Thursday, December 28, 2006

Charity Lynch ~ A Life of Struggles and Triumph (1779 ~ 1848)


The Charity Lynch House ~
Waynesville, Ohio
(Later known as the May Wright ~ Mary Current House)
See another view of the house below.

The following is the obituary of Charity Hasket Lynch, published in the Quaker periodical, "The Western Friend", dated March 1848. "The Western Friend" was published by Achilles Henry Pugh in Cincinnati.

"DIED ~~ On the 11th day of March, 1848, in Hamilton, Ohio, CHARITY LYNCH, in the sixty-ninth year of her age. During her life time, the deceased was a member of the Society of Friends, and though for many years, in the latter part of her life, she was deprived, in a great measure of enjoying the privileges of their meetings, yet her attachment to the Society, and the principles of the Society, did not in any degree abate. In her last illness of twelve days, she often spoke of her love for the Friends; she said, 'I love their voice, I love their silence, I love their spiritual worship.' When deprived of the meetings of her own Society, she sought and enjoyed Christian communion and fellowship and religious conversation with the pious of other denominations. The graces of meekness, humility and benevolence, was exemplified by her through all her Christian course. Her delight was in the law of the Lord; she searched the Scriptures and found by a happy experience, that their testimony is able to make one wise unto salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. Although useful to society, to the community in which she lived, and especially to her children, yet it pleased God in wisdom, to lay his afflicting hand upon her; but through all her sickness, she manifested a calmness and peace of mind which religion alone can give. Her peace was as a river, her joy as the waves of the sea. Though her bed was the bed of death, it was the spot around which ministering angels stood ~ though her room was the room of dying groans, yet it was made joyful to her by the presence of her God. ~~ Her heavenly Shepherd accompanied her through the vale of death ~ she feared no ill ~ resting her sinking head upon the bosom of her Savior, she 'breathed her life out sweetly there.' On Sabbath afternoon, the 12th inst., her body was committed to the silent tomb, attended by a large concourse of friends and acquaintances, who testified their respect for her worth, by mingling their tears with those of her children and grandchildren who followed her remains to the 'narrow house appointed for all the living.' Her countenance, when cold in death, radiated a sweet, a heavenly smile.

'Calm on the bosom of thy God,
Sweet spirit rest thee now!
E'en while with us they footsteps trod,
His seal was on thy brow.

Dust to its narrow house beneath!
Soul to its place on high!
They that have seen thy face in death,
No more may fear to die.'

A tribute to the memory of a beloved mother, by an affectionate son.
T. H. L."
(Thomas Hasket Lynch)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charity Hasket (b. October 27, 1779 in the Bush River Valley of South Carolina ~ d. March 11, 1848 in Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio) was a daughter of Isaac and Lydia Elliott Hasket. She married Isaiah Lynch at Bush River on March 20, 1801. Isaiah Lynch (b. April 1, 1768 near the Saluda River in South Carolina ~ d. July 27, 1814 in Waynesville, Warren Co., Ohio) was the son of David and Esther Embry Lynch.

Charity Hasket Lynch and her young husband, Isaiah Lynch, moved from Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends in South Carolina to Waynesville, Ohio in 1805. Like many Friends in the south, they left and settled in Ohio to escape the institution of slavery. They had three little girls with them all under the age of five: Sarah Ann, Rebecca, and Rachel. The first Lynch home was located on Main Street in Wabash Square (between High and Miami Streets)near the local tavern and stagecoach stop. While living in this residence, five more children were born: Mary, Thomas Hasket, Elijah, Isaac and William Mercer.

They decided to move away from the area of the tavern to a healthier part of the village. They bought a three and a half acre lot near the White Brick Meetinghouse of the Miami Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends on top of "Quaker Hill". The land had been previously owned by Friend David Faulkner (January 1807) and Friends Roland and Lydia Richards (June 1807). They engaged David Jones, a friend of theirs, to construct the new house. Just as the house was being finished, Isaiah Lynch came down with typhoid fever and this father at the age of 45 died on July 27, 1814. He is buried, as is his youngest son William Mercer, who died in 1813, in the Friends graveyard in Waynesville.

Charity was prostrate with grief and she was probably ill with the same sickness that had just killed her husband. The members of the Quaker meeting in Waynesville were convinced that she would not survive her illness since she was so frail. They would have seven orphan children to care for. It was decided to parcel them out to be raised in Quaker families:

  • Twelve year old Sarah, the oldest, went to live with Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Canby of Lebanon, Ohio
  • Rebecca and Isaac went to live with an elderly couple Seth and Elizabeth Smith who lived near Green Plain Monthly Meeting outside of Selma, Ohio.
  • Rachel, Mary and Thomas were taken to homes in Cincinnati.
  • Elijah went to live with David and Polly Littler near Waynesville

To everyone's surprise, with the help of Dr. Lathrope of Waynesville, she rebounded. However, to add to Charity's grief as she recovered from her illness, news arrived from Cincinnati that her little Mary had died in late November of 1814 and had been buried in a Potter's Field.

The new family home would need to be sold and what funds were left would be used to re-unite the dispersed family. On November 19, 1816 Friend Noah Haines bought the property at a Sheriff's auction.

Charity moved to Cincinnati where she rented a house, which she then ran as a boarding house. Thomas and Rachel were reunited with their mother in Cincinnati. A devoted Quaker, Charity and her children attended Cincinnati Monthly Meeting of Friends which had just been founded. She was never able to find the exact spot of her daughter's burial.

After a few years in Cincinnati, Charity and the children moved to Springboro, Ohio. She was friend of Jonathan and Mary Wright who encouraged her to move to their village. So in June of 1818 Charity bought a lot in Springboro and while a new brick house was being built, she rented a small house to live in with her children. Rachel and Thomas were joined by Sarah and Elijah. Charity traveled to Green Plain and brought home, Rebecca and Isaac. The family lived in Springboro up until 1826 when Charity moved to Hamilton.

The rest of her story and the story of her devoted children can be found in Alta Harvey Heiser's book, Quaker Lady: The Story of Charity Lynch and Her People (Oxford, Ohio: The Mississippi Valley Press, 1941).

Waynesville lore states that the Charity Lynch House is haunted by Charity who is looking for her little girl, Mary, who died in Cincinnati when she was separated from her ill mother.


