Robert Edgar
Taken from History of Montgomery County 1882 (Beers) This book is in the Geneolgy Department of the Montgomery County Library in downtown Dayton.
In 1798 Robert Edgar came to the Dayton settlement locating an 80 acre tract of 2nd rate land in section 33, now the southwest corner of Mad River Township, a portion of it being now within the corporation limits of Dayton, at the south end of Wayne Street.
He married Mrs. Margaret Kirkwood (ne Gillespie) widow of David Kirkwood of Cincinnati, September 27, 1798. She was born in Philadelphia, April 6th,1772.
They first went to housekeeping in the old cabin at the southwest corner of Water and Mill streets in Dayton. He was a farmer, yet being of an ingenious corn, frequently had profitable employment at the Cooper Mills, below Dayton, and at the Robinson Mill, up Mad River. In 1805, while yet living in town, he built for D.C. Cooper the grist mill at the head of Mill Street and ran it for a short time but moved back on his own farm before the spring of 1806.
The first iron mold board plow that was brought to this county was owned by him and used on his farm at that time. It was a great curiosity to the settlers and its work a marvel. None of them had ever before seen anything of the kind and they were interested, as farmers are now, in improved farm implements, as this one was over the wooden plows then made by the farmers themselves from the forks of hard wood saplings.
Of the large family of children born to Mr. and Mrs. Edgar, but five of them lived through childhood.
Jane Allen, their second child was born November 24 in the year 1800 and was married to Augustas George December 4, 1817. She died March 3rd, 1826.
Robert Andrew born October 10th, 1803 married Catherine Iddings Aug 9, 1831 and died September 7, 1833.
Samuel D., born March 25 1806 married Minerva A. Jones August 5th, 1845; died October 1, 1874.
Mary, born April 8, 1811 married Stephen Johnson May 10, 1831: died July 25 1849.
John F., born October 29,1814 married Effie A. Rogers April 20, 1849 and is still living with his wife and 3 daughters in Dayton. He is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church and is the only child of Robert Edgar now living.
In the War of 1812, Robert Edgar was a soldier in one of the companies of mounted rangers from this county, and among the interesting relics of that bloody border war is his sword, now in the possesion of his son John F.Edgar.
The care of the 4 children and the management of the farm during her husbands service on the army devolved upon Mrs. Edgar, who, with the other brave hearted women of that day so nobly bore their share of the dangers and the trials incedent with frontier life, her babe Mary was but a year old, yet the brave mother, with the aid of her three children, Jane, 11 years old, Robert, nine years old and Samuel, six years old, took care of the cattle, cultivated and harvested the grain and kept the farm in good shape until the return of her husband. The farm was not exposed to indian attacks like those in the western and northern parts of the county, yet the anxiety for the safety of her husband, the common danger to all frontier settlements, the care and responsibility of the family and the burden of farm work taxed her heart and strength to the utmost. Her gallent soldier husband returned safely to the family to live in the peace won in the victory over the savages and their British allies.
Mr. Edgar and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, he having been active in its first organization in Dayton and helped to get cut the logs and put up the little log cabin meeting house in the hazel thicket back of the corner of Third and Main Streets, in the year 1800. He died December 19th, 1838. Mrs. Edgar died November 25, 1844. The Edgar name is perpetuated through the son Samuel D. who was married in 1845 and succeded to the ownership of the farm, and died in 1874; and in the division of his estate left the homestead to his son Charles who was born May 29, 1851, married Caroline L. Bidleman, January 26, 1871 and died November 23, 1877.
Margaret, Emma B. and Robert C. were born at the old home in Mad River Township. The son, Robert C. was born June 5, 1877 and is the representative in the fifth generation of the descendants of Robert Edgar the elder, his great great grandfather, who emigrated to this country in 1739; and of his great grandfather who was one of the pioneers of Montgomery County, and of whose life this sketch was written.
Taken from "Pioneer Life in Dayton" by John Farris Edgar 1896.
Robert Edgar was born in Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia, February 8, 1770, and was ten years old when his father, Robert Edgar, Sr., about 1780, settled on a grant of three hundred and thirty-six acres received from the Commonwealth of Virginia, near Wheeling. While planting flax on Good Friday, 1792, as was the custom in those days, Robert Edgar, Sr., heard hooting as of owls, which he knew to be the calling and answering of Indians. After finishing his work, he felt it his duty to notify his neighbors of the fact that Indians were about, and, on returning to his home at a late hour, was waylaid by nine Indians, shot a number of times, stripped, scalped, and left where he fell. His son Robert, the oldest of the children, settled up the estate, giving the property to the widow—she being Mr. Edgar's second wife—and her children, and, together with his own brother and sister, Andrew and Nancy, came down the Ohio River to Cincinnati in a flatboat. The following is a copy of a bill in my possession:
"1795. Henry Coleman - To Robert and Andrew Edgar. May 19. To assisting with 2 boats from Short Creek to Cincinnati, at twenty dollars each, $40 00. Contra Cr. June 4. Received for the above of Henry Coleman, cash, $18.00 and 1 barrel of flour, $4.50 $22.50 - $17 50"
The balance is still due to Mr. Edgar, April 1, 1896.
