The Creamer Family of Fayette County, Ohio

JOSEPH B. CREAMER.

Joseph B. Creamer, farmer, Jeftersonville, was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, November 26, 1808. He came with his father, George II., to Fayette County, this state, in 1814, located about three miles southeast of Jeftersonville, where the father died, about 1860, aged eighty-four years. The mother died in Virginia.

Mr. Creamer was married to Miss Elizabeth Life, March 23, 1833. They had a family of seven children: Mary A., Emily, George C. Louis, Nathan, Andrew R., and Urben; five living. George died, ill 1861; Louis, in 1862, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, while in the service of the late war. Mrs. Creamer died, in 1865, aged fifty-three years, triumphantly in the faith of the Methodist Protestant Church.' Mr. Creamer is a member of the same church: both joined about 1842. He has held several of the church offices, and has been delegate to annual conference several times, and is an exemjjlary and worthy member. He was elected county commissioner, in 1843, and served six successive years. He has held the township offices of trustee, clerk and land appraiser, and has been conspicuously situated before the people of the county for years; though not an office seeker. He is well and favorably known, and has many friends throughout the county. His son, Andrew R., is a member of the Ohio Senate. Mr. Creamer was a prominent Whig, and since the birth of the Republican party has voted that ticket. He has a farm of fifty-five acres, well improved, situated about one mile southwest of Jefl:ersonville. He formerly had three hundred and thirty acres. He has divided all but the home farm among his children.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Mr. Creamer has a farm of one hundred and fourteen acres.

well improved, situated about a mile west of Jeftersonville. Himself, wife, and three of the daughters, are exemplary members of the Methodist Protestant Church, which the two elders joined some twenty years since — being yet zealous in the faith. Mr. Creamer has seen much of Fayette County's rapid improvements, and has participated in making many of them. When he was a young man there were no railroads or pikes, the school houses were log, with luncheon floor and seats, the windows were made of greased paper, passed over a large crack in the wall, made by cutting away half of a log. All these have given place to more comfortable and modern-built structures.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHRISTIAN C. CREAMER.

Christian C. Creamer, farmer, Jeifersonville, is a son of Michael and Mary (Gray) Creamer; was born and raised on the farm where he now lives, August 4, 1818, and Avas twice married. First, to Miss Rosanna Gray, April 9, 1840; one child is the result of this marriage: "Westley M. Mrs. Creamer died, January 5, 1843, aged twenty-seven years. He then married Miss Elizabeth Higbee; eleven children by this marriage: Rosanna, Mary A., Obedelia V., Kelson D., Samuel H., Albert J., Martha E., Sarah J., Alexis H., George and Charles C. Mary and Samuel are deceased.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Mr. Creamer has a farm, of three hundred acres, well improved, situated about eight miles northwest of Washington, which is a part of the large tract of laud formerly owned by his father, who came to this state, in 1800, located in Ross County, near the mouth of Twin Creek; remained but a short time, then came to this county, located on Sugar Creek, where he died, January 9, 1846, aged sixty-four years. There were eleven children of this family, ten of whom lived to be married and have families; four are yet living. Mrs. Creamer died. May 1, 1865, aged eighty-five years.

Our subject and family are members of the Patrons of Husbandry. O. V. and A. J. Creamer, are members of the Masonic fraternity. O. V. Creamer is also a member of the Odd-fellows. Westley M. Creamer served three years in the late war. Company C, 90th 0. V. I., and received a wound at Iashville by a cannon ball.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

To attain the age of ninety-five is an unusual thing and yet Wallace Creamer reached that remarkable age on the 16th day of April, 1914. He was a babe in arms when James Monroe was President of the United States, voted for William Henry Harrison in the fall of 1840 and had been married twenty years when the battle of Gettysburg was fought. The Creamer family was one of the first to settle in this county and its members have been prominently identified with its history for more than a hundred years.

Wallace Creamer was born on the farm where he is now living and has spent all of his life in Jefferson township. He is the son of David and Elizabeth (Smith) Creamer, natives of Berkeley county, Virginia, and early settlers of Fayette county, Ohio. David Creamer was a soldier of the War of 1812 and was living in this county at the time the war opened. David Creamer was the son of George Creamer, who was the first of the family to come from Virginia to this county. George Creamer had a family of six children, Michael, George, Joseph, David, Mrs. Rosana Christy and one who died in infancy.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

The first member of the Creamer family to locate in Fayette county, Ohio, was George Creamer, the grandfather of Nathan Creamer, with whom this narrative deals. George Creamer and his wife. Elizabeth Barney, came from Rockingham county, Virginia, to this county in 1816, and located on military land. The county was only seven years old when they located here and consequently they began life under truly pioneer conditions. They had to clear the land, drain the swamps and endure all the privations incident to life in any new and unsettled country. The one hundred years which this family have spent in this county has seen more changes in the progress of civilization than all of the previous years of history put together. Descended from such sterling ancestry, it is not to be wondered at that Nathan Creamer is a man of excellent qualities and a citizen who is highly honored and respected in his community.

Nathan Creamer, the son of Joseph B. and Elizabeth (Life) Creamer, was born about one mile southwest of Jeffersonville, September 18, 1844.

