William J. Lamme
William J. Lamme, miller and farmer, P. O. Carrolton. William Lamme and family emigrated from Kentucky to Miami Valley, Montgomery Co., and within the original limits of Washington Township, Ohio, in the fall of 1802, with a family of wife and five children, settling on the land he had previously purchased, and erected his cabin. David, the eldest son, then aged about eighteen years, was put to clearing up the land, while his father, quite early, proceeded to erect a grist-mill on Hole’s Creek; the building was made of round logs and covered with clapboards put on with wood pins , a square of this roof was in a pretty good state of preservation but a few years ago, also portions of the old water wheel. This was the first mill built in Washington Township; here the pioneers had their grinding done for many years, and David, the boy, afterward the prominent man, was educated to the milling business. He was married August 7, 1804, to Miss Margaret Dodds, daughter of Gen. William Dodds. From this union there were ten children, two sons and eight daughters; two only are now (August 1881) living, viz., William J. and Katie Eliza Lamme. Mrs. Lamme was a native of Pennsylvania, and emigrated with her parents to Ohio about the time the Lammes did. Her bridal dress was an embroidered muslin, and the groom’s coat, calico. They commenced housekeeping in a cabin situated in the woods, where they remained for some years, when an exchange of property was made and they moved a little south where their days were ended. In 1842, he took down the old mill on the farm, to make room for a more commodious building to meet the requirements of the trade. The grinding was principally done for toll, and when a sufficient quantity had accumulated, it was ground and wagoned to Cincinnati, until the Miami Canal was finished from Cincinnati to Middletown; from there it would go on the canal to Cincinnati. David Lamme was a Justice of the Peace many years, and in 1840 was elected a Representative to the Legislature from Montgomery County. He was also one of the County Commissioners, under whose direction the present court house in Dayton was erected. He was prosperous in his business and always kept things around him up to the times. David Lamme, better known through out the country as Squire Lamme, was emphatically a gentleman of the old school, as the phrase goes. Born in Kentucky, and a mere boy when his family came to Ohio, he seems to have had the characteristic Kentucky hospitality inborn, for there was not a private residence in southern Montgomery more celebrated for social and friendly gatherings of the very elite, so to speak, of the country than Squire Lamme’s. He was a large man, dignified, buy very agreeable and genial in his manners. No one felt the least trepidation in his presence, he was equally benevolent, and the poor of the section of the country about the old mill will never forget the many acts of charity done to their families by Squire Lamme and his estimable wife; she was just suited to him, a fit companion. Long may the memory of these grand old pioneers of Ohio be kept green in the minds of the generations to come. What has been said of the parents applies also to the family; of whom most were daughters, only two sons, one of whom died in youth; the other, the Major and one sister, Miss Katy, are the only surviving members of the once populous family; all the girls were possessed of more then ordinary personal attractions and were, besides very lively and intelligent, which, as a matter of course, attracted a large retinue of young gentlemen, but the tax on Squire Lamme’s resources, by the amount of company entertained by him at his residence never made him grumble nor find fault with his children; he was above littleness in any form. David Lamme died August 22, 1855; his wife Margaret died December 28, 1868.
From History of Montgomery County, Ohio, W. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1882
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