Incidents in Early History of Clermont CountyThe following account
entitled
"Incidents In The Early History Of Clermont County
by [Bethel lawyer ] Benjamin Morris, appeared in the Clermont Courier May
17, 1860, vol. xxiv no.
17and provides not only interesting reading but many valuable clues for
genealogical research.
In the fall of the year 1802, Rev. John +Sarah Blackman Collins came out
from New Jersey to
Williamsburg, and purchased of Gen. Lytle an entire survey of land,
sufficient
to make seven or eight good farms. [Now s side of East Fork State
Park-Collins,McCollum,
and Higbee house sites flooded by Lake Harsha 1974.] The East Fork was
the northern boundary of
this land, from the mouth of Clover to within a quarter of a mile above
the
mouth of Ulrey's Run. There were four partners in this purchase, namely:
John
Collins, Cornelius McCollum, Isaac Higbee and Josiah Albertson. Albertson
never
settled on his share of the land-stayed at his "Blue Anchor" inn in NJ..
A part of it was leased, and it finally fell into the hands of his
children. [Part Albertson transfered for a school].
Early in the Spring of the year 1803, Collins, Higbee and McCollum moved
out and
divided the land. McCollum settled at the mouth of Clover; Higbee settled
on the
East Fork, below and adjoining McCo1lum; Collins settled on that part of
the
land nearest Ulrey's Run; his farm was called the "horseshoe bottom."
Albertson's land was between Collins and Higbee.
The settlement commenced in 1803 by Collins, Higbee and McCollum, was the

beginning of what was long known as the Jersey settlement. It was
sometimes
called Collin's settlement. The first log school-house erected there in
was near
the present grave-yard, and near what is now called the [OLD] Bethel
meeting House.
Before 1807 the following heads of families lived within the school
bounds of
this school-house, without including any family west of Ulrey's Run,
namely:
Cornelius McCollum, Isaac Higbee, John Collins, Edw'd Doughty, Alexander
Blair,
John Drummond, James McIntosh, Robert Burnet, Thomas Cade, George Higbee,

Michael Strickland, Widow Reeves, Jeremiah Foster, David White, John
Jenkins,
Edward Kinnan, Benj. Clark, Robert Leeds, Edward Barton, Robert Doughty,
Daniel
McCollum, Jesse Justice, and Thomas Page. These were all from the State
of New
Jersey, and in addition to these, there lived in said bounds, east of
Ulrey's
Run, William Simonds, James Blackwood, Jos. Conn, Elias Gerard,Jr Widow
Henderson, a [widow Chandler]
Mr. Mitchell, and a Mr.Samuel Sheppard. Blackwood was from Ireland; Widow
Henderson
from Greenbrier Co. Virginia; and I do not remember where the others were
from, if I ever knew.

The people west of Ulrey's Run were not considered as belonging to the
Jersey
settlement in 1807, though a number were in the school boundary at that
time.
The heads of families were: Jacob Ulrey, Daniel Tegarden, William
Jeffers, Jacob
Kriss, Christian Husong, Daniel Husong, and Widow Winans, the mother of
William
Winans, the well-known, popular Methodist preacher. It is my impression
that
none of the families named, west of Ulrey's Run, were from New Jersey.
Regular
circuit preaching did not commence at the town of Bethel until 1810,
though such
preaching commenced at Collins' school-house as early as 1804-5, and many

attended such circuit preaching that did not live within the school
boundary.
The George Swing family, the Joseph Dole family, two or three families
north of the East Fork,
George Meal, Joseph Jackson and others, attended such circuit preaching.
The following are the names and localities of some of the settlers who
lived off
the old State Road between Bethel and Ulrey's Run: Michael Strickland
first
built cabins near the east bank of Sugar-tree, about three quarters of a
mile
below the turnpike bridge . He was a blacksmith of great ingenuity, and a

tolerable mechanic at any kind of work. He was a hard working man, and
made
substantial improvements on his land. He erected a good house and barn in
view
of the Macedony Mills, some little distance from his first cabin. He
continued
to work, to keep things in order on his farm, until near the close of his
life,
and died a very old man.
Thomas Page settled on the west side of Sugar-tree, and south of the
turnpike,
about three-fourths of a mile from what is now the turnpike bridge. In
180?, he
dug a long mill-race on the west side of Sugar-tree, and erected a
saw-mill
within sight of the old State Road. Mr. Page inherited considerable
wealth; he
bought five hundred acres of land, and in addition to the saw-mill, made
costly
improvements on his land. After living on it eight or ten years, he
engaged in
merchandizing and a tan-yard at the mouth of Big Indian Creek; he was not

prosperous, and sold his five hundred acres to a Mr. Simpson [Pres-Gen
U.S.Grant's
grandfather], who lived many
years at Mr. Page's homestead on S Sugartree Rd, and his son Samuel
Simpson, now lives there, and
owns a large part of the land. Alexander Blair bought land
[Campbell's]about a mile from
Clover. He began the world poor, and raised a large family. In point of
mind, he
was a man considerably above mediocrity. He was many years one of the
Associate
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Clermont County. After living on
his farm
about twelve or fourteen years, he removed to Batavia, where he died a
very old
man. He was Post Master at Batavia many years; this fact I have state a
little
out of its proper place. James McIntosh [Petzel's N Sugarttee Rd]started
from New Jersey with a family of
six or eight children, and with scarce sufficient means to bring him out.
He
raised a large family, all girls, and by the dint of strait-forward
industry, he
made a living and owned, at the time of his death, a comfortable brick
house and
fifty acres of land. He ever believed that the West was the place for
poor men,
and that he acted wisely in leaving New Jersey. His wife survived him a
few
years; the both died on their own ground, at an unusual old age. Their
grand-children are now numerous.