His father, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, came to this county with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Baniey) Creamer, when he was eight years of age, and lived the remainder of his days on the farm where his son, Nathan, is now located. George Creamer entered the land from the government and put part of it in shape for crops. Under these pioneer conditions Joseph Creamer grew to manhood, married and reared a family of seven children, Mrs. Mary A. Tobin, Mrs. Emily.Armstrong, George. Lewis, Nathan, A. R. and U. G. Of these seven children, three, George, Mrs. Armstrong and Lewis, are deceased, the latter dying during the Civil War, in which he had enlisted as a member of the Ninetieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Two of the brothers, A. R. and U. G., are prominent lawyers and highly respected citizens of the community where they reside. George Creamer, the grandfather of Nathan, reared a family of five children, David, Joshua, Elizabeth, Mrs. Josiah Huff, and Joseph B., the father of Nathan Creamer.

Nathan Creamer was reared on the farm where he was born. He received his education in the district schools of his home neighborhood and finished at Jeffersonville in the graded schools. As a youth he worked on his father's farm during the summer seasons and at the age of twenty-five commenced renting land of his father. After the latter's death he purchased the interests of the other children in the home farm and has since been operating it with marked success. He carries on a general system of farming and stock raising and, being a man of progressive ideas, has had the satisfaction of seeing his efforts abundantly rewarded.

Mr. Creamer was married in 1872 to Martha M. Cryder. the daughter of William and Susan (Carr) Cryder, of Madison county, Ohio, and to this union have been born three children, Ansel, Minnie and Jesse C. Ansel, now deceased, who was three years in the State University, died February 22, 1914; he married Susan Horley, and has three children, Edith E., Anna and Ansel, Jr.; Minnie is deceased: Jesse C. is a student in the Ohio State University, where he has completed two years of the regular course.

Politically, Mr. Creamer is a Republican and has held various offices at the hands of his party. He served as supervisor and also as a member of the school board, of which he has been president. His party, recognizing in him a man of ability and integrity, nominated and subsequently elected him to the responsible position of trustee of his township, and he is filling this office with honor to himself and credit to the citizens of the township. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Protestant church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MICHAEL C. CREAMER.

The true measure of individual success is determined by what one has accomplished. In enumeration of the men of the past generation in Fayette county, Ohio, who have succeeded in their special vocation we find that Michael C. Creamer occupies a very important place. The splendid success which came to him was the direct result of the salient points in his character, for with a mind capable of laying judicious plans and a will strong enough to carry them into execution, his energy, foresight and perseverance carried him forward to a position in the front ranks of the successful men of his community. To accumulate a farm of eleven hundred acres is sufficient evidence that he was a man of keen business ability. At the time of his death he was one of the largest farmers in the county, and one of the four men who owned more than one thousand acres of land.

The Creamer family has been identified with the history of Fayette county for more than one hundred years. The family trace their ancestry back to Germany, where George Creamer was born in 1746. His wife, Barbara Clover, was also a native of Germany and after their marriage in 1774 they came to this country and located in Pennsylvania. Later they went to Virginia, and from that state migrated with their four sons, Michael, Joseph, David and George, to Fayette county, Ohio. This county was organized in 1810 and in the summer of that year George Creamer, the great-grandfather of Michael C. Creamer, with whom this narrative deal’s, arrived in this county with his four sons, two of whom were already married and had families of their own. The two married sons were George and Michael, the latter being the grandfather of the present Michael C. Creamer. The whole family settled on Sugar creek, in Jefferson township, and in that township the descendants of the family have now been living for more than a century. After the surrender of General Hull at Detroit in 1812, Joseph, Michael and David joined the United States regular army and helped to drive the British out of this country.

One of the several children of Michael Creamer was Simeon, the father of Michael C. Creamer. Simeon married Elizabeth Connor and reared a family of ten children, William, Michael, Rosanna, George, Polly, Jacob, Philip, Christian, Wesley and Isaac.

Michael Connor Creamer, the second of the ten children born to Simeon Creamer and wife, was born March 20, 1830, in this county and died April 19, 1911, on his homestead in Jefferson township. He was born in a rude log cabin which stood on the site where the present substantial dwelling of the Creamer family now stands. As a youth he was very studious and, although his education was very limited, vet he was an omnivorous reader and was practically self-educated. He started to teach school in his early manhood and taught for-several years, and during this time he farmer in the summer seasons. He finally left the school room and devoted all of his attention to his agricultural pursuits and with a success which was indeed remarkable.

Mr. Creamer was married October 14, 1862. to Ruhama Scott, the daughter of Charles C. and Jane (Porter) Scott, natives of Virginia and early settlers in Harding county, Ohio. To this union were born seven children: Ethel, deceased; U. G., unmarried, a farmer and stockman; C. L., who farm's one hundred acres of the home place; S. C., who married Anna Mertz and has two children, Forrest and Dwight; Gertrude, who married James Coin and has two children, Tullv and Lasca, deceased; Celeste, the wife of Frank Zimmerman and the mother of three children, Brenton, Fay and Ruth; Maude, the wife of Lewis B. Creamer, and Ethel, deceased.

