History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

F.W. Thorla, a farmer and distiller, was born May 22, 1832, in Brookfield Township. He married Sarah A. Stevens and is the father of Silas, Ellsworth, Florence, Linda, George McAllister and Milo.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Thomas Thorla, the grandfather of F.W. and A.H. Thorla, was born in New England in 1748. He served as as soldier throughout the Revolutionary War. Three of his sons having come to Ohio, he followed them, arriving in Marietta with his aged wife about 1828. He lived at Olive some years and died in December, 1835.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

John Murphy, son of Daniel Murphy, a native of Ireland and now a resident of Buffalo Township in 1843. In 1869 he married Lena Gregg and in 1872 settled in Brookfield. Mr. Murphy is the father of three children, one of whom is living . He is a farmer and a member of the Presbyterian.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

George W. Gander was born in Muskingum County, January 6, 1836. His father, David Gander, a native of Virginia, came to that county quite early and died there in 1872. In 1857 G.W. Gander married Miss Cindrella Hicks, who was born in Guernsey County. They have six daughters and two sons. Mr. Gander located on his present farm in 1862. He is a successful farmer and stock-dealer. In 1864 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and seved until honorably discharged. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Benjamin C. Lukens was born in Maryland in 1812. His father and grandfather lived in Harford County in that State. In 1833 he married Miss Louisa Smith, of his native State, and about six years later came to Brookfield Township, settling on an unimproved farm. He is the father of five children, four living - B.S., Cumberland, Ohio; John C., Kansas; Joseph F. (a graduate of Ohio University, Sthens, 1866), superintendent of schools, Lebanon, Ohio; Lizzie H. (Arrick), Reinersville, Ohio. Joseph F. was in the late war, served under General Thomas and was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry. Mr. Lukens is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Protestant church. He was living at Baltimore at the time the first railroad was put in operation between that place and Ellicott's mills. The care were drawn by one horse, upon wooden rails.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

John B. Dye, son of Thomas Dye, was born in Brookfield Township, March 20, 1832. In 1862 he married Margaret Elder. They have one child - Elmer N. Mr. and Mrs. Dye are members of the Methodist Protestant church. In politics he is a Democrat.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

David Elder and wife (neeElizabeth Neil) came to the present Elder farm about 1840. His children were Mary A., Julia and Margaret, born in Pennsylvania, and David, Vance N. and Eliza A., born in Ohio. Julia and Mary are dead. Mr. Elder died in 1873 and his wife in 1881. They were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Elder held the offices of township trustee, township clerk and justice of the peace.

Jason Tilden was born near Belfast, Me., in 1805. His parents settled in Muskingum County, Ohio, in 1817. Jason was brought up in the family of John Draper, an early settler and prosperous farmer in Brookfield. In 1830 he married Jane Richey, a native of Virginia. Both he and his wife died in 1883. They had eleven children, five of whom are living.

The first mail route between McConnelsville and Cambridge was established in 1827 or 1828. Jason Tilden was the first mail-carrier. A man named Johnson was the contractor. There were then but five offices between McConnelsville and Cambridge. One of them (at Wharton's) was in Brookfield Township. The mail was carried once each week.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Eleazer Spooner was born in Oakham, Worcester County, Mass., June 28, 1794. A number of the early settlers of Brookfield were from the same county. In company with Clark E. Green, William Watson and Cyril Richardson, he came to Brookfield Township in 1816. He was a shoemaker, and brought the tools of his trade with him. He worked at farming in summer and at his trade in winter. He entered 160 acres on section 3, and in 1818 erected a cabin. In the following year he married Isabella Beach, who is still living at the age of eighty-six. They had one son and ten daughters; five of the daughters are yet living. Mr. Spooner sold a part of his farm quite early, taking his pay in installments, some of which were as low as twenty-five cents. He died April 19, 1884. He served as township trustee nineteen years.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

