My Genealogy Hound

LUKE SMITH MOTE, farmer; P. O. West Milton; was born Aug. 21, 1812, in Randolph Township, Montgomery Co., Ohio; his parents were David Mote and Miriam (Mendenhall) Mote; they settled first in Montgomery Co. in 1811, but in 1822 moved to Miami Co. Persons bearing the surname Mote (more correctly Motte) and those in marriage connection with the family, were numerically large, and bore a conspicuous part among the first settlers in Union Township, Miami Co., Ohio, not only in clearing out farms in the forest, but also in making up its first church and civil organizations; the first emigrants of this name came over from England, near London, to Pennsylvania, soon after its first settlement; they were three brothers, John, Jonathan and William; John went into the Southern States, and settled in Northern Georgia; William died of small-pox while in service of the Colonial army (unmarried); Jonathan remained in Pennsylvania, living in Chester Co.; the early settlers in this township bearing the family name, were his descendants; his son David, who married Dorcas Nichols, also removed to the South, and settled in Columbia Co., Ga.; they had ten children born to them, six sons and four daughters; their names and relative ages are as follows: Margaret, David, Rachel, Jonathan, Mary, William, John, Jeremiah, Dorcas and Jesse; all reached adult age (except Dorcas, who died in childhood), and were married and raised up families (except David, who died in his 27th year); David Mote, Sr., aforesaid, or Grandfather David, as he was called, lived most of his days on the borders of civilization, where much wild game abounded, and therefore became very expert in the use of the rifle; he mentioned, among other items of his experience in hunting, that he had killed two deer at a shot thirteen times, and twice he had killed three; this expertness in the use of the rifle was apparently handed down to some of his descendants, a few of whom delighted in the chase, and could number the slain of the wild herds of the forests by the score, and even hundreds; in person, he was of medium height, of square and rather heavy build, thoughtful and given to taciturnity; he and his wife accompanied their children when they came to Ohio in 1802; his mental and physical faculties were little impaired as ripe age advanced, his step being elastic and his eye sight clear up to the close of life; he died at his son John’s, of gastritis, on the 4th of March, 1817, aged 84 years, being the oldest of the first emigrants in this township; his wife, Dorcas, died the following November, in her 86th year. As above stated, said David Mote, Sr., and his sons and daughters and their families, were of the first emigrants in these parts; Jeremiah and William, accompanied by their father and mother, came in September, 1802, and the rest soon followed them. This part of the county being noted for its many large cold springs, which discharge their waters, tumbling over the rocks, into the time-worn gorges some fifty or sixty feet on their way to the river, affording many mill privileges, were early sought out and selected for homes and sites for mills; Jonathan Mote took those on the farm now owned by Mrs. Thomas Vore; he built the first brick house there on this river, north of Dayton, in 1810, which is still standing; he died there away in April, 1839, of gastric derangement, like his father, in his 81st year; none bearing the family name of his descendants remain in these parts. William Mote’s farm adjoined his brother Jonathan’s on the southwest; John’s and Jeremiah’s farms were three miles directly south, on the Montgomery Co. line. John was a physician, and widely known as Dr. Mote; the early settlers were much afflicted with ague, chills and malarial fevers, from impurities of the atmosphere caused by stagnant water and decaying timber; he being the only doctor in these parts, his time was much taken up in administering to the sick and afflicted; hence his large practical experience in that day; there was a greater mortality in his family, after his children had married and settled in life, from pulmonary disease. Jeremiah was also accounted a good nurse among the sick, and more of a ready writer than ordinary in that early day; he was Clerk or Secretary of the Friends’ Monthly Meeting at West Branch in its first organization, and the old church records are in his handwriting; his wife was Mary Butler, a native of Durhamshire, England; they had the following children born to them, viz., William, David, Aaron, Ann and Dorcas (twins, died in infancy), Jeremiah, Isaiah, Mary, Susanna, Sarah, Miriam, Hannah and Enoch, all of whom grew to mature age, were married and had families; he removed to Vigo Co., Ind., where he died in 1820, aged 50 years; their sons and daughters nearly all remained and lived in that State. Daniel Motte, Jr., son of Jeremiah, married Miriam Mendenhall, daughter of Caleb and Susanna Mendenhall, and settled in Randolph Township, Montgomery Co., adjoining Miami Co.; they had five children (sons) born to them, viz., Luke Smith, Zeno, Marcus, Linus and Enos, who all grew to adult age, married and settled in life; in 1820, he removed to Vigo Co., Ind., but, on account of malarial fevers, that attacked all the early settlers in those Western prairies, he returned to Ohio in the fall of 1822, and settled in this township; he was a prominent member of the old Friends’ Church at West Branch, as its records show; he lived on a farm, but had a carpenter shop, being handy with tools; he made house furniture, worked part of his time at the carpenter’s trade and in the machine-shop, setting up machinery for woolen-mills; he taught, also, his eldest boys the use of tools; hence they always had employment enough in rough weather in his shop; he often spoke of the disadvantages he labored under by lack of more literary knowledge; very few of the early settlers had any opportunity for school learning, save in the common rudiments; he profited by what little he did get, and was accounted competent to teach some of the early schools, and was careful that his children should have better educational advantages than he had; he died at his own homestead, adjoining the church lot at West Branch. Sept 23, 1862, in the 70th year of his age; three of his sons live in that vicinity. Luke Smith, the eldest, married Charity Jones, daughter of Elisha Jones, from South Carolina, in October, 1834; their children are Elisha J., Arenah E., William Alden, Celestia S., Mary M., Arrie L., M. Benson and Cordelia B., three sons and five daughters; the eldest, Elisha J., is a photographer, in all its branches, in Richmond, Ind.; William A. is a portrait painter in the same place, both claiming to do no work of the ordinary class; the daughters are handy in floral and ornamental work. L. S. Motte is the originator of some very choice seedling apples and some other kinds of fruits; the love of the fine arts and the culture of the finer fruits and flowers, with him, appears to be innate in his children; having studied and practiced medicine when younger in his life, Doctor is often prefixed to his name, but of later years he declines following this occupation, except in certain cases in women and children. Marcus Motte, third son of David, Jr., is a portrait painter of note, also paints in superior style fruits and flowers; the choice of this occupation was innate in him, having followed it from boyhood. The family was rather noted for longevity, also for that trait of drawing conclusions and arriving at a judgment free of all bias of mind, by external pressure. There are but few of this large family connection bearing the family name, living in the township at this writing; the greater part emigrated westward in Indiana and further westward. Some families are in Delaware, Montgomery and Parke Cos., Ind., and a few in Illinois. Mary lies interred in the old graveyard at West Branch. Great-grandfather David and wife and their sons Jonathan, William, Jesse and John, and daughters Mary and Rachel, besides many children, grandchildren, etc., rest in profound repose beneath its grassy mold. The Mote family in the early settlement, and its family connections, owned a large body of land south of Milton to the county line, and for half a mile over the line, and considerable west and north of the village also. But at this time the major part has passed out of their hands.