View taken from the backyard of the
The 1905 Friends Boarding Home ~ Waynesville, Ohio

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

John Harvey ~ Farmer and Poet

JOHN HARVEY
July 16th, 1800 in Orange Co., North Carolina ~ February 10th, 1872 in Pleasant Plain, Iowa[i]

and his first wife

LYDIA BALLARD
November 9th, 1800 ~ November 13th, 1832 in Harveysburg, Ohio

And his second wife

MAHALA PLUMMER
June 14th, 1814 in Highland Co., Ohio ~ December 30th, 1862 in Pleasant Plain, Iowa


John Harvey was one of the sons of William Harvey[ii], the last of the five Harvey brothers that settled on Todd’s Fork in Adams Co., Ohio, the “Harvey Settlement”, and Mary Vestal Harvey[iii]. He was married twice and had two large sets of children:

With Lydia Ballard:
1. JAMES HARVEY, b: July 1st, 1822 ~ Jan 15th, 1894, moved to Iowa (m. Minerva)[iv].
2. MARY ANN HARVEY, b: October 18th, 1823
3. ELIAS HARVEY, b: June 10th, 1825 ~ September 16th, 1842 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
4. MARTHA HARVEY, b: January 27th, 1827
5. EUNICE HARVEY, b: February 2nd, 1829
6. JOHN M. HARVEY, b: February 22nd, 1831 (moved to Iowa)

With Mahala Plummer:
1. LYDIA ANN HARVEY, b: August 21st, 1835
2. EMILY HARVEY, b: January 22nd, 1838
3. CAROLINE HARVEY, b: December 5th, 1839
4. ELI P. HARVEY, b: January 1st, 1842 ~ February 16th, 1842 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
5. ABI HARVEY, b: January 19th, 1843 ~ August 4, 1844 (Buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
6. ALFRED HARVEY, b: August 14th, 1845 ~ October 26th, 1845 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
7. JOSEPH HARVEY, b: March 20th, 1847 ~May 22nd, 1853 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
8. OLIVER HARVEY, b: March 11th, 1850
9. WILLIAM A. HARVEY, b: JULY 11, 1851 ~ January 6th, 1853 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)
10. CHARLES HARVEY, b: February 15th, 1853 ~ February 15th, 1853 (buried in Warren Co., Ohio)

John Harvey was a teacher at the Quaker school on Todd’s Fork for two years[v]. His true loves were farming and his large family. He was noted locally for his poetry, which focused on the people and events of his life. Poetry was one of the few artistic outlets allowed by the Friends before the Civil War. William Harvey’s descendants had an artistic streak.

John Harvey settled in Harveysburg, Ohio in Warren Co., Ohio. He authored a book of poetry entitled Miscellaneous Poems; Moral, Religious, and Sentimental (Cincinnati: Published by James Harvey, 1848). The first poem in this book is entitled:

A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR’S LIFE

I came into being, as the record shows,
When the eighteenth century was just at its close;
From North Carolina, the land of my birth,
I came with my parents, to this part of the earth,
(Ohio, renown’d as a free and rich state)
In the spring of one thousand eight hundred and eight.
This country was chiefly a wilderness then,
And in many places the abode of red men,
From the graves of their fathers now driven far west,
By men of pale faces, who loved themselves best.
On the banks of Todd’s Fork, about twenty-three years,
My days pass’d in pleasure unmingled with tears;
A loving companion, ten years of the time,
Was still the chief blessing of my early prime,
My dearest relations were all yet alive,
And most of them able to work and to thrive;
When half a dozen miles to the westward I went (to Harveysburg),
And settled where the rest of my life has been spent,
Where sorrow and care have attended my lot,
While scenes of past pleasure could not be forgot.
My faithful companion was the first one that died (Lydia Ballard),
Of all to whom I was most tenderly tied;
“But all of my losses and causes of care
Have, in my poor scribbling, been stated elsewhere.
And, oh! May I never repine at the rod~
I still have been follw’d by the mercies of God!
And while, by his blessing, upon a rich soil,
I still have been reaping the fruits of my toil,
A second companion has help’d me along (Mahala Plummer),
And lighten’d the burden of many a song.

John Harvey wrote poetry about his sorrows: the death of his first wife Lydia whom he had met in 1819 while coming home from Waynesville on the hill above Corwin after attending Miami Quarterly Meeting in the White Brick Meetinghouse and the tragic death of his infant son, Elias P.

Lydia Harvey’s gravestone located in the Quaker Orthodox Cemetery in Harveysburg, Ohio

We know that John and his second wife, Mahala, and their son, Oliver, moved out west to Iowa in 1859. Perhaps the death of six of their children between 1842-1853 motivated them to migrate west? They moved their membership from Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville to Pleasant Plain in Iowa on February 23rd, 1859. They are listed in the 1860 Federal Census as living in Penn Township of Jefferson County, Iowa (Post office: Pleasant Point). John is listed as a farmer and two children are still living with them: Lydia and Oliver (Roll M653_328, page 74).

In 1860 Lydia moved her membership back to Miami Monthly Meeting from Iowa. Mahala Plummer Harvey is buried in the Friends Cemetery in Pleasant Point, Iowa (Ancestry.com, Iowa Cemetery Records. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original Data: Works Project Administration. Graves Registration Project. Washington, D.C.: n.p., page 179). John was buried there also (same reference). Their son James and his wife Minerva and their son Jervis had moved before them to Pleasant Plain in 1851.

The Pleasant Plain, Iowa community was first settled by Quaker farmers in 1836. It was first named Pleasant Prairie. In 1876, the Pleasant Plain Academy Association of Friends was formed and set about constructing a school building, which was completed in 1876. The academy was under the supervision of the Friends Church but admitted young people of all denominations. Often tuition was paid in products such as wheat, corn and meat. It was the first school in Jefferson Co., Iowa. Pleasant Plain Friends Meeting had been established in 1836.

[i] A listing of the burials in the Pleasant Plain Friend Cemetery in Penn Township, Jefferson County can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~iajeffer/Cemeteries/Pleasant_Plain-Cemetery.html.
[ii] An obituary of William Harvey can be found in the Friends’ Review (Vol. 11, 1858): "DIED, on the 5th of 12th mo. last, at the residence of his son, WILLIAM HARVEY, an Elder of Springfield Monthly meeting, Ohio, in the 89th year of his age. In the latter part of his life he endured much affliction of body, through all of which he often broke forth in praises to the Lord “for his mercy and goodness to him, a poor unworthy creature, even to his last moments.” A short time before his death he was visited by the dear English friends, P. G. & M. N., the comfortable remembrance of which remained with him to the last, often drawing forth his prayers “for their preservation, and for all that were called upon to declare the glad tiding of the gospel;” and that “the glorious kingdom of the dear Redeemer might spread more and more in the earth, to the praise of his ever blessed name,” declaring his “love not only to his own children, but to every creature the world over.” He was one of the early settlers, and helped to rear log-meeting houses and blaze paths through the almost unbroken wilderness, to direct the way to and from them.
[iii] William and Mary Vestal Harvey are said to have established Harveysburg Friends Meeting. This is probably the Orthodox preparative meeting in Harveysburg (Quaker Historical Collections: Springfield Friends Meeting, 1809-1981 by Lucile F. Hadley, p. 127).
[iv] The two brothers, James and John M. Harvey, are listed in the 1856 State Census of Iowa, Jefferson County, Penn Township, HQ# V221-19, FHL #1021302, IHS# Roll 9, enumeration date: July 22, 1856, http://iagenweb.org/census/jefferson/1856-IA-Jeff-Penn.txt.
[v] Quaker Historical Collections: Springfield Friends Meeting compiled by Lucille Hadley, p. 42-43.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Bethiah Mosher Furnas ~ Quaker Minister & Poet


(1831-1913)

Sketch by Diana Bouton

Bethiah Mosher was born on the third of March 1813 in Cardington, Ohio, a town founded by her granfather Asa Mosher. Her father, Robert Mosher and mother, Edith Nichols had come to the Ohio valley from New York as small children. By 1800 they owned significant acreage within township limits as well as valuable farmable land in the surrounding valley.

