My Genealogy Hound

DR. JOSEPH C. STIERS, Postmaster, Hamersville, was formerly a well-known practicing physician of Hamersville and Brown County. He was born in Clermont County, Ohio, October 21, 1820. His parents were Ralph and Elizabeth (Aldrich) Stiers, natives of Pennsylvania, of German and English descent. The former was a soldier in the war of 1812. His grandfather Aldrich enlisted under Gen. Washington in the Revolutionary army, when but seventeen years of age. Dr. Stiers’ paternal grandfather, Jacob Stiers, was an early settler in Pennsylvania and twice married. His first wife and children were captured by the Indians, and the mother and children all killed except two daughters. These were carried into captivity and one finally suffered the same fate as the preceding ones. The remaining daughter grew to womanhood among the savages, and was subsequently discovered by her relations. They endeavored to induce her to return to her old home, but it had been so many years since she had been abducted, that she did not recognize her father. She asked to see a step brother, and when brought before her, she lifted his hat and discovered a knife wound on his head which she had inflicted in her childhood days. Thus she knew it was her brother, but still refused to go back to her friends. She believed she could never again accustom herself to the habits and customs of the white people, and remained with the Indians until her death. Dr. Stiers came to Brown County in 1848, and located at Hamersville. His early education was obtained in the common schools, and subsequently he attended the Ohio College of Medicine, at Cincinnati. He commenced the practice of his profession at Hamersville, the year of his location in this county. He is a member of the Allopathic School of Medicine. For fourteen years he practiced his profession, and administered to rich and poor alike, never holding back on account of a person’s financial standing, but, full of sympathy and kindness, he treated all alike. During the last seven years of his practice, he rode night and day, only being at home one whole night in this period of time. In 1860, premonitory symptoms of that dreaded disease, amaurosis appeared in his eyes, and within two years his eyesight totally left him. This terrible affliction called forth the sympathy and kindness of his many friends and neighbors, and although the Doctor was forced to give up his practice, yet his subsequent life, with this one exception, has been peaceful and quiet. He and his wife are well known in Hamersville and the surrounding; country and beloved for their kind hearts and cheerful dispositions. He owns the property where he now resides, also the small store on the premises. In 1880, he was appointed Postmaster, and the duties of that office are faithfully attended to by his son, Robert, a young man of good morals and industrious habits. The Doctor was united in marriage, in 1851, to Emily J. Moore, born at Hamersville March 16, 1832, and daughter of Eliakim and Jane (Francis) Moore, of German and Scotch descent. They have two children — Robert M., born March 2, 1864, and Anna M., born December 12, 1871. These children were born after the Doctor’s eyesight disappeared, and he has never enjoyed the privilege of seeing their forms and features. Since this affliction, the Doctor has been a faithful and earnest expounder of the Gospel, and is a man of more than ordinary intelligence.