The families of Samuel and Francis Jones, from Georgia, Wallace Jones, and all those of the Pattys and some others are related to the Mote family.

Caleb and Joseph Mendenhall, who lived near West Branch, were the sons of Phineas Mendenhall, who was the son of James Mendenhall, who was the son of Aaron, who was the son of John Mendenhall, the emigrant from England.

This brief statement is made to shorten a long genealogical account, running back through four or five generations of this family in America. A book of history and pedigree of it lies before me, running back to the thirteenth century. The name was recorded, at that remote period, Mile de hale, afterward Mildehall, and, more recently, Mildenhall. Some branches of the family in England retain the last-named mode of spelling up to the present time; but the American families spell it Mendenhall. The family residence in Great Britain was in Wiltshire, and, the town and vicinity where they lived, took the family name of Mildenhall.

Those two brothers, Caleb and Joseph, married sisters—Susanna and Rachel Gardner.* The Mendenhalls emigrated to Pennsylvania about the same time William Penn came to America, and were residents of Chester County. Phineas, father of the afore named brothers, went south, where his wife and part of his family were killed by the Indians in Georgia, during one of the wars with the Creeks.** Caleb Mendenhall came out prospecting in the Northwest Territory early in 1801, and passed through the Miami Valley; he came to Ohio the next spring. Stopping awhile at Waynesville, Warren Co., he removed into what was afterward Miami County, the following September (1802) and settled on the farm now owned by Thomas Jay. His brother Joseph came out the next spring (1803).

