAVE moved with his family from Mary-

land to Colerain, Ohio, on the Big Miami River, about 1790.

He was tall and of good personal appearance; a shoemaker by

trade, which he learned in Philadelphia; was a soldier in the

Revolutionary War, participating in one of the great battles;

died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary (McCleave) Red-

dish, east of Springfield, Ohio, and was buried in the old Colum-

bia Street Graveyard, at Springfield, Ohio. His remains were

later removed to Ferncliff Cemetery. George McCleave had four

children: John, Elizabeth, Benjamin and Mary. Elizabeth mar-

ried Samuel Smith, August 22, 1801; her husband was the son

Vol. XXXVII--7.

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of Rev. Peter Smith, the maternal grandfather of General J. War-

ren Keifer, of Springfield, Ohio. George McCleave's wife died

soon after their arrival at Colerain, and the daughter, Elizabeth,

kept house for her father and brothers until her marriage to

Samuel Smith. In 1791, several hundred Indians, led by Simon

Girty, besieged the garrison at Colerain, where the McCleaves

lived, and Elizabeth, with the other women of the place, did

her part in defending the fort by moulding bullets for the men,

who kept up a vigorous fight until relieved by a rescuing party

from Fort Washington (Cincinnati). In the year 1805, Samuel

Smith and his wife, Elizabeth (McCleave) Smith, moved from

Columbia, with his father's family, to Clark County, Ohio, and

built a cabin near the east and west forks of Donnel's Creek,

about one-half mile from the present village of Donnelsville. In

1819, George McCleave, now well advanced in years, went with

his son, Benjamin, to Illinois, where he remained two years,

and then returned to Clark County, Ohio, where he spent the

remainder of his days at the homes of his daughters, Elizabeth

Smith and Mary Reddish, near Springfield. Descendants of his

sons, John and Benjamin, were living in Lawrence County, Illi-

nois, as late as 1921.

WILLIAM McINTIRE was a private in the 17th Pennsyl-

vania Regiment, Col. Wm. Irwin, Commander. He enlisted in

the American army August 1, 1777, and served under Capt.

Samuel Montgomery during the remainder of the war. He came

to Clark County, Ohio, in an early day, and lived at what is now

the southwest corner of Limestone Street and McCreight Avenue.

He is said to have been a personal friend of William Henry

Harrison. He died in Springfield and is buried in the old

Columbia Street Cemetery.

THOMAS NAUMAN, SR. In the year 1809, Thomas

Nauman, Sr., brought his family from Virginia and settled in

the neighborhood of Tremont City, Clark County, Ohio. Ac-

cording to a statement made by Mr. John H. Blose, who in 19O1

wrote an excellent history of German Township, Clark County,

Thomas Nauman was one of the Revolutionary Patriots who

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Soldiers of the Revolution Buried in Clark County  99

 

could rightfully claim to have been a member of the "Boston

Tea Party." He acquired a farm about flour miles south of

Tremont City, in Section 13, German Township, where he lived

and died, and is buried in the Nauman Graveyard on his farm.

He was born in Massachusetts, and after the Revolutionary War,

settled in Shenandoah County, Virginia, before coming to Ohio.

JOHN CORNELIUS TOLAND was born in the year 1750,

and served in the American Army in the Revolutionary War.

He came to the village of Springfield in an early day and was

the first of the Revolutionary soldiers to be buried in Clark

County with military honors. The following account of his

funeral was published in The Western Pioneer, a Springfield

newspaper, on August 14, 1835, under the head-line, "Another

Revolutionary Hero Gone."

John Toland, aged 85, was buried yesterday, according to his request,

with the honors of War, rendered by the "Clark Guards." An appropriate

address was delivered by Mr. (Charles) Anthony. The deceased served in

the American Army during the whole war.

Note--The "Clark Guards" was a semi-military company

of citizens organized for the protection of the community, in

the absence of a marshal or police. Each guard possessed a

horse and mounted parades were held at stated intervals.

SYLVANUS TUTTLE was a member of the New Jersey

branch of the Tuttle family; about the year 1784, he was

married to a comely young woman -- Mary Brown -- who seems

to have been possessed of the same venturesome spirit that

characterized her husband.  Soon after their marriage, they

emigrated to western Pennsylvania, and after a few years, to

the vicinity of Clarksburg, West Virginia. From there they

removed to Clark County, Ohio, in the year 1806, and took up

their residence near the headwaters of Buck Creek, about six

miles northeast of New Moorefield, where they resided about

two years, when they removed to a tract of land which Sylvanus

Tuttle entered on Sinking Creek, about one and one-half miles

from its mouth, in the eastern end of Springfield Township and

about six miles east of Springfield.

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When they settled on this land, there were in the Tuttle

family six boys and two daughters. A third daughter, the

eldest, had married in Virginia, and she, with her husband, ac-

companied her parents to their new home in the wilds of the

new State of Ohio. Sylvanus Tuttle was a "Minute Man" in

the Revolutionary Army, and was in the battle of Monmouth,

New Jersey, and at other places. When the family came to Ohio,

they brought with them a goodly supply of garden and apple-tree

seeds, a flock of fifteen or twenty sheep, two or three cows, and

the horses and wagons used in their journey to Clark County.

After a long and useful life, Sylvanus Tuttle died at his

home on the farm, and was buried in the Byrd Cemetery, Spring-

field Township. He was in the eighty-second year of his age,

at the close of his life. His remains were removed to the Tuttle

Farm Graveyard, one-half mile southwest of the Sinking Creek

Church.

MERRIFIELD VICORY was a drummer boy in the Revo-

lutionary War, and had his drum shot from his side at the Siege

of Yorktown, receiving a pension for his services in the conflict.

He was an odd but genial character. He located in Springfield

in 1814; he was a short, round man, with a jolly face, and soon

became known as "Little Daddy Vicory." He did not lack

courage, as will be seen from the following narrative. "Early

on a Sunday morning, while living in Springfield, he discovered

a thief stealing bacon from his smoke-house; securing a rope he

caught the thief and tied him securely until the hour when people

were on their way to church, when he drove him to the Presby-

terian Meeting-House, under the persuasive influence of a large

club, with two sides of bacon tied to his shoulders, taking him

to the door of the church he asked the people, there assembled, if

they claimed him as one of their members. This was such a

humiliating lesson that the thief, upon being released, disappeared

and never was seen in the town again." Soon after locating in

Springfield, Merrifield Vicory bought ten acres of the land on

what afterward became the east end of High Street. He died

in March, 1849, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and was

buried with military honors in Greenmount Cemetery.

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