Andrew Edgar located at Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, and died at that place from the bite of a rattle-snake.
Nancy married David Robinson, of near Lebanon, Ohio, afterwards moved to the West, and all trace of her descendants has been lost.
Robert came to Dayton in September, 1795, with Daniel C. Cooper, as chain-carrier, and in 1796 returned and remained as a citizen. Soon after coming here he contracted with Colonel Newcom to build the Tavern. After completing the Tavern, and clearing and fencing inlot 32 and outlet 5, in compliance with Judge Symmes's proposal to settlers, Mr. Edgar built a cabin on the prairie north of the old bed of Mad River, on the ground now owned by the Water Works and Ezra Bimm. He then went to Cincinnati, on foot, and on September 27, 1798, married Mrs. Margaret Gillespie Kirkwood, widow of David Kirkwood. She had one son, Joseph Kirkwood, who died a bachelor. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar took their wedding journey to the new home on the prairie, the bride and her child on horseback, and the groom on foot, with knapsack and rifle over his shoulder, a packhorse carrying all their worldly possessions. They were three days making the trip, which now we make in less than three hours.
While living on the prairie Mr. Edgar had frequent visits from the Indians, with whom he was always very friendly. At night they would come and sleep around his log fire. It not being considered safe to lock the doors, it was an easy matter for them to gain admittance to the house at all hours, and not infrequently they would call to Robert ("Wobet," as they said) to get up at midnight and play bullets with them. It is hardly necessary to say that he never refused. One night, on arriving home from town after dark, as Mr. Edgar went to care for the horse, Mrs. Edgar, with a child in her arms, thought to kick the log in the fire and make a blaze, and found her foot caught by the Indian she had kicked in its place. Mr. Edgar would frequently be away for several days at a time on walking trips to Cincinnati for flour, cornmeal, and groceries, which he would carry home on his back. At such times his wife would come to the Tavern for Colonel Newcom's father to stay on the prairie with her. As the horse would be swimming Mad River,—the only way of crossing it in those days,—she with her baby in her arms, old Mr. Newcom would say (he was an Irishman), "Faith and Peggy, we will, baby and all, be drowned here some day."
Mr. Edgar, who, as has been stated, was a mechanic, was constantly engaged during these years, and up to 1800, in building head-gates and forebays for Mr. Cooper, and in getting out timber for the grist-mills and sawmills, until, upon their completion, he entered, into an agreement with Mr. Cooper to run the mills. At this time, in compliance with the agreement, he moved into the miller's house, a log cabin on lot number 1, corner of Monument Avenue and Mill Street. He continued to work for Mr. Cooper, running the mills and building houses, until he received a certificate from the land office at Cincinnati for what became the home farm, now known as the Edgar Plat, on south Wayne Avenue, for which he paid two dollars an acre. Here a cabin was built and the work of making a home commenced in earnest. It was on this farm that he used the first iron-moldboard plow that was ever brought to this valley, and which excited universal comment among the people here.
Mr. Edgar discovered a smooth white stone cropping out of the ground near his farm. He at once procured an iron rod and on moonlight nights followed up the bed of stone far enough to feel sure he had found a stone quarry, and determined to buy that quarter-section. Some short time after, while at breakfast one morning, he saw a neighbor pass his door on horseback, and said to his wife, "That man is after the quarry." He at once got out his rifle and money, only enough to pay for eighty acres, and started on foot for Cincinnati, stopping at his brother-in-law, George Gillespie's, of Warren County, where he procured the balance of the money necessary for the purchase. He reached Cincinnati, and was leaving the land office with the papers in his hand just as his neighbor on horseback rode up. The neighbor exclaimed: "Why, Bob! when I passed your house yesterday, I saw you eating your breakfast. How did you get here? " Mr. Edgar's frequent trips, on foot to Cincinnati had given him such a knowledge of the country through which he had to pass that he could take advantage of all short cuts, and follow paths which a horse could not travel.
