John Reily
John Reily, one of the early settlers of Columbia, was but twenty-five years old when the colony came, having been born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1763. He had seen much service, however, in the army of the Revolution; was engaged at Camden, Guilford Court House, Ninety-six, and Eutaw Springs, and served through his eighteen months' term honorably and safely. After a few years in the wilds of Kentucky, he removed from Lincoln county, near the present site of Danville, to the Columbia settlement, December 18, 1789, and the next year taught the first school kept there, or anywhere in the Miami purchase. He took full part in the scouts and expeditions into the Indian country, and in 1794 removed to Cincinnati, where he became successively deputy clerk of the county court, clerk of the territorial legislature, and clerk and collector of the town. He removed to Hamilton in 1803, and there spent the remainder of his days, dying in that place June 7, 1850, after a long and highly honorable career.
From History of Hamilton county, Ohio, Henry & Kate Ford, L. A. Williams & Co., Publishers, 1881