Rev. Philip Gatch
The venerated name of Rev. Philip Gatch will ever be associated with the records of pioneer settlement and early religious movements in Hamilton and Clermont counties. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time in the Little Miami valley. Mr. Gatch was born near Baltimore, Maryland, March 2, 1751, of Prussian stock on his father's side and Burgundian on his mother's. He was converted under Methodist influences in 1772; began to speak as an exhorter in the same year; the next year was sent into New Jersey as the first itinerant of the church ever sent into the State. He and the Rev. Mr. Walters, then laboring in Virginia and Delaware, were, indeed, the first preachers recruited for the Methodist itinerancy in this country. At the conference of 1774, held in Philadelphia, he was one of five received into full connection. January 14, 1788, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Powhatan county, Virginia. After much laborious and able service at the east, part of the time under severe persecution, being often threatened, once dangerously assaulted, and once plastered with tar, he engaged in farming for a time; emancipated his slaves in December, 1780, removed to Buckingham, Virginia, and improved a large farm. In 1798 he resolved to emigrate to the Northwest Territory, and set out for the land of hope October 11th, of that year, with his brother-in-law, the Rev. James Smith, and family, and a near friend, Mr. Ambrose Ransom and his family. Thirty-six persons, white and colored, were in the colony. After many tribulations, by land and water, they reached the Little Miami valley. Says Mr. Gatch in his journal:
From Williamsburgh we passed on to Newtown, and for some days pitched our tents in Turpin's bottom, and there, with those who were with me, were accommodated with a small shop used by a mechanic. On Sunday morning after our arrival the boats landed. My heart was dissolved into love and gratitude to God for his care over us on our journey, and bringing us safely into this desirable and distant land. I rented a house in Newtown, and we were treated kindly by the people, though they cared little for religion. The land which l had taken in exchange for my farm in Virginia did not answer for a settlement, so I purchased a tract in the forks of the Little Miami river.
His residence in Anderson township was, therefore, brief, lasting only till the middle of the next February, when his cabin was finished and he moved beyond the East fork into it. His history thenceforth belongs mainly to Clermont county, which he served long and ably in public stations, as justice of the peace, associate judge of the court of common pleas, member of the first constitutional convention, and otherwise. He remained identified, however, with the religious interests of the lower Miami valley, preaching regularly at Newtown and other places, though not as a circuit preacher until circuits were regularly established and appointments made to them, and frequently preached thereafter. He died in the fullness of years and honors December 28, 1835, and was laid to rest beside his venerable wife, in the burying-ground upon his farm.
From History of Hamilton County, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881