The Hadley Families of Clinton County, Ohio

WILLIAM HADLEY, deceased. The man whose name is at the head of this sketch, was prominently identified with the early settlement of Clinton County. He was born in North Carolina, and raised on a farm. He was married in his native State, to Sarah Clark. He emigrated to Ohio in 1810, and bought a large tract of land, embracing where now is located the village of Clarksville, and extending two or three miles up the valley of “ Todd’s Fork.” On this land he erected a fine brick residence (which is now owned and occupied by John B. Smith), northeast of Clarksville, which village he laid out and named in honor of his wife. He died in this township. His family consisted of ten children, named as follows: Mary, David (the father of D. L. Hadley), John, Ruth, Jonathan, Ann, Joshua, Sarah, William and Jane. John Hadley, the third child of William and Sarah (Clark) Hadley, was born in North Carolina July 17, 1796. After his parents settled here, he learned the saddler and harness trade, and opened a shop in a little log house which stood near the site of the present post office. He was married in October, 1816, to Ruth, daughter of Jacob and Martha Hale, who was born in Randolph County, N. C., March 3, 1797, and bore him the following children: Alfred, Sarah E., Ann M., Mahala, Julia and Eli. He was a member of the Clinton County Importation Company. This county is deeply indebted to him for the importation of fine stock, including “Short Horns,” “Suffolk hogs,” and fine horses and sheep from England. He expended several thousand dollars in importing stock for himself, and was also the means of importing a large number for others. He had, at one time, fifteen silver cups which he had received as prizes from different agricultural societies at whose fairs his stock was exhibited. He was the first “ pork packer ” in this county, and was largely interested in that business at Clarksville. He owned and operated a general store, and was quite extensively engaged in farming. He was a devoted member of the Friends Society, to whom he donated several acres of land in the eastern part of the village of Clarksville, on which to erect a meeting-house.

A fine brick residence that he built in the village is now occupied by his daughter, the widow of the late James Linton. In company with his son-in-law, James Linton, they took the contract for and graded eight miles of the Muskingum Valley Railroad. He died at Clarksville in 1866. '

Alfred C. Hadley, first son of John and Ruth Hadley, was born in Clarksville January 14, 1819. On arriving at his majority, engaged with his father in farming, pork-packing and dealing in stock. He was married at Richmond, Ind., May 1, 1845, to Anna, daughter of William and Martha Nixon, who was born in Chester County,. 1 Penn., March 27, 1825. Her parents emigrated to Highland County, Ohio, in 1825. After his marriage, his father bought and presented to him what is known as the Smalley farm, in Washington Township, Warren Co., Ohio; it consisted of 420 acres. His

I father bought it of an Indian chief named William Smalley. It is one of the oldest and best farms in this part of the county. There still stands on it a fine brick house built hy the “ chief,” who burned the brick for and erected the same without the aid of a white man. The building contains brick eighteen inches in length. It was very roughly finished inside. Alfred C. Hadley died September 28, 1849. He and his wife had the following children: John W., born February 18, 1846; Charles E., December 14, 1847, and Allie C., December 13, 1849. They were all born on “ the old Smalley farm.” John W. was accidentally thrown onto a red hot stove, and although he lived about a year afterward, it resulted in his death on April 14, 1850. Allie E. was married December 22. 1878, by the Rev. Samuel Austin, an old resident, to Morris Lancaster. Their children arc Jetta and Mabel. Charles E. was reared on the farm. When he was twelve years of age, his mother moved to Vernon Township, a quarter of a mile west of Clarksville. Charles worked for his grandfather, John Hadley, in handling stock until 1865, attending school part of the time. lie then entered the State Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. After attending this institution some six months, he was unfortunate enough to sprain an ankle, which disabled him to such a degree that he was absent from the college for eighteen months, when he returned and remained until 1878. He then returned home and was occupied about one year in repairing and making improvements on the old “ Smalley farm,” and in 1870, himself and mother took up their residence there, where they have lived since, and where he has been engaged in farming and dealing extensively in livestock. He still owns a few “ Short Horns,” descendants of the importations made by his grandfather “ Hadley and also retains his membership in the “ Cresson Literary Society,” which he joined while in college.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