Members of the Mosher family were instrumental in organizing schools and establishing the Quaker meeting. They built the first grist and saw mill and Asa Mosher sat ont he first town council. Bethiah grew up in a family of relatiave prosperity and civic prominence. It must have beena loving happy home because she stayed in close touch with her sisters throughout her life and deeply mourned her parents at their passing. She was raised in the Quaker church. Pictures of her show a strict adherance to the Quaker fashion of "plain dress." On September 23, 1853, at the age of 22, she married Robert F. Furnas, a young farmer from Waynesville. Her poetry gives us a peek into the trials of their courtship. Bethiah and Robert had eight children:

  • Mary Furnas, b. 1855
  • Seth W. Furnas, b. 1857
  • Calista Furnas, b. 1860 ~ d. 1862
  • Eunice Furnas, b. 1862
  • Edith D. Furnas, b. 1864 ~ d. 1873
  • Phebe Furnas, b. 1868
  • Robert H. Furnas, b. 1870
  • Joseph Furnas, b. ca. 1872 ~ d. 1874

Bethiah continued her family's tradition of community service by focusing her considerable acumen and creative energy on the enhancement of the nascent communites growing around her. Her diary shows she played an active role in the creation of the school system in Waynesville. She became a minister of the Miami Monthly Meeting (Orthodox). She was a skilled and prolific writer, leaving us the legacy of her poetry. We feel her compassion in the obituaries she wrote for the local Paper. While living in Kansas, she directed plays, undoubtedly some of her own creation, for a local cildren's theater group. As an intelligent, articulate yet gracious member of the community, we can only imagine how friends and neighbors must have depended upon her kind heart, openess, and warmth.

Dr. Robert F. Furnas ~ Quaker Farmer, Physician, Minister, and Progressive

Dr. Robert F. Furnas, 1830-1901
Sketch by Diana Bouton

By 1873 Robert Furnas had realized handsome returns for some years from the large family farm he managed in partnership with his father. He also played an active roll in the administration of the Quaker Miami Monthly Meeting (Orthodox). He was a devoted husband and father to a rambunctious brood of eight children. That year he celebrated his 43rd birthday. Certainly most men begin to contemplate retirement at forty three. Instead, 1873 was the year Robert Furnas entered medical school. Mid-life career changes are common in today's world, but even today to undertake a career change involving the mental and physical challenge presented by four years of such grueling study is indeed exceptional. Yet this is exactly what Robert Furnas chose to do with his life. He went on to establish a busy and successful homeopathic medical practice where he worked until his death in 1901. This intellectual energy has made him a legend in Furnas family lore.

Robert was born in Wayne Township, Ohio on October 10th, 1830, just about the time President Andrew Jackson began moving Indians onto reservations by signing the Indian Removal Act. Robert's parents were Seth and Diana (Kindley) Furnas. They inherited both a strong Quaker heritage and the prime farm acreage originally purchased by Robert's grandparents (Robert Furnas, Sr. & Hannah Wilson Furnas).


Robert Furnas, Sr. (1762-1852),
Dr. Robert F. Furnas' Grandfather

"RobertFurnas was born June 27, 1762 at Bush River, South Carolina, son of John and Mary (Wilkinson) Furnas. He married Hannah Wilson in 1796. They had eleven children. In 1803 they came from Pine Creek Meeting, South Carolina to Waynesville, Ohio. He was Clerk of Monthly Meeting. Also, village blacksmith, surveyor, physician and surgion. He drew wills and contracts for which he accepted no pay. He ws very punctual and sat at the head of Caesar's Creek Meeting. Plain in his dress." (Taken from The Dictionary of Quaker Biography located in the Quaker Collection of Haverford College, Philadelphia).

The picture above is of Seth and Dinah (Kindley) Furnas and their
two sons, Davis Furnas (left) and Robert F. Furnas (Right).

Young Robert grew up working alongside his father on the farm enduring the hardships involved in opening the frontier and attended the local school held in a log cabin. Indians roamed the forests and the howling of wolves was a nightly occurrence. Wild game of all kinds was plentiful and in that day provided a mojor source of sustenance and sometimes served as the main provision against hunger and even starvation.


The 1875 map above shows the Seth Furnas farm and the Mosher farm next to it. The Seth and Dinah Kindley Furnas in now located in Pioneer Village
http://www.caesarscreekvillage.org/VillageHistoryHatfield.html
.

He remained helping to work his parent's farm until the age of 22 when in 1857 he married Bethiah Mosier (usually spelled Mosher). she was one of nine sisters and two brothers, the children of Robert and Edith (Nichols) Mosier (Mosher). Also Quakers, the Mosiers came from New York State and owned a large and prosperous farm nearby.

Robert and Bethiah had eight children, five of which survived to adulthood. Robert engaged in farming and the raising and edealing in stock for about twenty years. During this period he constructed several beautiful pieces of cherry wood furniture. A canopy bed, large dresser and nightstand still remain in the family. In 1873 he turned his attention to medicine and attended the Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati, graduating in 1877. He practiced as a homeopathic physician and surgeon throughout the early 1880's. His office was located two doors south of the Harris Bank which was replaced by the United Telephone Company builid in 1973.

Dr. Robert Furnas partnered with Dr. James Wilkins Haines ~ Quaker Physician, Minister, Educator and Spiritualist (1849-1893) until 1880 when the Furnas family moved Richmond, Indiana and Dr. Furnas partnered with Dr. I. C. Teague.

The concept of a utopian society or intentional community which attempted to create "a heaven on earth" was a constant intellectural subject in the literature and press of the day. Dr. Furnas' fertile imagination was obviously fired by such a concept. Perhaps uncomfortable with his own growing affluence as a physician and inspired by the success of other utiopian societies, he convince, cajoled, and coereced until he had an intrepid band of souls ready to follow him into the plains of Kansas here to create the perfect world. Comprised of a vastness conducive to the isolation necesasary for a nascent society to grow unpolluted, Kansas was the perfect choice. It was only when the fertile soil of the praire grasslands turned to dust in the great grought of the 1890's that the economic underpinnings of Dr. Furnas' great experiment gave way. We have no record of the structure of his society.

This experiment is mentioned in Quakers on the American Frontier by Errol T. Elliott (Richmond, Indiana: The Friends United Press, 1969), pp. 142-143.

"An example of Quaker colonizing with its risks and failures was one led by John Franklin Moore, brother of Joseph Moore of North Carolina and Indiana fame. About twelve Indiana families settled in Stevens county south of Hugoton, near the Oklahoma border. They named their new settlement Lafayette, for the Indiana city, favorite of John Moore.

Lumber was brough one hundred miles by wagons from Garden City. Here John Moore erected a building that served as a store, a post office, a schoolroom, and a meeting room on the lower floor, with an office for Dr. Furnas, and with living quarters upstairs. A Day School land a sunday School were taught by Lydia Ann Wilson. John Moore and Lydia Ann Wilson were married here.

The little settlement could not succeed in the hard times that came with drouth hot winds, and grasshoppers in teh summer and with freezing winds of the winter. Crops failed and in one very severe winter their cattle froze on the range. The settlement was disbanded, and for several years one lone building with the name Lafayette on it stood in a kind of grandeur on the flat, far-sweeping prairie whcih the little Quaker community was not prepared to conquer."