Mr. Creamer enlisted for the one-hundred-day service in the Civil War and was mustered in as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on May 2, 1864. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Jeffersonville, while, religiously, he and his family were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Although a quiet and unassuming man, with no ambition for public position or leadership, yet Mr. Creamer contributed much to the material, civic and moral advancement of his community. His admirable qualities of head and heart and the straightforward, upright course of his daily life won for him the admiration, esteem and confidence of the circles in which he moved. To him home life was a sacred trust, friendship was inviolable and nothing could serve him from the path of rectitude and honor.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES CRUM CREAMER.

More than a century ago George Creamer, a native *of Berkeley county, Virginia, came to Fayette county, Ohio, with his four sons, Michael, Joseph, David and George. George and Michael, the grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch, were already married when they came to this county. The others were married soon after arriving here. Joseph Creamer married Margaret Miller and David married Elizabeth Smith. The Creamer family settled here in 1810 and three years later the War of 1812 opened. Immediately after the surrender of General Hull at Detroit in the fall of 1 81 2, Joseph, Michael and David responded to the call for volunteers to aid in suppressing the anticipated invasion by the British, and served with distinction in that second struggle for American independence. During the one hundred and four years that this family has been in the county it has taken a prominent part in its development, and the descendants of these four brothers have played a conspicuous part in bringing Fayette county to its present position among the sisterhood of Ohio counties. The father of these four sons died in 1825; Michael died in 1840: David in 1860; George in 1861 and Joseph in 1872.

Michael Creamer, the grandfather of Charles C, whose history is subse-

Google quently related, was married in Berkeley county, Virginia, to Mary Gray, and came with his brothers to this county in 1810 and located in Sugar Creek valley. One of the children of Michael and Mary (Gray) Creamer was Christian C. Creamer, who was born August 4, 1818, in this county. Christian C. Creamer was twice married, his first marriage occurring April 9, 1840, to Rosanna Gray, and to this tion one son, Wesley M., a minister of the Methodist Protestant church, was born. Mrs. Rosanna Creamer died January 5, 1843, he age of twenty-seven. Shortly afterwards Christian C. Creamer married Elizabeth Higbee, and to this union eleven children were born: Mrs. Rose Bradley, Victor, Nelson D., Albert J., Mrs. Emma Moore, Mrs. Jennie Parrett, Samuel H., Mary A., Alexis H., George H. and Charles C. Three of these children, Victor, Samuel H. and Mary A., are deceased.

Charles Crum Creamer, the youngest of eleven children bom to Christian C. Creamer and wife, was born March 5, 1865, on the farm where he is now living. al)out three miles south of Jeffersonville, in Jefferson township. He received his education in the Creamer school, and finished at a Washington C. TI. business college. From his earliest boyhood he worked on the farm and after his father's death took charge of the farm. He now has one hundred and seventy-two acres of finely improved land, on which he raises all the crops of this section of the state.

Mr. Creamer was married October 3, 1889, to Lizzie R. Nisley, the daughter of Joseph and Isabella (Watts) Nisley. Mrs. Creamer's parents were both born in Highland county, Ohio, near Carmel, and came to Fayette county in 1870, locating in Jasper township. Joseph Nisley and wife were the parents of ten children, six of whom are living: Mrs. Ellen Vince, Albert C, Mrs. L. Mary Lynch, J. A., Mrs. Creamer, and Fletcher, who married Mayme Brown and has three sons, Herbert, James and Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Creamer have two sons, Hugh and Charles D., both of whom are living on their father's farm. Hugh married Lela Wood and has one daughter, Martha Pauline; Charles is still attending the public schools of his township.

Politically. Mr. Creamer is a Republican and has always taken an intelligent interest in the civic life of his community. Religiously, he and his family are loyal members of the Methodist Protestant church and are deeply interested in all church and Sunday school work. Mr. Creamer is a steward and trustee of his denomination at the present time. He is a worthy schon of the Creamer family and his whole life has been such as to reflect credit upon the family name.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEORGE H. CREAMER.

George H. Creamer, house painter and farmer, Jeftersonville, is a son of David Creamer, a native of Virginia, who came to Ohio in 1814, where he died January 21, 1875, aged sixty-eight years and two months. He married Miss Eleanor Duncan, who bore him four children, our subject (born May 30, 1840) being the youngest. The family were all born in Highland County, and came to this county about 1842. Mrs. Creamer died May 14, 1880.

The subject of this sketch was twice married. February 20, 1873, he was united to Miss Mary Sanderson, daughter of Joseph Sanderson. She bore him" one child, John D. Mrs. Creamer died February 5, 1876, aged twenty-four years. On the 27th of October, 1878, he married Miss Sarah Porter, daughter of Aaron Porter, of this county. By this marriage there is one child, Louis B.

Mr. Creamer enlisted, August 4, 1862, in Company C, 90th O. V. I., and was discharged June 21, 1865. He has furnished for this work a copy of a speech by Captain Noble, and one by Major Kimble. He was a charter member of the I. 0. O. F., of Jeftersonville, and has held all the offices of the subordinate lodge.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.