Hardly was the start made in this new home until the War of 1812 called all able-bodied men to the front, and Mr. Edgar joined a company of horsemen, equipping himself with a sword costing five dollars and twenty-five cents, the receipt for the same, as well as the sword, being now in my possession. The company was sent to protect the frontier settlements, thus leaving Mrs. Edgar at home alone, in a lonely place, to care for the farm and children. In addition to all the work which must, of necessity, be done about a farm in the wilderness, Mrs. Edgar devoted herself to baking for the army what is now called hard-tack. The large brick oven would not be allowed to cool from Monday morning until Saturday night. Fortunately the farm was out of the direct line of Indian travel, so the little family was not annoyed by such uncomfortable visitors. Mr. Edgar returned safely from the campaign, and devoted himself to farming until the canal was being built, in the year 1827. Then the Legislature gave contractors the right to select any timber for bridges and locks that they might choose, and, in order to protect his own choice timber, Mr. Edgar contracted to build two bridges—one at Fifth Street and the other at Third Street.
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar were both devoted members of the First Presbyterian Church from its earliest organization, and continued their membership until death. Mr. Edgar was elected a member of the first board of trustees, and I was one of the original members of the first Sunday school in Dayton. Mr. Edgar died December 19,1838, and his wife died November 25, 1844.
While living on the prairie two children were born— George, August 4, 1799, who died an infant, and Jane Alien, November 24, 1800. After moving to the Cooper Mills, Robert Andrew was born, and on the farm four children—Samuel Dick, William Gillespie, Mary, and John Farris Edgar, the youngest, and only one living.
Jane Allen married Augustus George December 11, 1817, and died in 1826. Mr. and Mrs. George were then living on a farm on the north side of the Miami River, part of it now owned by Jozabed L. Ensley,—Idylwild. At the time of Mrs. George's death the river was high and wide, and the current swift, but the only way to cross was by dug-out canoe. The coffin was carried on a bier along a slight elevation to a point near the entrance to -Idylwild, there balanced crossways on the canoe, and rowed by careful men to the other side, the canoe returning for the family. The coffin was then taken in a wagon to the old graveyard on Fifth Street, the friends following in wagons. She left four little children—Marcella, Margaret Jane, Mary, and Martha, Martha dying when a child. Marcella married Nathaniel Hart, of Chicago. They had three daughters, all of whom are living.
Margaret Jane George, in November, 1844, married Thomas Alexander Phillips, who settled in Dayton May 1 of that year. He was born September 29, 1810, in Cecil County, Maryland, and moved with his father to near Wilmington, Delaware, in 1814 or 1815. Mr. Phillips entered a cotton-factory on the Brandywine when quite young, and in 1835, on coming west, was made superintendent of the old cotton-mill at Covington, Kentucky, at the end of the present suspension bridge. After coming to Dayton Mr. Phillips took charge of the cotton-mill here, afterwards so well known in Dayton by the name of T. A. Phillips & Sons. Mr. Phillips was made director of the Dayton branch of the State Bank, was one of the organizers of the Cooper Hydraulic Company, and continued one of the directors until his death, and was one of the directors of the Dayton Gas Light and Coke Company for about twenty-five years. Mr. Phillips and his wife were members of the First Presbyterian Church for many years. He died of heart disease November 27, 1877. His wife died in 1882. They had four sons—George Levis, John Edgar, Charles Alexander, and William Thomas. John Edgar and William Thomas died when quite young. George Levis was born in Dayton August 22, 1845, and on May 15, 1867, married Mary Adele Bronson in Dubuque, Iowa. Mr. Phillips was for many years engaged with the Chicago Telephone Company, and moved to Chicago, where he died on January 29, 1889, leaving a wife and four daughters. One daughter, Mary Golden, died in New York just the week before her father's death. Charles Alexander married Susie O'Hara, and is living in Covington, Kentucky. He has one son, Thomas Alexander, living.
Mary George married Daniel Storms, and is living in Walla Walla County, Washington. She has no children.
Robert Andrew Edgar was born March 25, 1800. He married Catharine Iddings and had one son, George, who is now living in Kansas. Mr. Edgar died of cholera in 1833.
Samuel Dick Edgar was born March 25, 1806, married Minerva A. Jones, and died October 1, 1874, leaving three children: Mrs. Margaret Edgar Herrman, Mrs. Marianna Edgar Gebhart, and Charles, who died one year after his father, leaving a wife and three little children—Margaret, Emma, and Robert.
Mary Edgar, born April 8, 1811, married Stephen Johnston, of Piqua, Ohio. She and her husband both died of cholera the same week in July, 1849, leaving five small children—James, Margaret, Robert, William, and Eliza. Of these only two are living—Robert and Eliza, who married Philip Kingsland, of Chicago.
John Farris Edgar was born October 29, 1814. On April 23, 1843, he married Effie Allen Rogers, of Springfield, Ohio. They had five children — Robert Rogers, Jane Allen, Isabel Rogers, Elizabeth Barnett, and Frank Rogers, three of whom are still living. Mrs. Edgar died August 19, 1891.