DAVID L. HADLEY, farmer, P. 0. Clarksville, is one of Vernon’s most prominent and respected citizens. Is the son of David and Sarah (Lindley) Hadley; was born in this township, one mile north of Clarksville, February 8, 1827. His parents and grandparents were among the early settlers of this part of the country, emigrating from Chatham County, N. C. David Hadley, father of the subject of this sketch, was born April 27, 1794, and was married February 4, 1815, in Chatham County, N. C., to Sarah Lindley. They had seven sons and three daughters. David L. was the fourth son; he lived at home till the date of his marriage, which occurred at Blue River in Rush County, Ind., October 17, 1853, to Abigail J., daughter of Hezekiah and Abigail (Mendenhall) Clark, born in Randolph County, N. C.. October 14, 1830. This union was blessed by three children, two of whom are now living and named as follows — George C., a telegraph operator, and railroad and express agent at Mumford, Monroe Co., N. Y.; Woodrow W., now a farmer at Pleasant Plain, Warren County, Ohio. The deceased was named Byram C., who died in infancy. The year following his marriage, Mr. Hadley settled one and one-quarter miles north of Clarksville on one hundred and fifteen acres of land, part of which he received of his father, buying the remainder from the heirs. He still owns one hundred acres of it. He resided there till the fall of 1866, when he moved to his present location, close to the village, where he has sixty-two and one-half acres in a high state of cultivation. Here he has a fine brick residence, situated on a natural eminence, where he has a splendid view of the valley. He has the finest barn in this part of the county, with three floors and a driveway into each, covered with a slate roof, the entire structure costing $6,000. Mr. Hadley and his estimable wife are members of the Orthodox Friends’ Church.

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

HARLAN H. HADLEY, farmer, P. 0. Clarksville. Jonathan T. Hadley, the father of our subject, was born about the year 1793, in Chatham County, N. C.; was the son of Simon and Elizabeth Hadley. Simon Hadley’s ancestors emigrated originally from Ireland, and settled somewhere in Pennsylvania, when America still consisted of colonies. Jonathan T. Hadley was reared on a farm. In his early days, he received but a very limited education, but in after years he acquired considerable self-culture. On October 23, 1814, he left his native State and started on his journey for Ohio, arriving here November 10, of the same year. This remarkable journey of about 593 miles, was accomplished in about eighteen days; he having ridden the whole way on horseback, and during that time he was compelled many times to cut his way through the woods and bushes. He came directly to Clinton County, and remained there the following winter. In the following summer of 1815, he raised a crop of corn on some of the land he had cleared. In July of that summer, he started back for his native State, completing the journey this time in about fifteen days, and on horseback, as before. On September 3, of the same year, he again started for the State of Ohio, taking with him nothing but his clothes, books, and a little money, and arriving in Clinton County on the loth of October, completing the journey in about thirty-seven days. About one and one-half months after the date of his arrival, he married Miss Rebecca Harvey, daughter of Isaac and Lydia Harvey, who settled in Clinton County in the fall of 1806, and whose ancestors originally came from Eugland. Isaac Harvey first settled on Todd’s Fork, near where the Springfield Meeting-House is located. Jonathan T. Hadley was the father of nine children, six of whom are living, viz.: Lydia, Samuel L., Simon, Deborah L., Milton, Harlan H.; and three deceased. After he arrived in Clinton County, he first erected a log-cabin, and began clearing oft his land, which consisted of 150 acres, for which he paid about $2.50 per acre, in the clearing of which ho endured a great many hardships and privations. He afterward kept adding to the land which he already possessed until by subsequent purchases he had in his possession at one time about 1,000 acres of land. He was a member of the Friends' Society, and departed this life October 28, 1879. He was a man of remarkable energy and industrious habits; of decided character, and firmness of resolution; honorable and upright in his dealings with his fellow-men. In his death, Clinton County lost one of her worthiest citizens. Harlan II. Hadley, son of Jonathan T., and subject of our sketch, was born October 21, 1835. He was reared to the years of manhood on a farm, and received but a limited education. In 1858, November 18, he married Miss Susie Kimbrough, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Kimbrough. They are the parents of five children, viz.: Ella, Atwell M., Isaac P., Horace A. and R. Edna. Harlan H. had left to him, by inheritance from his father, about 130 acres of land, located about two miles north of Clarksville, on which farm he is at present located, and by subsequent purchases has at present about 310 acres of land. For the last twenty-five years, he has been extensively engaged in stock-raising. He is a member of the Friends’ Society. In 1862, he was elected Township Trustee, and served about nine years.

