John Richey Newhouse
John Richey Newhouse, one of Scioto Township's most honored citizens, who has spent almost the whole of his long and useful life on his present farm, is a worthy representative of two of the pioneers of Delaware County and can claim a Revolutionary ancestor in the person of his great-grandfather. Mr. Newhouse was born in Union County, Ohio, Augusl 27, 1829. His parents were William and Annie (Richey) Newhouse.
The history of the Newhouse family is very interesting. The family is of English origin and the first members came to Loudoun County, Virginia, prior to 1740, in which year the great-grandfather of John Richey was born. When be attained manhood, he married a lady who was also of English extraction and they reared the following children: Jonathan, Isaac, Anthony, Enra and David. He died of camp fewer, when forty years of age, having served in the Patriot army from Loudoun County, from 1776 to 1780.
Anthony Newhouse. the third son of the above family, became the grandfather of John Richey Newhouse. He was eight years of age when his father died in the army, and with his older brothers he was forced to assist his widowed mother in providing for the needs of the family. He remained closely at home until 1794, when General Washington called for soldiers to assist in suppressing what is known to history as the "Whiskey Insurrection." Anthony Newhouse responded and remained in the service for six months, or until the insurrectonists had been subdued, accompanying the command of General Lee as far as Fort Pitt, where the city of Pittsburg now stands. He returned to his home in Virginia and remained there, following his former pursuits, until 1798, when he visited Wheeling for six months and went from there to old Red Stone Fort, the site of which is now included in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
At that place. Mr. Newhouse became acquainted with Nancy Coons, to whom he was married. June 28, 1799, and through this marriage the Newhouse family became established in Ohio. His father-in-law. John Coons, had decided to become a pioneer and settled in the rich country offered to those who sought permanent homes, in Pickaway County, Ohio. Early in the year 1800, a party consisting of John Coons and family, Henry More and family and Anthony Newhouse and family, started on what was then a long and perilous journey, for which they made great preparation. They journeyed to Wheeling, Virginia, on the Ohio River and there the men put their wives aboard an old-fashioned keel-boat which plied up and down the river, by which route they were to reach the mouth of the Scioto River. When their families and possessions were safely started, the men set out for the same point, along what was called "Zane's Trace," being really the first road in the State of Ohio, covering the distance to Chillicothe. When the "house-boat" party, as we might term it in modern days, reached the mouth of the Scioto, it was necessary to take a still smaller vessel in order to ascend the narrower stream. They boarded what was termed a "pirogue," which was the Indian name for a primitive boat, sometimes consisting of several canoes fastened together and sometimes of a kind of flat-boat with a sail, and by this means they safely reached Chillicothe and joined their husbands. A still further journey had to be made up the Scioto Creek until they reached some land that had been previously cleared andi partially cultivated by the Indians, and here they stopped and built log cabins very close together, mainly for protection, as they were daily visited by the Indians and they were far from civilization, the nearest settlement being Chillicothe, thirteen miles away, while Lancaster was eighteen miles distant. At this time all the land in this vicinity belonged to the Government, the county not having been yet surveyed. During the first year, the little colony subsisted on corn which was brought from .Marietta, either by way of the river or on horseback, and on game, there being an abundance of deer and wild turkeys, while bears were often killed. There was thus no danger of hunger, and the wild berries and wild honey found in the forest, gave variety to the fare. During the residence of the family in Pickaway County the following children were born: William, Sarah, Elizabeth, John, Isaac, Margaret and Eura.
In 1812 Anthony Newhouse had his second military experience. He enlisted from Pickaway County in John Boggs' company, under the command of General Tupper, who was sent to Fort Defiance to fight against the Indians. Mr. Newhouse was discharged at Urbana, Ohio, but before he reached there, his faithful horse had been so disabled by the tomahawk of an Indian, that it was almost worthless. In 1814 Anthony Newhouse sold his farm of 160 acres in Pickaway County and bought 200 acres in Scioto Township, from Henry Massie, of Chillicothe, paying for it at the rate of two dollars an acre. In May of that year he started with his family for Delaware County, bringing with him three cows and three horses. John R. Newhouse has now among his stock, descendants of the horses his grandfather brought from Pickaway County.
William Newhouse, father of John R., was born March 11, 1800. He was married to Annie Richey, January 6, 1823, and they settled on the bank of the Scioto River, near Bellpoint, from which place they removed, in 1825, to Union County, but in the fall of 1829 they returned to Scioto Township and settled on the farm now owned by John R. Newhouse, who was then six months old. Here the father died December 6, 1842. His occupation was farming but he was possessed of so much mechanical skill that he constructed a large number of the necessities of the household, including furniture, utensils and shoes. He built the first wagon that was ever made in this section.
The children born to William Newhouse and wife were the following: Mary K., born January 2, 1825, married Benjamin T. Benton, August 13, 1840, and died January 19, 1901; David Emery, born August 26, 1826, died in Wapello County, Iowa, February 20, 1856; Belinda, who was married November 15. 1849, to Washington Jones Warren, died at Ashland, Iowa; John R.; Catherine, born January 22, 1831, was married in 1855, to Abner Johnson Bird, and died in 1885; Nancy Jane, born June 30, 1832, was married in 1857 to Levi Hart, and died in 1901; Adam, born January 30. 1834, resides in Scioto Township; Joseph, born in 1836, lives in Buffalo, Missouri; William Lafayette, born June 12, 1838, died June 30, 1855; James H., born in 1840, died in 1899; and Isaiah died in infancy.
John R. Newhouse has engaged in general farming and stock-raising and has raised many horses. His farm contains 82 acres and be has all but 15 under cultivation. He cast his first Presidential vote for Zacbary Taylor, and all through the period of the Civil War he was identified with the Republican party, but since then his interests have centered more in the Prohibition party which he is happy to see is winning consideration all over the land, the people beginning to value its principles and aims as he has done for many years. In many respects. Mr. Newhouse stands alone, being the oldest school-teacher living in the western part of Delaware County, having out-lived his co-workers and many of his pupils; is the oldest member of the old Stone Church of Radnor and the oldest Sunday school superintendent in Delaware County, and the oldest elder in the Presbyterian Church, in point of service, in the Marion Presbytery, which includes Marion, Delaware, Union and Morrow Counties. He is also the oldest justice of the peace in the county. He has held all the township offices and has been at the head of all public-spirited movements. Since December 10, 1853, he has been a Mason, belonging first to Fidelity Lodge at Bellpoint, later demitting to Hiram Lodge, at Delaware, and is the oldest member of the fraternity in the county.
On April 6, 1858, Mr. Newhouse was married to Jane A. McClure, a daughter of James McClure. She was born April 1, 1831. Of their seven children, six reached maturity: Emma, born February 7, 1859, married D. E. Hughes, December 15, 1881, and they reside at Delaware. They have one daughter, Harriet, who was born November 7, 1884. David Emery, born July 26, 1861, died November 22, 1884. Nellie, born June 12, 1865, married A. H. Fawcett, June 11, 1890. and they have four children: Clyde, born March 31, 1891; Fern, born February 9, 1893; Edgar, born November 27, 1894; and Guy H., born October 11, 1905. Annie Olive, born November 12, 1870, married Harry S. Britton, September 14, 1890, and died at Chicago, Illinois, April 22, 1898, leaving two children: Corinne, born August 24, 1891; and Pauline, born September 19. 1893. Mary Etta, born December 13, 1872, married William Brown, February 1, 1893, and they have one child, Chester Dean, born May 20, 1897. Chester P., bom November 21, 1874, married Mary K. Oiler, April 21, 1898, and they have one child, John R., born February 11, 1899.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908