James Bartlett and his wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Knowlton, removed from Massachusetts to Upsher County, W. Va., about 1810. After twenty year's residence there he removed to Brookfield Township. He died January 11, 1868, in Spencer Township, Guernsey County. His widow died in 1876. They had ten children, most of whom were born in Virginia. Seven daughters are yet living. Henry D. Bartlett, born in West Virginia, came to Brookfield in 1830. In 1840 he married Sarah Throckmorton. He reared a family of ten children, eight of whom are living. In 1874 he removed to Washington County, where he died March 23, 1886. James Bartlett was born in 1850 on the farm where he now lives. he has held the offices of township trustee and justice of the peace. In 1872 he married Celinda Burlingame. They have six children - Sarah, Alice, Francis, Florence, Harriet, Susan and Edward Henry.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

John Allison was born in Washington, Pa., in 1810. In 1840 he removed to Cumberland, Ohio, and thence to the farm in Brookfield Township, where he died. In 1852 he married Nancy Johnson, who died in 1857, having born three children, two of whom are living. In 1862 he married Mrs. Rebecca Hatton (nee Bartlett). He was a member of the Presbyterian church. He died in 1880. His sons, J.J. and J.F. Allison, are prominent farmers, and members of the Presbyterian church. J.J. Allison was born in Spencer Township, Guernsey County, in 1853. In 1886 he married Miss Mary Green. J.F. Allison was born in Spencer Township in 1855.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Henry Hunter, a native of Ireland, was an early settler on the famr now owned by Miles B. Hunter. Five of his children are yet living: Samuel, Nancy, Margaret, William and Ebenezer. The family came to the township about 1814. Samuel Hunter was born in Butler County, Pa., in 1806, and has resided in the township since the family located here. He married Eliza Chapman and is the father of eight children, seven of whom are living.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Rev. Joseph Tharp, well known to old residents, was born in Baltimore County, Md., October 16, 1776, and died in Muskingum County, Ohio, May 12, 1866. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church early in life. In 1792 his parents removed to the vicinity of Morgantown, W. Va. In 1796 Joseph responded to a call for volunteers to protect the frontier settlements against the Indians, and served for six months under Captain Dent. For this service he received a land warrant for 160 acres. In 1803 he married Jemina Van Camp, who died in 1867, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. In 1804 he came to Ohio, following an old Indian trail up the Captina, across Will's creek and on to the Muskingum. He settled where Nashport now is and raised a crop of corn. The following September he brought his wife from Virginia and in 1805 removed to Licking County. In 1810 he settled in the southwest part of Muskingum County, where he continued to reside until his decease. For nearly sixty years he preached the Gospel without any fixed remuneration. He was the father of twelve children, eleven of whom are still living. Two are ministers of the Methodist Protestant church - Rev. Joel Tharp, of Adrain, Mich., and Rev. Israel Tharp, of Coshoction County. Rev. Joseph Tharp was licensed before leaving Virginia. In 1805 he helped organize a Methodist church in Licking County and in April, 1806, the first quarterly meeting in that vicinity was held at his cabin. On the organization of the Methodist Protestant church he attached himself to it and adhered to it through life.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

John A. Tharp was born in Muskingum County, January 17, 1818. In 1842 he married Catharine, daughter of Judge Francis Scott, of Brookfield, and settled in this township in the following year. He is a prosperous farmer and a worthy citizen, a Republican and a member of the Methodist Protestant church. He is the father of two children, only one of whom is now living.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

One of the most remarkable characters that ever lived in Noble County was John Gray, of Brookfield Township. Although he was an early settler in the county, it is not to his name as that of a pioneer that most interest attaches. Far more important are the facts that made him celebrated, causing his name to be the theme of talented writers both of poetry and prse, and giving undying lustre to his simple, commonplace life. He was the last surviving soldier of the American army in the Revolutionary War.

