Abram Ebersole
Jacob Ebersole came from Germany to America some time in the eighteenth century, and settled in Washington county, Maryland, not far from Hagerstown. After his immigration he married a Miss Smith, two of whose brothers - Nicholas and Michael Smith - were among the Kentucky pioneers of Boone and Kenton's days. One settled in Bourbon county, and the other in an adjoining region. Some descendants of this family, cousins of Abram Ebersole, afterwards lived at Stone Side, up the Little Miami valley. Jacob and Mary Ebersole had four daughters and two sons, among whom was Christian Ebersole, the oldest son and the oldest of the family. He stayed at home until his marriage, about 1798, when he was united to Miss Annie Shouff, of the same neighborhood. He then determined to try his fortunes further towards the setting sun, among his and his wife's relatives in Kentucky, and emigrated, in 1799, to Bourbon county. His father and mother followed soon after to the same part of the county, and died there. His parents spent their last days in Maryland with the rest of the family, none of whom migrated to the west except Christian. After improving a place and farming for three years in the wilds of Kentucky, he decided to remove to the north of Ohio; and on the second day of March, 1802, he halted his emigrant wagon at the site which has so long been the home of himself and his descendants. This is upon the survey No. 395, or the "Tompkins survey", a large tract which now includes the village of California and many pieces of farming land. Here, immediately adjoining the present plat of the village, to the west of it, and with an extensive frontage upon the Ohio and Little Miami rivers, he purchased from General Lytle a fertile tract of four hundred and fifty-six-hundredths acres, which is still held undivided by the family. It was unimproved, except for a cabin at the ferry at the mouth of the Little Miami and another not far off. He at once built a cabin also on the eligible and beautiful site where the family mansion now stands, which was then in dense woods, and began clearing and cultivating his farm; also keeping the ferry before mentioned across the Little Miami, which he and his son Abram maintained by skiffs, canoes and flat-boats until about 1850, when the New Richmond turnpike was built, and its bridge superseded the necessity for a ferry. He died at his home here June, 1836, and his wife November 3, 1827. Their children numbered nine, as follows: Christian S., now living at Madison, in this county, in his eighty-second year; Catharine (Mrs. Robert Fee, of Moscow, Clermont county), deceased in 1878; Abram, the principal subject of this sketch; Jacob, a farmer near New Richmond, Clermont county; Mary, born September 16, 1803, and still residing at the old home with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Abram Ebersole; Martha Ann, Maria and Elizabeth, who died unmarried, while still young ladies; and John, who died at the age of nineteen, in 1832.
Abram Ebersole was born at the old home, September 18, 1808, the same year in which the house was built. It is now somewhat enlarged and improved, one of the oldest brick dwellings in the county, and is still thoroughly habitable, comfortable, and sightly. He was educated in the country schools of his neighborhood, in a high school kept by a Frenchman named Decorney, at Alexander, Kentucky, ten miles from the Ebersole place, and at Miami university, where he attended for two years, but was prevented by ill health from graduating. At the age of about nineteen he left the schools and returned home, where he shared the labors of the farm with his father and brothers. On the thirteenth of May, 1856, he was married to Miss Celina M. Johnson, second daughter of John and Sarah (Cox) Johnson, who resided near Salem, in Anderson township. Her father was of an old pioneer family, which came to the Miami valley about 1808, headed by her grandfather, Walter Johnson, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1781. Her maternal grandparents, Thomas and Margaret (Mercer) Cox, were born in Maryland, but removed upon their marriage to Virginia, where her mother, Sarah Cox, was born, and thence they emigrated to Anderson township in 1807.
Mr. Ebersole's father had now been dead for many years, and Abram had come into possession of the home farm by inheritance. He continued to reside there, and by industry and energy maintained it well, reaping the average share of prosperity which fell to the farmers of this part of the Miami and Ohio valleys. He took a lively interest in the construction of the New Richmond turnpike, of which he was, at various times, president and treasurer, and in all other local affairs that promised, in a material or moral way, to benefit the community. He was an active advocate of the temperance reform, and made his daily life and example correspond in every respect to his principles of total abstinence. As noted below, the only secret organization he ever joined has for its object the promotion of temperance. He took a practical interest in the Union Sabbath-school at California, which he regularly attended, although not a member of any church. He was at first a Whig and then a Republican, at times devoting considerable time and attention to the promotion of party interests in the township and county; but asked nothing himself, although he was several times made trustee of the township, and for many years was a member of the local school board. He connected himself with none of the secret societies, except with one of the reformatory orders, known as the Sons of Temperance. He was content with the quiet, independent life of a farmer, not engaging in trade or speculation, nor using his education as a writer or public speaker. He was a kind and genial man in his family, and in all his relations in life; sustained to the end a high reputation for morality and integrity among his fellow-men; and left the legacy of a good example to his posterity and to the community. He died at his home in Anderson township, near California, March 9, 1868, the result of an accident, he falling, four days before his death, from the loft of his barn to the floor, fracturing his skull so that he was not afterwards conscious to the moment of his death. He was in his sixtieth year. His remains were buried in the cemetery at Mount Washington, where a monument commemorates his memory. His widow continues to reside at the old homestead. His children are as follows:
Martha Frances, born July 9, 1857; Augusta, born February 23, 1859, died at the age of two years; Stanley, born September 24, 1860; Milton, born August 8, 1866. All are at home with their mother. With them also resides their aunt, Miss Mary Ebersole, at a venerable age, who has erected a noble monument for herself in the fine large schoolhouse adjoining the farm, to the erection of which she contributed a very liberal sum, and thereby secured the building at that time and place.
From History of Hamilton County, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881