The only record exisiting of that time comes from the recollections of Edith Furnas Davis, a granddaughter of Robert and Bethiah Furnas. She descirbed her grandparents sojourn into Kansas in a book entitled: Chosen Land ~ Barbar County, Kansas:

"My great-grandfather Furnas was a doctor in Stevens Co. during the early history of Kansas, practicing at Lafayette, a town which was organized in late 1886 by a group of Friends, also know as Quakers, earnest hard-working people. Dr. Robert Furnas, like all early day physicians, rode horseback, or drove a buggy many long weary miles in answer to calls thae came at all hours, in all kinds of weather. Mrs. Furnas, a very active church worker and strong prohibitionist, produced plays and encouraged young people to take part. She, being well education, good personality, and always dressed in Quaker garments, was highly respected. Their home is still remembered as the one with the 'buffalo bone fense' around it. My father spent many summers with his grandfahter, Doctor Furnas, and was there during one toof the dreaded early day "praire fires'. After fighting for two days and nights, with little or no food, in his weakened condition, he fell face downward into the fire, as he tired to jump cross it. But Dr. Furnas brought him through it without a scar on his face and only a few on his hands!"

Dr. Robert F. Furnas died in Waynesville on 9th mo. 18th, 1901 aged 70 years , 11 months and 8 days. He and his wife Bethiah M. Furnas are buried in Miami Cemetery ~ Located in Corwin, Across the River from Waynesville , Section F.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Joel Evans ~ Quaker, Mayor of Waynesville, County Surveyor and Carpenter and Builder


January 23, 1816 ~ September 17, 1907

Joel Evans had a good reputation for being a very intelligent man. Daniel R. Anderson tells the following story about Joel Evans and some of his friends in Waynesville:

"A coterie of wits, E. Baily, Arnold Boone, Neddy Lynch, Sam Rogers, Sr., David Evans, Sr., Joel Evans, Geo. W. Brown, Elton Dudley, ~~ that lot; and another regular was my father, Dr. Wm. H. Anderson, were member of a club that made a rookery of the store house of Hadden & McClelland, and the way they did "rook", oh, my! An open debate on any live subject, interspersed with well-told stories, filled out the long evenings till closing time.

I was always interested in that "gang" because it was as good as a moving picture show is to me now. My father had a sense of the eternal fitness of things ~ and boys were not eligible ~ so when I wasn't busy playing "Welly," with the other "kids" of the town, I would sneak into the store, and slip behind a large table that was piled high with goods and "stop, look and listen!" They were always great on conundrums, only one of which will I record.

Geo. Brown was late, and some one had propounded to those present, "what is the worst kind of 'bat' that flies after night?" Joel Evans answered, "A brick bat." About that time Geo. Brown drifted in and immediately Joel put the new one on him in this wise, "George, what is the worst kind of 'brick bats,' that fly after night?" George was silent for only a little while, and with a funny little grin said, "I don't know unless it is hard ones," and the laugh was on Joel.

Joel Evans was a man of superior intelligence, and vast information on most any subject, and I have put a question to him, and he would look at me and pass on and never open his head. Perhaps I would meet him again in a week or so, and without any preliminary he would answer that question as though he was just asked about it. That was his way! If he didn't know, he would find out; being sure that you wanted the information, or would not have asked him.

For more information about Joel Evans and the Evans family in Waynesville see,
The Evans Family of Waynesville.

Friday, November 18, 2005

David & Judith Thornburgh Faulkner ~ Benefactors of Miami Monthly Meeting

David Faulkner (b. June 26, 1749 in Warrington, York, Pennsylvania ~
d. January 30, 1821 in Paintersville, Greene, Ohio)

Judith Thornburgh Faulkner (b. October 3, 1760 in Frederick Co., Virginia ~
d. April 23, 1843 in Greene Co., Ohio

They were married on March 4, 1778 in Frederick Co., Virginia at Middle Creek Meeting. They had nine children:

Martha Faulkner b: June 23, 1780 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Jane Faulkner b: Abt. 1781 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Jesse Faulkner b: April 24, 1785 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Phebe Faulkner b: Abt. 1787 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Thomas Faulkner b: Abt. 1790 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Mary Faulkner b: Abt. 1792 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Judith Faulkner b: Abt. 1795 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Solomon Faulkner b: March 26, 1799 in Frederick Co., Virginia
Rachel Faulkner b: June 2, 1809 in Waynesville, Warren Co., Ohio

Friends at Waynesville were unable to get title to their land for a meetinghouse and the first graveyard on Quaker Hill until 1808 when a patent for 208 acres was granted to David Faulkner. The deed is at the Warren County Courthouse in Lebanon, Deed Book #4, pp. 33-35. According to Judge Keys, “Heighway and Bane made sales by title bond of town lots and lands, but no title was confirmed here until January 1807 and then for some unknown reason, 208 acres (including the most of the old town plat), was patented to David Faulkner. Faulkner, in 1807, made title to a large number of lots here to different persons” (“Early Waynesville: As Described by Judge John W. Keys”, a series of articles published in the Miami-Gazette and the Western Star.

Perhaps David Faulkner eventually gained the title to this land due to John Cleve Symmes defaulting on his payments for the land. John Cleve Symmes purchased the land on credit and failed to make payments according to the terms of the contract and that failure produced considerable confusion with those who had purchased the land without title. David Faulkner and Judith Faulkner were two of the early members of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville, Ohio. David and Judith were later associated with Center Monthly Meeting in Clinton County (The Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. V. (Ohio) [Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994], p. 469.

It is reported in The History of Clinton County, Ohio (Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1882), p. 491 that David Faulkner was the early proprietor of the land upon which Wilmington now stands. He never lived on that land. His son, Thomas, settled down in the northeast part of Wilmington. David Faulkner owned considerable land in Clinton County, 2,050 acres along Anderson Creek, a branch of Caesars Creek. The land patents can be found on the Bureau of Land Management database online (Ohio Land Records), Accession/Serial Number OH1900_.414, Doc. #3990 and Accession/Serial Number OH1900_.413, Doc. #3990. Both are dated August 8th, 1801.

David and Judith's home was in southern Greene County near Paintersville, approximately 15 miles northeast of Waynesville. It was closer for them to attend Center Monthly Meeting after it was established.

David Holloway ~ Early Quaker Pioneer, Merchant and Tavern Owner


The "Holloway Inn" much altered since its early days.