John Gray was born near Mount Vernon, Va., January 6, 1764, and spent his boyhood in that vicinity. His parents were poor and he was brought up to a life of toil and hardship. The same poverty was his condition throughout his long life. The first day that he ever worked out he was employed by George Washington at Mount Vernon. He seems to have been a favorite with the Father of his Country, who frequently shook hands with him and addressed to him encouraging words. He was the oldest of a family of eight children, and on his father joining the patriot army in 1777 he became the chief support of the family. Frequently the Grays were obliged to depend on rabbits caught by John and his brother as their only meat. At one time John worked a week at ploughing for two bushels and a half of corn. His father fell at the battle of White Plains, and in 1781, John, at the age of eighteen years, volunteered and served until the close of the war, being present at the surrender of Cornwallis. He was in a skirmish at Williamsburg, and was one of 150 men sent on the dangerous but successful expedition of Major Ramsay. After the war he returned to the vicinity of Mount Vernon and resumed work as a day laborer. At the age of twenty he married Nancy Dowell and moved to Morgantown, Va. He was a western pioneer and lived at Dilley's Bottom and Fish Creek during the days of border warfare with the Indians. He came to Ohio while it was yet a territory. The year 1829 he settled in Noble County, where he passed the remainder of his days. He married his second wife, Nancy Ragan, at the Flats of Grave Creek. He again married in Ohio, but survived his wife and all his children except one. He spent the last years of his life at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Nancy McElroy, and died on the 29th of March, 1868, being in the one hundred and fifth year of his age. The records of the pension office at Washington prove that he was the last surviving pensioner of the Revolution. No pension was obtained for him until 1867, when, through the efforts of Hon. John A. Bingham, a bill was passed by Congress giving him $500 per year to date from July 1, 1866, as long as he lived.

John Gray was a man of spare and bony frame, five feet eight inches hight, broad-chested, with a head that was well-shaped and massive. He had but one bad habit - he chewed tobacco for nearly one hundred years. He was a man of exemplary character and sound religious faith. He was a member of the Methodist church for nearly eighty years. In the later years of his life his hearing and sight became impaired and he was obliged to resort to crutches. He warmly sympathized with the Union cause during the late war, and lamented the course of his native State. Quietly, peacefully, as he had lived, the last of the Revolutionary veterans sank to rest amid the rural scenes which he loved so well. No proud monument adorns his resting place, but it is to be hoped that the public-spirited citizens of Noble County will some day see that an appropriate memorial stone is placed there.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Samuel Trimmer was born in New Jersey and when a child immigrated with his parents to Pennsylvania. His father, Paul Trimmer, was a soldier of the Revolution and participated in several notable engagements. He followed the sea for several years and died about 1830, aged nearly one hundred years. His wife was a sister of General Anthony Wayne. Samuel Trimmer was a farmer, a very worthy citizen and an exemplary member of the Presbyterian church, as was also his wife. He died in 1847, aged fifty-seven.

Stevenson Trimmer was born in Washington County, Penn., March 11, 1815, and October 14, 1843 was married to Miss Ann McAdams. His worldly effects at this time inventoried one horse and $25 in money. After his marriage he began life as a farmer on leased lands, and by his industry and thrift he prospered and soon acquired the nucleus of a competency. In 1852 he came from Pennsylvania to his present farm, which originally consisted of eighty acres of unimproved land, which by repeated accessions now contains 420 acres, highly improved. In 1882 Mrs. Trimmer died. Her only child, James A., enlisted May 2, 1864, in Company H, One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in hospital at Cumberland, Md., June 9, 1864 in his twentieth year. He was an estimable young man, a member of the Presbyterian church and a good soldier. In 1885 Mr. Trimmer was again married to Mrs. Malinda Butterbaugh. In religious and political affiliation Mr. Trimmer is a Presbyterian and a Republican. For six years he has served the county as Infirmary director, receiving the sufferages of both parties. He is an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian church and every worthy cause finds in him a warm friend and patron. He is one of those liberal, public-spirited gentlemen whose identification with any community is always productive of good. Five orphan children have been the recipients of his generosity, and throughout the entire county he is known as one of the most respected citizens of Brookfield Township.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Brookfield

Elisha, Henry, Enoch and Jesse Enochs were brothers. Their father's name was Enoch Enochs, and he also settled on Duck Creek after his sons had been here some years. He removed to the vicinity of Harriettsville and there died in 1835. He was in the Indian wars in West Virginia and eastern Ohio, and also a soldier of 1812. Enoch Enochs, Jr., married Margaret Tice, and lived near Harrietsville. In 1878 he removed to Tyler County, W. Va., where he died in 1886. Elisha Enochs and his brother Jesse lived in what is now Stock Township. There were several daughters of Enoch Enochs, Sr., who married before coming to Ohio, and nearly all settled in this vicinity. Hannah was the wife of Henry Grandon; Elizabeth married Isaac Morris; Rebecca became the wife of James Archer; Rachel, the wife of Frederick Crow; Sally married Jesse Davis; Lydia was the wife of Nathan Lincicum; Phebe married Joseph Archer and Amy married Matthew Gray. (There is an editor's note that this information came from Henry Archer, of East Union, a descendant of the Enoch family and are doubtless correct. However, the editor did note that they had received statements from other parties which vary from the above in some particulars.)

