Hal Paul
23rd May 2008, 04:07 PM (16:07)
Do any of you live in/near Deerfield in Ross County?
I found the material below in a history of Ross County dated 1902 (http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Ross/RossIndex.htm). The selection describes a cemetery donated to the township of Deerfield by a man named White Brown. Note that 100 years later only two of over 200 graves were identifiable, one of Lija Brown and the other of Rev. Ralph Lotspeich. Ralph was a contemporary of the Methodist Evangelist Peter Cartwright (see Ch. 6 (http://www.cblibrary.net/biography/cartwright/pc06.htm) of Cartwright's autobiography) and is Londa and Josh's ancestor.
I had a reference, that I can't find now, from the UMC archives stating that the location of Ralph's grave is unknown. If you are familiar with Deerfield, is the Brown Cemetery still recognizable? I can't imagine if it is that, after another 100 years Lija's and Ralph's graves are still marked, but it would be exciting if they are.
Of the early settlers of the township, no one is more worthy of the post of honor than White Brown, not only because of his early residence in the territory, but because of his prominence and usefulness in the young community. He was a man of marked intelligence and strong religious principles, one of the few who willingly yield personal interest and make financial sacrifices for the sake of principle. Mr. Brown was reared under the influence of slavery, and was himself the owner of forty slaves in his native state of Delaware. The institution became so repugnant to him that he decided to seek a home on free soil, and this led to his removal to Ohio, in 1799. He promised freedom to his slaves on leaving his native state, and only requested their assistance in establishing a new home in the wilderness. This service they cheerfully rendered, and thus became the ancestral stock of many of the well-to-do negro families in Deerfield and elsewhere in Ross county. In the year above written, Mr. Brown made an expedition to Chillicothe and adjacent country, and finally selected a tract of land on Deer creek, which subsequently became his home. He purchased five hundred acres of the Massie and McArthur survey, for which he paid two dollars per acre. It was at that time an unbroken forest. In 1801 Mr. Brown and his sons, accompanied by the negroes, occupied the land, and began its improvement. They raised a crop of corn in that year on the land now occupied by the Ross County infirmary. The Brown family reached the Deer creek farm on the 13th of August, 1802. Rev. Stephen Timmons, a son-in-law of Mr. Brown, accompanied the family, and assisted in the clearing and building. Their house was one of the earliest in the township. During the year 1803, a log barn was erected near the house, and this structure enjoyed the distinction a few years ago of being the oldest barn in Ross county, if not in the State of Ohio. But it also possessed another interest besides its long continued existence, in that it was the birthplace of religious services in that whole region. Within its walls, from 1803 to 1818, were held the services of the pioneer Methodist Episcopal church in Deerfield. Rev. Stephen Timmons was probably the first to gather the settlers of the new country into this rude and primitive sanctuary, to hear the preaching of the word of God. The log walls afterward echoed to the eloquence of such men as Bishops Francis Asbury, Whatcoat, and McKendry, as well as George and Lorenzo Dow, and the Finleys father and son. In 1818 a church was built on the site of the present handsome structure known as the Brown chapel. As if not satisfied with an open and unrestrained hospitality to the living, Mr. Brown donated land for the first cemetery in Deerfield township, wherein fully two hundred interments were made previous to the establishment of the new cemetery at the chapel. But two graves can be identified in the old cemetery one being that of Rev. Ralph Lotspeich, who died June 16, 1813, and the other that of "Lija Brown," who died in 1815. He was one of Mr. Brown's liberated slaves, and an active and zealous worker in the early days of the church. The first religious organization of the township was effected on Christmas, 1802, with Mr. Brown and his wife and five colored people as members of the class. For thirty-four years following that date, a camp-meeting was annually held on the Brown farm, with the result of making the neighborhood a stronghold of Methodism. Brown chapel, a stately brick edifice, was erected in 1871 on the site of the old church which had served the people for thirty-six years.
I found the material below in a history of Ross County dated 1902 (http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Ross/RossIndex.htm). The selection describes a cemetery donated to the township of Deerfield by a man named White Brown. Note that 100 years later only two of over 200 graves were identifiable, one of Lija Brown and the other of Rev. Ralph Lotspeich. Ralph was a contemporary of the Methodist Evangelist Peter Cartwright (see Ch. 6 (http://www.cblibrary.net/biography/cartwright/pc06.htm) of Cartwright's autobiography) and is Londa and Josh's ancestor.
I had a reference, that I can't find now, from the UMC archives stating that the location of Ralph's grave is unknown. If you are familiar with Deerfield, is the Brown Cemetery still recognizable? I can't imagine if it is that, after another 100 years Lija's and Ralph's graves are still marked, but it would be exciting if they are.
Of the early settlers of the township, no one is more worthy of the post of honor than White Brown, not only because of his early residence in the territory, but because of his prominence and usefulness in the young community. He was a man of marked intelligence and strong religious principles, one of the few who willingly yield personal interest and make financial sacrifices for the sake of principle. Mr. Brown was reared under the influence of slavery, and was himself the owner of forty slaves in his native state of Delaware. The institution became so repugnant to him that he decided to seek a home on free soil, and this led to his removal to Ohio, in 1799. He promised freedom to his slaves on leaving his native state, and only requested their assistance in establishing a new home in the wilderness. This service they cheerfully rendered, and thus became the ancestral stock of many of the well-to-do negro families in Deerfield and elsewhere in Ross county. In the year above written, Mr. Brown made an expedition to Chillicothe and adjacent country, and finally selected a tract of land on Deer creek, which subsequently became his home. He purchased five hundred acres of the Massie and McArthur survey, for which he paid two dollars per acre. It was at that time an unbroken forest. In 1801 Mr. Brown and his sons, accompanied by the negroes, occupied the land, and began its improvement. They raised a crop of corn in that year on the land now occupied by the Ross County infirmary. The Brown family reached the Deer creek farm on the 13th of August, 1802. Rev. Stephen Timmons, a son-in-law of Mr. Brown, accompanied the family, and assisted in the clearing and building. Their house was one of the earliest in the township. During the year 1803, a log barn was erected near the house, and this structure enjoyed the distinction a few years ago of being the oldest barn in Ross county, if not in the State of Ohio. But it also possessed another interest besides its long continued existence, in that it was the birthplace of religious services in that whole region. Within its walls, from 1803 to 1818, were held the services of the pioneer Methodist Episcopal church in Deerfield. Rev. Stephen Timmons was probably the first to gather the settlers of the new country into this rude and primitive sanctuary, to hear the preaching of the word of God. The log walls afterward echoed to the eloquence of such men as Bishops Francis Asbury, Whatcoat, and McKendry, as well as George and Lorenzo Dow, and the Finleys father and son. In 1818 a church was built on the site of the present handsome structure known as the Brown chapel. As if not satisfied with an open and unrestrained hospitality to the living, Mr. Brown donated land for the first cemetery in Deerfield township, wherein fully two hundred interments were made previous to the establishment of the new cemetery at the chapel. But two graves can be identified in the old cemetery one being that of Rev. Ralph Lotspeich, who died June 16, 1813, and the other that of "Lija Brown," who died in 1815. He was one of Mr. Brown's liberated slaves, and an active and zealous worker in the early days of the church. The first religious organization of the township was effected on Christmas, 1802, with Mr. Brown and his wife and five colored people as members of the class. For thirty-four years following that date, a camp-meeting was annually held on the Brown farm, with the result of making the neighborhood a stronghold of Methodism. Brown chapel, a stately brick edifice, was erected in 1871 on the site of the old church which had served the people for thirty-six years.