The following is taken from an article, “Miami Monthly Meeting, Part I” by Robert Hatton printed in the Miami-Gazette (March 15, 1876):
David Holloway (b. June 23rd, 1771 Stafford, Va.-d. December 31st, 1847 in Richmond, Indiana) was his (Roland Richards’) son-in-law, having married (March 12th, 1794 at Hopewell Monthly Meeting) his second daughter Hannah (b. January 31st, 1774 in Philadelphia), who was an excellent Friend. David had much of a consequential air about him, and in the earlier part of his time was tenacious of plainness, bringing his children to meeting, etc., and would close his store on meeting days. It is related of him that when suspenders were first brought about, his sons, then in their teens, procured some, which their father no sooner discovered, that he took them away and burned them. Subsequently, the youngsters procured flax and twisted it into a substitute. On this becoming known to David he destroyed them and reprimanded his children. This produced a dislike to the society and when they reached majority they left Friends and married from among them. No doubt David was perfectly sincere in his views, as he never adopted the condemned suspenders in his own wardrobe. About the year 1815 he moved to Cincinnati and the general depression of the commercials affairs in 1819-20 added to some unfortunate endorsements resulted in the loss of most of the acquirements of years of active labor. In 1822 he removed to a farm in Indiana, about four miles east of Richmond, where he remained a few years; and after several other changes closed his life from a cancer. His very superior wife survived him several years.

In the early days of Waynesville, Third Street was the main road on which businesses were located. David Holloway had his store at the corner of High and Third Streets. He also built a "house of entertainment", a tavern, "Holloway's Tavern", at the same crossroads. He bought the land from David Faulkner in 1807. In 1814 he sold this property to Joel Wright and moved to Cincinnati.

Hannah and David Holloway had seven children: Dayton [sometimes spelled, Daten] (b. 1795), Lydia (1796), Margaret (1799), John (1801), Abigail (1803), Hannah (1807) and David P. Holloway (1809). David P. Holloway, the grandson of Rowland Richards, was destined to be a Congressman from Indiana.

For more information about David P. Holloway see:

Ezekiel Cleaver ~ One of the Earliest Quaker Pioneers

According to Beer's 1882 History of Warren County, p. 580:
In the fall of that year (1801) Ezekiel Cleaver came here from Virginia, leaving his family at Brownsville, and put up a house at the crossing of Third and Miami Streets, on the east corner of said crossing in Waynesville, and, in the spring of 1802, moved here with his family. With him came John Mullen, Rowland Richards, David Holloway and others.
Miami Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends was later established in Waynesville, Ohio, October 13, 1803, meeting on First Day (Sunday) and on Fourth Day (Wednesday). It embraced all territory north of the Ohio River and west of Hockhocking. The meeting for worship had first met in the log cabin of Ezekiel Cleaver. Because of the rapid growth of the Quaker community, Friends build a 30-foot square log cabin which would be the first meetinghouse and schoolhouse on Quaker Hill. It was located where the Red Brick meetinghouse now stands.
Ezekiel Cleaver (b. 7 mo. 4th 1787) was one of the founders of Miami Monthly Meeting. In Virginia he had wed one of the daughters of Quaker minister, Rowland Richards.
Ezekiel Cleaver of Frederick Co., Va., the son of Ezekiel and Mary, later of Gwynedd, Montgomery Co., Pa, deceased, married at public Meeting at Crooked Run, Abigail Richards, daughter of Rowland and Lydia Richards of Frederick Co., Va. on 7 mo. 4th 1787. They had four children:
  • Mary (1789)
  • Abigail (1792)
  • Ezekiel (1794)
  • Peter (1796)

(see, The Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. VI. (Virginia) [Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994], p. 593.)

Information about the marriage certificate of Ezekial and Abigail Cleaver can also be found on ancestry.com (Frederick County, Virginia, Hopewell Friends History (database online). Orem, UT: Ancestry.com, 1997. Original data: Joint committee of Hopewell Friends. Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934: Frederick County, Virginia: Records of Hopewell Monthly Meetings and Meetings Reporting to Hopewell. Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, 1936.
Ezekiel Cleaver is buried in the 1808 Friends graveyard, First row, #3, interment on September 23rd, 1832. His wife Abigail Richards Cleaver is also buried there: First row, #6, interment on February 3rd, 1833.
The Ezekiel Cleaver Papers, 1729-1895, are located in the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. They were a gift from Thomas and Elizabeth Foulke. This collection includes correspondence and miscellaneous papers of a Quaker family concerning the Hicksite/Orthodox controversy in Ohio, conditions of everyday life in Virginia and the Midwest, and observations on slavery and the use of tobacco. Also included is an account of Cleaver family births and deaths, 1729-1895.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Moses Hollingsworth ~ Builder

Moses W. Hollingsworth of Springboro was an architect and builder. He was the son of Joseph and Rhoda Whitacre Hollingsworth, born 5th mo. 17th day 1823. His father was a miller by trade and established with his brothers-in-law Whitacre Mills where Todd’s Fork enters the Little Miami River in 1832. The family was associated with Hopewell Preparative Meeting in Rochester (near Morrow, Ohio). Around 1850 the family moved to Harveysburg. The Quaker meetings in both Rochester and Harveysburg were preparative meetings of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville. After the death of his father in 1853, Moses and his mother moved to Springboro. His sister Ruthanna lived with them after the death of her husband, Nathan Hunt. Moses never married.

Moses was a member of Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville and transferred his membership to Springboro Monthly Meeting on 11th mo. 20th day 1867. Since he was on the building committee for Miami Valley Institute, it is possible that he was the architect and contractor who built the main brick building and other buildings. There is no conclusive evidence for this, however. Moses Hollingsworth was an active Friend and served on many Quaker committees. In 1903 he was appointed a Director of The Farmer’s Bank of Springboro ( See, 1904 Blanche A. Riley Diary, Clearcreek Township, Warren County, Ohio (Lebanon, Ohio: Printed by the Warren County Genealogical Society, 1999), p. 73.)

Obituary:
HOLLINGSWORTH.~At the home of Lydia Wood, in Springboro, Ohio, Sixth month 16th, 1911, Moses W. Hollingsworth, in his 89th year. He was born near Rochester, Ohio, but had lived since 1857 in Springboro. He was a life-long and consistent member of the Society of Friends (Friends’ Intelligencer, Seventh month 1, 1911, p. 415).

A short death announcement was published in the Miami-Gazette on June 21, 1911. The funeral was held at the Springboro Monthly Meeting and he was buried in Rochester Preparative Meeting graveyard, near Morrow, Ohio. This old cemetery lies on the north side of Rt. 22/3 behind the old Quaker Meetinghouse in Rochester (Cemetery Vol. VI Warren County, Ohio Old Cemeteries from Eight Townships (Warren County Genealogical Society, 1987, p. 385). The meetinghouse is now a private residence.

Edward Furnas, Elihu Underwood and wife, Edwin Chandler, A. B. Chandler, Miss Belle Chandler of Dayton, attended the funeral at Springboro (Miami-Gazette, June 21, 1911).

Also see, Warren County, Ohio and Beyond by Dallas R. Bogan (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1997), pp. 271-273,
Descendants of Valentine Hollingsworth, Sr. Socie... (Photograph taken of their gathering at The Mary L. Cook Public Library.)

Monday, November 14, 2005

Marcus Mote ~ Quaker Artist







Marcus Mote house outside of Waynesville
standing in ruins.