Elisha Enochs was one of the most prominent pioneers. He settled on Duck Creek near where the village of Carlisle now stands, in the year 1806. The Enochs were of German descent. Elisha married Nancy Archer. At the time of their settlement, their nearest neighbors were fifteen miles distant. The Indians still occupied the country as a hunting-ground, and it abounded in game and fish of all kinds. Elisha Enochs manufactured powder in a small way, doing all the work by hand, and the settlers for miles around came to him to purchase it. On the morning after the family arrived in their new home they found themselves short of provisions, and Mr. Enochs shot a young bear on the ground where Carlisle now stands, to supply them with meat. The Enochs were veritable frontiersman, and quite a number were killed or scalped by the Indians. Elisha and Nancy Enochs reared a large family which became scattered through Ohio and farther west. Their son Henry was born March 27, 1807, and is believed to have been the first white child born in the township. Like all frontiersman, he early became accustomed to the use of the gun and lived almost entirely in the woods, doing very little farming. He married Jane Miller, and entered land on Middle Creek near Middlesburg, where he remained until about 1848, when he removed to Lawrence County, Ohio, where he died April 2, 1886. He reared a large family. Five of his sons were in the late war, and the family was represented in almost every important campaign of the Rebellion. The sons who were in the service were John M., a captain; Elisha, corporal; W.H., brigadier-general; A.O., captain; and Clum, lieutenant. The Enochs were nearly all Methodists. In politics they were Whigs and Republicans. Elisha Enochs, Sr., was the first justice of the peace in the old township of Enoch, in Monroe County, which was named after the Enochs family. He was treasurer of Monroe County in 1827-8, and one of the county commissioners in 1829. He was a Methodist class-leader forty years or more. Toward the end of his life he became blind.

Enoch Enochs, Sr., was somewhat noted as a hunter. he was a man of great ingenuity, especially as a gunsmith. He also made bedstead and other kinds of furniture. The Enochs generally were men of strong physical development.

Bernard Grandon settled on the creek. His sons were Enoch, Matthew, William and Bernard, all of whom lived here and reared families, and their descendants are still here.

William Grandon was a true type of that now extinct race - pioneer backwoodsman. He was rough and uncouth in appearance, and uncultivated in speech and manner; but, for all that, a warm heart beat beneath the hunting shirt of the old pioneer, and he was a true man. He could easily be imposed upon, for he had a childlike faith in human nature. Every man was his friend until he abused his confidence. He was strong physically, and very industrious. He accumulated a comfortable property, but lost nearly all of it and became financially embarrassed through his kindness in giving surety for his friends and neighbors. The brick house erected by Grandon was the first in the Duck Creek region.

Isaac Morris, whose descendants still live in the county, came with the Enochs and Grandons. He was a most worthy man - somewhat peculiar in some things, but very honest in everything. He settled on the creek above Carlisle. The farm is still in the Morris name.

The following incident of pioneer life, although it did not occur in this county, is a part of the history of a family who were among the earliest settlers of Stock Township, and whose descendants are still living in the county.