The children of Caleb Mendenhall were Miriam (wife of David Mote, and mother of the writer of these notes), Griffith, William, Susan (Wisener), Grace (Thomas), Tamar (Thomas), Caleb, Charity (Watts), Rhoda (Dulin) and Kirk; the sons all removed to Indiana and died there, and part of the daughters; only two of the last are living, of all the family, at this writing.

Joseph Mendenhall’s children were Mary (Brown), Tamar (Russell), Thaddeus, Lydia (McDonald), Anna (Macy), Ruth (Bolinger), Eunice (Kendall), Rachel (Compton) and Joseph; all deceased except three daughters.

The characteristics of those two brothers above named were quite dissimilar in many points. Caleb was more disposed to study, quietude and retirement, spending considerable of his time in reading and acquiring information, although he only had a limited education. Joseph, on the other hand, was stirring and more noisy, running around, seeing to his farming and other business. Caleb was a lover of the finer fruits, and brought with him from North Carolina some choice, selected apple-seed; from these he raised trees for his orchard, which produced many choice varieties.*** His apples, in that early day, were known far and near as the finest in the country; so it was an easy matter for him to dispose of his surplus. Joseph was noted as the first tanner in those parts, though perhaps he knew little more about the trade than his brother Caleb; he generally hired his work done, and, when ready for sale, it had none of the finish or completeness about it that leather has in our day, neither was it devoid of that plentiful liquid called water, in that kind termed the “sole.” But people were impatient of delaying the drying process, and, as this was the only tan-yard in reach, they would risk paying 50 cents a pound for tincture of oak bark. Hence, Joseph was enabled, from time to time, to add acreage to his landed estate, from this certain income.

Caleb sold his farm and removed to near Richmond, Ind., where he died some ten years afterward, about 1848, of inflammation of the pleura, in his 79th year. Joseph died on the old premises, where he first settled, in 1850, of paralytic affection, near the same age of his brother Caleb.

Mention will not be out of place here of the:

WEST BRANCH FRIENDS’ CHURCH.
The first organized church in Union Township was the Friends’ of West Branch, in 1804. Religious meetings had been held some time previously, at the houses of the early settlers. The first meeting-house put up there stood northeast of the present brick, a rude log structure, 20x30 feet, built cabin fashion. The next one stood west, of larger dimensions, 22x44 feet, of hewed logs, with shingle roof, built in 1808. The third and present one, of brick, 40x60 feet, was built in 1818. People would come from miles around to attend these meetings, of every persuasion, professors or non-professors; they were not so prejudiced in those primitive days as now, in regard to worship and preaching, neither did distance, stress of weather and difficult roads debar them this privilege. The first resident minister was William Neall, from Tennessee. A monthly meeting was established there early in 1809, and a quarterly meeting in 1812, which are still continued. The first person buried in the churchyard was Mary Newman, wife of Thomas Newman, in 1807. Some of the more prominent church members at said meeting at West Branch, were David Motte, Sr., Samuel Jones, Sr., Benjamin Iddings, Sr., Samuel Brown, Jeremiah Motte, Caleb Mendenhall, Dr. John Motte, Frederick Yount, James Patty, David Motte, Jr., Elisha Jones, Isaac Hasket, Wallace Jones and others, in its early history, and, later, some of their descendants and other persons who came in by request or certificate.

*Emigrated from Nantucket.

**The Indians, surrounding their premises in the evening, shot and killed Abia, the eldest son, turning the grind stone for his father, who was grinding an ax, and the mother out in the milking-lot, where she was milking the cows. The family left, scattered, fled and secreted themselves. The darkness of the evening coming on assisted them in making their escape, all except Joseph; he was knocked down and taken prisoner, and was kept by the savages some months, till ransomed by his father

***From one of these, the “Stillwater Sweet,” his grandson, L. S. Mote, reproduced those two noted seedlings -described by Dr. Warder, viz., “Mote’s Sweet” and “Celestia.”