Marcus Mote (1817 ~ 1898), son of David and Miriam Mendenhall Mote, was born June 19, 1817 near West Milton, Ohio. Marcus was a fifth generation birthright American Quaker. His parents were members of West Branch Monthly Meeting of The Religious Society of Friends. Mote moved to the Waynesville, Ohio area in the late 1830s. He taught at the Turtle Creek School in Warren County, Ohio, just southeast of Waynesville in 1836 and 1837. At that time, he attended Miami Quarterly Meeting in Waynesville (Miami Monthly Meeting’s White Brick meetinghouse) where at one time he was clerk of the Meeting. Miami Monthly Meeting members protested his artwork. Quakers at that time were traditionally not schooled in the fine arts and suspicious of their frivolity. Such interest and vocations were considered “worldly” and “frivolous” and were not accepted by the religious group, which advocated plainness in all aspects of daily life. Mote’s talents and artwork almost got him disowned by the Meeting.



While teaching at Turtle Creek School, Mote was taken with Rhoda Steddan, one of his students, also a fifth generation birthright American Quaker. Marcus and Rhoda were married November 11, 1837 at the Orthodox Friends Meeting House at Waynesville (the Red Brick) before moving to West Milton where the first of their children were born.


Marcus MOTE married Rhoda STEDDOM, born the Eighth Month, 10th day, 1821. Their children were:
· Linus, born First Month, 28th day, 1840
· Samuel Steddom, born Ninth Month, 15th day, 1842
· Henry Davis, born Sixth Month, 24th day, 1847
· Susana Jane, born Seventh Month, 9th day, 1850
· Edwin L., born Twelfth Month, 31st day, 1855
· Edwin M., born Second Month, 18th day, 1857

The infants Edwin L. MOTE and his brother Edwin M. were buried in Turtle Creek Preparative Meetinghouse Cemetery a few miles south of Waynesville, Ohio on the dates given.



The couple returned to the Waynesville area with their family a few years later. They resided in a two-story brick home on the old Middletown Road near Turtle Creek Preparatiave Meeting House (see, Meetinghouses in Harveysburg: Grove & Harveysburg) in a neighborhood settled by Rhoda’s family. The house, which is in a dilapidated state, is located on the property of James Thornbury.


Marcus planned to use an unfinished room in the home for his studio and may have for a short period of time. However, most of his work centered in Lebanon, Ohio, Warren County seat, where he frequently painted portraits at The Golden Lamb Inn. He also painted in the surrounding villages while keeping Lebanon as a base for his artistic work. He also drew plans for buildings, made maps for Quaker Meetings in Ohio and Indiana (see, 1853 Map of Indiana Yearly Meeting by Marcus Mote), designed election posters and drew advertising pictures of plows, carriages and furniture for various businesses.



Marcus and Rhoda Mote moved their family from Waynesville to Richmond, Indiana December 26, 1866. They transferred their Quaker meeting certificates (Certificates of Removal) to Whitewater Friends Meeting. At Richmond, Mote opened an Academy of Design and continued painting portraits. Mote reopened his Lebanon, Ohio studio in May 1868. During his time in Warren County he painted at Waynesville, Lebanon, Springboro, Cincinnati, Miamisburg and Richmond, Indiana.



Marcus Mote died February 26, 1898 at Richmond, Indiana. His great-granddaughter, Mrs. Lena Irons, now deceased, was the last of his direct line to live in Warren County, Ohio.



Also see, http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa478.htm (Mote’s Art: The Quaker and Richmond Heritage of Marcus Mote, Richmond Art Museum, Richmond, Indiana) and Marcus Mote and Eli Harvey: Two Quaker Artists from Southwest Ohio by Dr. Thomas Hamm, Dr. Mary Klei, Ms. Mickie Franer and Ms. Christine Hadley Snyder (Warren and Clinton County Historical Societies, 1992). There is also a large collection of Mote’s works at the Warren County Historical Society Museum in Lebanon, Ohio.



A large collection, "The Marcus Mote Collection. 1835-1970. FMS 5" is located in the Quaker Archive at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. The Mote Collection consists of diaries, notebooks, correspondence, and works by Mote, as well as research material on Mote gathered by former Earlham College Archivist Opal Thornburg.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Ruth Chandler ~ School Teacher and Matron of the Friends Boarding Home


Ruth (left) & her sister Elizabeth in front of the
Friends Boarding Home

Elizabeth & Ruth Chandler (on the right) in the
Matron's Office the Friends Boarding Home

Many people in Waynesville, Ohio still remember the Chandler sisters, Ruth and Elizabeth. Their parents were Edwin Chandler (October 3rd, 1849 ~ November 27th, 1924) and Sidney J. Pettit Chandler (1850 ~1934). They had three children: Ruth (b. February 10th, 1884 ~ d. August 25th, 1962), Elizabeth (October 29th, 1886 ~ December 20th, 1978) and Lewis W. (March 4, 1874 ~ d. January 7, 1952). Their uncle was Aaron B. Chandler.

Even though both sisters resided outside of Waynesville for many years living active and interesting lives, people today remember them as elderly maiden ladies and associate them with the 1905 Friends Boarding Home where they lived during their retirement. Ruth was the Matron of the Friends Boarding Home from 1944 till her death in 1962. Elizabeth, after her retirement from Hampton Institute in Virginia, moved to the Friend Home and became Ruth's assistant. Sadly, since this line of the Chandler family has died out with the death of Gertrude Chandler in 1997, many people do not realize how prominent the Chandlers were in Waynesville.

Elizabeth and Ruth were close sisters but their personalities were different. Ruth was never in administration and taught all of her career in Ohio. More quiet and deferring than Elizabeth, she was a well-respected member of the Waynesville community and the other towns she lived in during her career. She was noted for her intelligence and an excellent teacher of elementary children and honored for it. She had a sense of humor she was a steady presence in any organization. Elizabeth, although sickly as a child, was more outgoing and ambitious. Enthusiastic about learning, her fervor was infectious. Incredibly insightful and capable, she was a leader who walked the extra mile to strive for excellence within herself and in others. She pursued continual education for herself and her vita is extensive. During her career, she lived in various places in Ohio, Michigan and in Virginia. She retired a Professor of Education. Her career paralleled developments in increasing higher education for teachers. Because of higher education and wider living experience, Elizabeth had a broader view of life.

Ruth and Elizabeth had experience many teaching methods as children and many teacher-training styles as adults. As children within their family circle progressive minded teachers surrounded them. As students they experienced the one-room district schoolhouse across the road from the Chandler farm known as the Chandler School. As students they took the Boxwell Exam of the Ohio school system and graduated from 8th grade with the promise of a free high school education. After graduating from Waynesville High School and while attending the National Normal University in Lebanon and attaining their teaching licenses, they both taught in the local district one-room schools (Wayne and Clearcreek Townships and Lytle school system). They actually taught together in the Lytle and Greenfield, Ohio school systems. They both taught in the newly consolidated school systems of Ohio from 1915 on. Elizabeth exhibited great ability at administrative skills. Elizabeth rose to be director of a number of Normal Schools in Ohio and taught at numerous summer normal institutes during her career. When the old Normal Schools for teacher training were being transformed into teacher colleges, Elizabeth moved up to college and graduate levels of education. Both sisters were perpetual students and consummate teachers. They lived during the years when American education changed from being non-professional or semi-professional with a focus on rote learning to being professional with a focus on the child and his/her family and life.