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

JAMES HADLEY, farmer, P. 0. Ogden, was born July 2V, 1846, in Clinton County; is the son of Samuel L. and Mary J. Hadley. Samuel L. was born January 30, 1821, and son of Jonathan and Rebecca Hadley, who were among the early settlers of Clinton County. He was reared on a farm, received but a limited education, and married Miss Mary J. Harvey, daughter of Eli and Sarah Harvey. They are the parents of nine children, viz., James, Anselm, Calvin, Emma, Anna, Edwin William P., and three who are deceased. He is the owner of about one hundred and thirty acres of land in the southwestern portion of Adams Township, on which land he at present resides; is a member of the Friends’ Society, and may well be classed among the worthy citizens of Adams Township. James, the subject of our present sketch, was reared on a farm, and attended a district school. When about twenty years of age, he attended, for two terms, the Spiceland Academy in Henry County, Ind., and subsequently attended a select school at the Springfield Meeting-House, taught by Mr. Calvin Pritchard, in Adams Township, under the control of the Friends’ Society, and attended here a few months. On September 9, 1869, he married Miss Isabella A. Moore, daughter of John Haines and Ruth Moore. This union has been blessed with three children, viz., Edgar L., Alontie H. and Louie May. He received from his father, fifty acres of land about, two miles west of Sligo, on the Lebanon Free Turnpike road, and by subsequent purchase has acquired a farm of eighty-nine acres of land, and, in 1871, erected thereon a fine new dwelling-house. He is a member of the Friends’ Society. In his political views, he is a Republican. Mr. Hadley is a young man of whom Adams Township may well be proud, and well worthy a record in the annals of Clinton County.

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

SAMUEL H. HADLEY, farmer, P. 0. Wilmington, was born in the territory now comprised in Adams Township, Clinton County, May 18, 1824. His parents were Jacob and Mary (Butler) Hadley, the former a native of North Carolina, and the latter of Georgia, and both of English extraction. Jacob came to Clinton County in 1809 with his parents, John and Lydia (Harvey) Hadley, who settled on Todd’s Fork. Our subject was reared on the farm, and has made farming the occupation of his life. He has a fine farm of 200 acres three miles from Wilmington, on which there is a beautiful elevation upon which his residence was built. Ho was married, in 1847, to Emily Johnson, who was born in Warren County, Ohio, and died in 1849, two years after her marriage. In 1851, Mr. Hadley was again married to Ruth Smith, a native of Clark County, Ohio, by whom he has had six children — Orlando (now married and farming in Clinton County), Emily J. (the wife of E. A. Lewis, banker of Sabina), Alice (who graduated at Wilmington College in 1878, and is now a teacher in the

Sabina Public School), Mary D. (now the wife of Mr. Lacy, a farmer of Union Township), Anna and Eva J., both of whom are now in college at Wilmington. Mr. Hadley and all of his family are members of the Society of Friends. He is a stanch and enthusiastic Republican. He is a man of decided convictions, and expresses his opinions without regard to public opinion. His farm is well improved, and has about it that air of neatness and order that characterizes the home of a perfect farmer.

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

JONATHAN HADLEY, deceased, was born in North Carolina August 20, 1800. He was the sou of William and Sarah (Clark) Hadley, also natives of North Carolina. He was educated in the public schools, and, for the greater part of his life, followed farming. In early life, he was a stock-raiser and dealer in stock, in which business he continued until the time of his death, which occurred in Iowa January 25, 18GL He was married three times. His third wife was Elizabeth Timberlake, a native of Highland County, Ohio, of English descent. They were married May 25, 1848. Five children were born to Mr. Hadley’s first marriage, and one to each of the others. Of these seven children, six are now living — Charles (who manager the dairy which the family have conducted for three years), Frank (a merchant of Springfield, Ohio), Eva, Calvin (married and farming near Kokomo, Ind. Carrie and Jonathan. Albert is deceased. Mr. Hadley’s family after his death moved to Warren County, and from there to Clinton County, where they rented a farm of 112 acres west of Wilmington. They arc doing a good business, and making a complete success of their enterprise.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.