On Wheeling Creek, Greene County, Pa., lived the family of Jacob Crow. In the vicinity of their cabin the settlers had erected a block-house for their defense, which was known as Ryerson's Station. In the spring of 1791, on Easter Sunday, four of Crow's daughters started to walk to the station. The day was warm and pleasant. When about half way there they met their brother Michael, on horseback, it being his custom to visit the block-house once or twice a week, to learn the news. He tried to persuade his sisters to return home with him, but they decided to go on. About twenty rods farther there was a large rock by the side of the road. When three of the girls reached this rock, three Indians stepped from behind it and stopped them. The youngest girl, Tenah Crow, then about ten years of age, was about fifteen rods behind the others, and on seeing the Indians, supposed them to be negroes and felt no alarm. Approaching them she discovered her mistake and was also captured. The Indians led them up a hill nearly a mile distant, and then halted to hold a council. The girls, believing that they would be killed, also talked with each other and decided to try to escape. They agree to start, all at once, and run in different directions. They accordingly ran. Tenah had gone but a short distance when a tomahawk struck her on her back and knocked her down upon her hands and knees. As she arose she saw one of her sisters struggling with an Indian. She ran a short distance to a hollow, or ravine, which she followed down to her home in safety. The news was told and men soon gathered for the purpose of pursuing the Indians. Sufficient force was not collected until the next morning. Then search was made and two of the girls were found lying near together, both scalped and dead. A trail of blood led to the spot where the other sister lay. She was scalped and bleeding, but still alive. She was taken home where she died nine days later, having been unconscious all that time.

Tenah Crow afterwards became the wife of John McBride, who owned the land on which Carlisle now is, and died in Noble County. Martin, a brother of the murdered girls, after being a pioneer in Pennsylvania and Virginia, settled and died in the vicinity of Carlisle. As might be expected he was a life-long enemy to the red man. His brother Frederick settled in the western part of Monroe County, where he died. The Crows were contemporaries with Martin and Lewis Wetzel and were with them on some of their noted expeditions. Martin Crow once had part of his ear shot off by an Indian. Frederick Crow had his arm broken by a shot from an Indian's rifle. John Crow, their brother, was killed by the Indians. Martin was employed as a hunter to kill meat for the surveyors of the first seven ranges of townships in Ohio. He owned the Israel Danford farm near Carlisle. He married Elizabeth Cackler, a sister to the wife of James Farley. Peter Crow and Mrs. John N. Smith are his children.

James Farley married Mary Cackler, and John Nisswonger married her sister Susan. The remainder of the Cackler family settled on the Western Reserve. The three mentioned were married in Pennsylvania.

Matthew Gray settled on the creek, and his descendants are still the in county. He was strong physically, and as a neighbor good-natured and obliging. Nathan Lincicum was an early settler of the township. His son James is still living. John McBride, who settled where Carlisle now is, was an early settler and a very industrious and active man. His sons were William and John, better known as "Jack." The latter went to California, where he was killed by a well caving in upon him.

James Archer, of Irish descent, came from Greene County, Pa., where he was born in 1779, and settled in Stock Township, on the East Fork of Duck Creek, in 1809. With him he brought his family of six sons and five daughters. They came on horseback, cutting their own road a portion of the way. Soon after their arrival, a heavy freshet raised the waters of the creek to such an extent that their cabin was in imminent danger of being washed away. The family took refuge in the loft of their cabin and kept warm y keeping coals in a kettle. James Archer and several of his sons were successful hunters. James, Jr., served in the War of 1812. His father hauled goods from Barnesville for Robert McKee, at Olive. He made the first trip with a wagon, cutting his own road. The sons of James Archer wer James, Joseph, Michael, Simon, Jacob and Nathan. James married Rebecca Enochs and spent his life in this county. He was the father of ten children. Joseph married Phebe Enochs, a sister of James' wife. They had thirteen children. Michael married Rhoda, daughter of Bernard Grandon, and was the father of thirteen children. Simon married Rhoda, daughter of Henry Enochs, and had fifteen children. Jacob married Sally Grandon. He was the father of twenty-three children by two wives. Nathan married Rebecca Morris. They had thirteen children. From these families are descended the Archers, who are numerous in Ohio and throughout the West. The daughters of James Archer, Sr., were Nancy, wife of Elisha Enochs; Rachel, wife of George Hupp; Polly, wife of John Moore; Elizabeth, wife of George Harris; and Susan, wife of John Tribble. The last names lived in West Virginia. The others all lived in this vicinity. The males of the Archer family all settled in the same neighborhood and remained here until they died. Their descendants in many instances still occupy the land which they entered. The Archers, as well as many others of the early settlers, managed to secure farms for all of their children.

History of Noble County, Ohio Published by L.H. Watkins & Co. of Chicago 1887
Stock