In 1925, an anonymous author penned the following descriptions of Ruth and Elizabeth, graduates of Waynesville Unity High School in a series of articles entitled “A Short Resume of the Characteristics of Each and Every Graduate of the Waynesville Schools (Miami-Gazette October 7th and October 14th, 1925):

RUTH CHANDLER (Class of 1900): She seems to be able to find, create and cultivate a ready soil in which to plant the seed of understanding in the minds of her students; her system, aim and hopes are of a high order. She also believes in absolute cooperation between parents and teachers.

ELIZABETH CHANDLER (Class of 1904): Let us strive in our community to have a moral and religious awakening, a resurrection in our schools, making them a more constructive factor for good in the lives of our boys and girls, helping them to solve the more important problems in life, giving them a larger vision, a greater inspiration and power for actual service for good.

Clearly, Ruth and her sister Elizabeth Chandler were excellent teachers in their fields and the Miami-Gazette newspaper of Waynesville delighted in documenting their accomplishments.

"Ruthie", was already “a winsome little school marm” at the age of eighteen (Miami-Gazette, December 4, 1901) who was teaching very successfully at the Wayne Township District School in District #1 named Red Oak School. She taught there for two years before being contracted to teach at another Wayne Township District School, the Crosswick School (Miami-Gazette, July 8, 1903). The following report is taken from the Miami-Gazette (April 29, 1903) which clearly depicts the life of a “school Marm”:

Miss Ruth Chandler last Friday closed the second year of successful teaching at Red Oak School. A large number of patrons and friends of the school gathered in the morning and at noon enjoyed a picnic dinner together, after which a very fine literary and musical program was presented by the pupils, much to the pleasure of all present. Mrs. John Lamar, who had taken her Gramophone to the school house, delighted the audience with a large number of selections, many of them being the latest minstrel songs. Miss Chandler, at the beginning of the term, offered a prize to the pupil who, at the close, had been neither absent nor tardy, and was most happy to present a book to each of five pupils for this praiseworthy punctuality.

In September of 1904 Ruth Chandler chose not to be assigned to teach at one of the local district one-room schoolhouses. Instead she and her sister Elizabeth both entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Monday, where they will follow a course of study during the fall and winter (Miami-Gazette, September 7, 1904).

Ruth Chandler’s students and their parents expressed their regard for her in a farewell surprise party at the end of 1903-1904 school year. On May 4, 1904 the Miami-Gazette reported that

the surprise was well arranged and carried out. Mrs. Evans, who lives across the road from the schoolhouse, invited Miss. Chandler to take dinner at her house. This invitation was given in order that the surprise, which was planned, might be more complete and unexpected, for about noon thirty or forty friends drove up to the school to spend the remainder of the day. They brought with them baskets filled with good things for a delicious picnic dinner, which everyone enjoyed. In the afternoon there was a program rendered by the children appropriate to the closing day. The Spring Branch school has an enrollment of about thirty pupils the past year, and the school has been very successful.

In 1911 Ruth started teaching in the Selma, Ohio school system. It is reported in the Miami-Gazette on May 15, 1917: RE-ELECTED IN SELMA SCHOOLS: Miss Ruth Chandler has been re-elected Primary teacher at the Selma Centralized Schools at a salary of $80.00 per month. This is the sixth year for Miss Chandler in the Selma schools and her advancement is well deserved.

The Miami-Gazette reported on January 23, 1918 that Miss Ruth Chandler, who has been teaching in the Selma Schools for a number of years, passed the examination at Columbus recently and was awarded a life certificate. We congratulate the young lady on her good fortune.

Ruth, who for a number of years had been teaching at Selma, was appointed as a teacher in the Greenfield schools. The following is taken from the “Greenfield Republican”: “Miss Chandler is a graduate of the National Normal University and is a teacher of wide experience. She will be assigned to the Primary Department and will also act as a critic teacher to the Normal School”. Miss Elizabeth Chandler is the director of the Highland County Normal and Supervisor to the Elementary school at the same place (Miami-Gazette, May 12, 1926).

Misses Elizabeth and Ruth Chandler, who have been attending summer school at the University of Cincinnati, returned home Saturday (Miami-Gazette, August 31, 1927).

The Chandler family were very active in the local Farmers' Club. Edwin Chandler was the president of this organiation in 1917. The local newspaper was peppered with many references to their activities. For example, the Miami-Gazette reported on July 18, 1917 the activities of the Farmers’ Club meeting that was held at the Chandler homestead, which included Miss Ruth Chandler reading an excellent paper prepared by Miss Elizabeth Chandler. It dealt with our present conditions in a thoughtful way, bringing out the idea that the unjust settlement of national differences caused the present war. During a July meeting of the Farmer’s Club. . . Ruth Chandler read a short paper on the modern reading lessons and quoted high authority as saying we were letting imagination have too full sway in our children’s education (Miami-Gazette, July 20, 1921). At this same meeting her father, Edwin, opened the discussion on “Community Threshing”.

Ruth Chandler was the secretary of Miami Quarterly Meeting from the early 1920s till the time of her death in 1962. She inherited the job, so-to-speak, from her father Edwin who was the clerk of Miami Quarterly Meeting after the death of his brother Aaron B., who held that office, in 1915 and many years before.


Ruth Chandler had become an active member of the New Century Club of Waynesville during the 1944-45 year. This was the year of her retirement from the Cedarville School system where she had taught sixth grade for many years. Every year each member was assigned a topic that she would report on at their monthly meetings. From 1945 on Ruth reported on Recent Books and News of Education. The club rotated the duties of hosting the meeting (either in their homes or in a local restaurant) and planning the program for each monthly meeting. During the year of 1948-1949, Ruth was the group’s secretary. During the 1952-1953 year, Ruth was the President.

From 1948 until her death Ruth Chandler had been a faithful member of the Board of Trustees of The Wayne Township Library (later renamed The Mary L. Cook Public Library). On September 28, 1950 she accepted the position of Secretary. On December 29, 1960 Ruth became the First Vice-President of the Library Board. Upon her death the Board wrote the following it its minutes: The board voted unanimously to embody in the minutes a resolution recognizing and appreciating the efforts of Miss Ruth Chandler for her long tenure on the board; sixteen years as secretary, and most recently as Vice-President. She brought enthusiasm, a delightful sense of humor and faithful care to every task. She will be sorely missed (Record Book [Minutes of the Board] June, 1958-September 1967, p. 119).

While on their way to the Yearly Meeting in Wilmington on Saturday, August 25, 1962, both Ruth Chandler, 78, and Dr. Emma Holloway, 88, were killed in a severe three-car automobile accident at the intersection of US 42 and SR 73 in Waynesville. Also in the car with Miss Chandler and Dr. Holloway were the driver Elizabeth Chandler, 76, Mrs. Nellie Bunnell, 80, Mabel Bursk, 79, and Maria Elbon, 76, all residents of the Friends Boarding Home. They were taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton and all recovered from minor injuries. The other two drivers, P. C. Zink, 78, along with his wife Mary of Lebanon, and Mrs. Carol Pennington, 44, of Middletown were not injured. Funeral services for Ruth Chandler and Dr. Holloway were held Tuesday, August 28 at the Friends Meetinghouse in Waynesville at 2 PM and 10 AM. Ruth Chandler was buried in Miami Cemetery in Corwin. Dr. Emma Holloway, a pioneer woman doctor from Indiana, was taken to North Manchester, Indian for burial at 1:30 PM on Wednesday, August 29, 1962. She had boarded at Friends Boarding Home since October, 1944. (The Western Star, Thursday, Aug. 20, 1962).

To learn more about The 1905 Friends Boarding Home see:
THE 1905 FRIENDS BOARDING HOME TIMELINE
& FURTHER INFORMATION

To learn more about The Mary L. Cook Public Library see:
Dr. Mary Leah Cook 1869-1964

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Elizabeth B. Moore ~ Quaker Minister

The Obituary of
Elizabeth B. Moore
9th mo. 30th, 1849 ~ 4th mo. 17th, 1913

Elizabeth B. Moore, born 9th mo. 30th 1849, died 4th mo. 17th, 1913, aged 63 years, 5 months and 18 days. She was born at the home of her grandfather, David Brown, now owned and resided upon by S. Ella Michener and family.

This David Brown, when twenty years of age came from New Jersey with his parents, Asher and Mary (Ward) Brown, with eight brothers and sisters and settled on this farm in 1804.

When Elizabeth was but 12 days old her mother, Sarah (Brown) Moore passsed to the higher life, so that she never realized the impress and devotion of a loving mother.

In 1852 her father, Samuel B. Moore, remarried and moved to the west. Left as she was in the care of her grandparents and a maiden aunt, Elizabeth W(ilkins). Brown, she grew to womanhood uner the atmosphere of consistent Friends, who faithfully taught her the principles of love to God, Justice and right living toward her fellow beings. Thus when at the age of 39 years, she in turn was qualified to fiathfully devote her Christian fidelity to her beloved aunt, and repay her in part, at least, by nursing her through a protracted illness.

After the year 1883, Elizabeth B. Moore was left without any relatives in this place nearer than first cousin, but not without many devoted friends in and about Waynesville, Ohio, as well as among her religious associates in other parts of Ohio in and in Indiana. So much was she beloved by many that her willing service was often sought in time of sickness and bereavement. Much of her life was given to the care of the afflicted whom she tired to comfort in their declining years. Having never married she was more at liberty to bestow her kindness, helpfulness and devotion to her friends.

Her school education was obtained in the Waynesville village schools, and partly in a private school, taught in the little brick house on the Friend's ground, wherein she afterword taught for a short time. She was a faithful worshiper at the religious services of her life long society, in which she held many offices of trust and responsibility, being the treasurer of Miami Monthly Meeting, and one of its Elders at aathe time of her death.

She was an ardent temperance worker, giving her time and faithful service to the local Women's Christian Temperance Union, which organization, during her last illness sent her a beautiful floral spray as a slight token of regard and sympathy.

She was one of the prime movers and was devoted to the welfare of the Friends Boarding Home , having been of its Trustees from the beginning. Thus was her life given to the service of others. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these , my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
In this Home she spent the last nine weeks of her earthly pilgrimage, being comforted by her friends until the language came, "It is enough, come up higher."

1 Asher Brown Sr. b: 11 SEP 1760 d: 02 MAR 1832 (Asher Brown had eleven other children after David)
+ Mary Ward b: 12 FEB 1763 d: 04 MAY 1851
2 David Brown b: 26 SEP 1784 d: 05 OCT 1862
+ Mary Wilkins b: 27 OCT 1769 d: 15 OCT 1857
3 Elizabeth Wilkins Brown b: 26 DEC 1809 d: 20 MAY 1888 (Never married)
3 Sarah Brown b: 11 MAY 1813 d: 12 OCT 1849
+ Samuel B. Moore
4 Elizabeth B. Moore (Never married)

According to Clarkson Butterworth in his List, Nearly or Quite Complete of Changes of Membership in Miami Monthly Meeting and some other Matters, from 10.13.1803-5.24.1843 compiled in 1904 Elizabeth B. Moore and Elizabeth Davis, the widow of David Davis lived together in Elizabeth's house which was located on the southwest corner of High and Third Streets.
The Elizabeth B. Moore House~
Later owned by the Chandler family.

Howell and Emma Warner Pierce ~ The Second Couple to be Superintendent and Matron of the Friends Boarding Home

The author of this obituary does not explain that the Howells were the superintendent and matron of the Friends Boarding Home twice. Thier first tenure was form 1915 to 1925, after the death of Aaron B. Chandler. Their second tenure was after the death of Alonzo S. Curl, from 1933-1938. For more details about the tenure at the Friends Boarding Home, see,
THE 1905 FRIENDS BOARDING HOME TIMELINE & FURTHER INFORMATION
SERVES LAST DAY AS HOME MATRON
The Miami Gazette, Thursday, September 1, 1938

Mrs. Howell Peirce, who has been matron of the Friend’s Home for the past fifteen years, has retired. Mr. Peirce, acting as superintendent, served with her until his death three years ago. Mrs. Peirce celebrated her eightieth birthday last April. During her long period of service in this community, she has endeared herself not only to her family, as she called the members of the Home, but to the entire community. She possesses one of those charming personalities which enable her to meet people and place them at friendly ease. She radiates vitality which may well be the envy of all. At her last dinner at the Home, Monday evening, a large cake graced the table which bore the inscription, “Fifteen Years of Loving Service”. The ladies of the Home presented her with a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers. Mrs. Peirce is planning to spend this winter with her son, Raymond, and family of Toledo. Afterwards she will make her home with her sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Calvert, at the ancestral home near Selma. Foster and Margaretta Heacock are acting as superintendent and matron of the Home.
The Howells had two children:
  • Warner ~ 1879
  • Raymond ~ b. 1883
  • Bertha E. ~ b. 1891

From Census Records we know that Howell had been a farmer and then a salesman. In 1910 the family was living in Toledo, Ohio.

Alonzo S. & Olive M. Curl ~ Fourth Couple to be Superintendent & Matron of the Friends Boarding Home

TRAGIC DEATH
OCCURS MONDAY

May 11, 1933 Western Star
Alonzo Curl Suffers Fatal
Injuries In Fall At
Waynesville

His mind evidently temporarily deranged by several weeks of intense suffering, Alonzo Curl, superintendent of the Friends Home at Waynesville jumped from a window of his apartment
at that place shortly before midnight Monday suffering injuries that resulted in his death within a few minutes. According to a story of one of the witnesses to the tragedy, Mrs. Curl had called Marshal C. P. Joy and other friends to assist the physician in administering a sedative when her husband became violently delirious at about 11 o’clock. With this accomplished, Mr. Curl appeared to be somewhat easier but he suddenly rushed to an open window and jumped, falling a distance of about 15 feet. He struck a concrete walk head first and although assistance was immediately rushed to the injured man, he lived but a few minutes. It is believed that a fractured skull was the cause of death. Funeral services were held at the A. H. Stubbs funeral parlors on Wednesday afternoon, the Rev. G. C. Dibert officiating. Interment was made at Wilmington. Mr. Curl, who was about 65 years of age, was a native of Clinton County having spent most of his life in the vicinity of Wilmington and later at Clarksville. He came to Waynesville in September, 1930 to assume the superintendency of the Friends Home. His widow, Mrs. Olive Curl, survives.