Biographies with Warren County Connections

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• A Painter & His Wife by Katherine Lollar Rowland
• The Lollars & The Land by Katherine Lollar Rowland

The McChristy Family & Their Land

And some of the families whose lives touched theirs in Warren County -
Ertels, Estells, Hathaways, Hunts, Hunters, Hurins, Lollars, Nixons.
The Story, as I know it, June, 2004
Katherine Lollar Rowland

In the first decade after the year 1800, some members of the McChristy family emigrated from their home in Pennsylvania to the wild country between the Miami Rivers in southwest Oho. We do not know the exact date they arrived in Warren County but 1798 was the last date we have of Arthur McChristy and his sons (Charles, William and James) in Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Of Arthur's three sons, early property records show that at least Charles and William bought land in Warren County, Charles in 1806, William in 1809. These records immediately bring up the question of the spelling of the name - McChristy? or McCristy? Since the records seem to use the spellings interchangeably, I have chosen to follow the particular document from which I gained information.

Others had arrived in what had been the Northwest Territory a few years before the McCristy family, in fact, even before Ohio had become a state in 1803 - land developers, entrepreneurs, in modern terminology.

In 1806 and 1809, Charles McCristy purchased town lots and adjoining acreage to the town of Lebanon from Levi Ertle, Silas Hurin, Levi Estell, and Ephriam Hathaway. In 1809, William McChristy bought 100 acres in Salem township from Ralph W. Hunt.

A little of the story of these earliest of pioneers adds to the colorful history of the McChristy family.

Levi Ertel, Silas Hurin, Levi Estell, Ephraim Hathaway were among owners of property which made up the land upon which the town of Lebanon was platted in September, 1802.
"The original plat was made up of 100 lots, bounded by Silver, South, and Sycamore Streets, and an alley between East and Cherry Streets, and was laid out in a forest of lofty trees and a thick undergrowth of spice bushes."

Charles McChristy purchased:
- In 1806, from Levi Ertel, a tract adjacent to the town of Lebanon, including a saw mill.
- In 1809, from Silas and Agnes Hurin, 7l/5 acres adjacent to Lebanon
- In 1809, from Levi and Hannah Estell, 7 whole lots and 2 one-half lots in the town of Lebanon
- In 1814, from Ephraim Hathaway, 4 lots in the town of Lebanon, being in the plat certified by Ichabod Halsey, surveyor

RALPH W. HUNT - The list of "conveyances" for Section 15, Township 5, East, Range 3,
in which William bought his 100 acres, starts as follows:
- George Washington - 1794 - to John Cleves Symmes - entire military range - 248,540 acres
- John C. Symmes - 1794 - to Jonathan Dayton - entire range
- Jonathan Dayton - 1795 - to Ralph W. Hunt - whole section - 640 acres
- Ralph W. Hunt - 1809 - to William McCristy - N.W. Cor of Section - 100 acres

Who was Ralph W. Hunt? Ralph W. Hunt's forebears came to southwest Ohio in 1805, from England, by way of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Beer's 1882 History of Warren County says: "The Hunts crossed the mountains of Kentucky, . . . making the entire trip in wagons. They arrived in Wayne Township on December 3 and opened right in the woods, and at once erected a temporary structure in shape of a shed for immediate shelter; then as soon as possible cut down timber and erected a primitive round-log cabin with puncheon floor, and thus commenced in true primitive style to make a home and a farm." However, before that date, at least one member of the Hunt family had a connection with Ohio because on July 2, 1795, Ralph W. Hunt purchased his whole section from Jonathan Dayton, and proceeded to sell it off in 100 acres pieces. Among the purchasers which are pertinent to our story were: Joseph Dunham ( 1807 - $300), William McCristy (1809 - $300) and Robert Hunter (1811 - $350 for 150 acres).

Ralph W. Hunt was involved in other ventures, as well. In 1815 he laid out the town of Gainesboro, consisting of 134 lots. Situated on the Little Miami River, the site of Hunt & Lowe's flour, wool and carding mill, it at one time had a population of 150 but rapidly declined and ceased to exist as a town. King's powder mills later occupied this site and the area is now known as Kings Mills.

Another of Ralph W. Hunt's dreams was the Little Miami Canal and Banking Company incorporated by the State of Ohio in 1817. The idea was to be able to navigate the Little Miami River by "means of slack water and canals." The incorporation list included names of many distinguished gentlemen, but the idea was never carried out and failed to give importance to the struggling town of Gainesboro, as had been hoped.

The name of Ralph W. Hunt again appears in Warren County records in 1834 when his widow Ann Hunt brought suit in Chancery Court, questioning the validity of the sale of the property by Ralph W.'s son, Washington, and other members of the Hunt family in long and complicated proceedings reported in the August Term of that court. Anyone interested in learning how that came out may find the answer in the Warren County Archives.

David and Phoebe Dunham Lollar - Now enters the story, from my point of view, two of the most important characters - David and Phoebe Dunham Lollar (my great, great, great grandparents). They had come to the land Between the Miamis in 1795, and purchased property in the plat of Deerfield, Union Township (now South Lebanon), and sold that in 1800, and purchased 100 acres north of there in Turtlecreek Township, on what is now Cook Road. But in 1807, David died, leaving Phoebe with seven children, the youngest, another Phoebe, just a few months old.

As we have seen, Joseph Dunham was one of the purchasers of the pieces of land in Salem Township from Ralph W. Hunt, and it so happened, his was next to that of William McCristy. Joseph Dunham was Phoebe Dunham Lollar's older brother, and co-guardian with her of her children after David died.

On February 13, 1813, 6 years after David died, Phoebe married Charles McChristy. Her new husband was the brother of her brother's next door neighbor. Or, it may have been that Phoebe and her children some times left David's Land in Turtle Creek Township and took refuge with brother Joseph. In any event, it seems that Phoebe and Charles did what so many singles did in those days - found life partners among their neighbors.

Charles had at least two children from a previous marriage, both boys, Jesse and John, making a total of at least nine offspring in the combined family. But the number at the Lollar homestead in Turtlecreek Township began to decline at about that same time. In fact, just 13 days after Charles and Phoebe were married another wedding took place when the oldest Lollar daughter married Cyrus Simonton. And then, on December 21, 1818, still another wedding this time right within the family when Phoebe's second daughter, Nancy, married Charles' son, Jesse.

On May 12, 1824, the marriage of another of the children enters this story when baby Phoebe, now grown to a young lady of 17 years, married Thomas Hunter, son of Robert Hunter, Revolutionary War veteran, who had, in 1811, made one of the original 100 acre purchases near William McChristy in Salem Township from Ralph W. Hunt.

Soon after Phoebe and Charles McChristy were married they began to sell off the property which Charles owned at the edge of Lebanon. And on October 13, 1818, they made the first of several purchases of property in Bellbrook, a small village in Greene County, to the northwest of Warren. These deeds were written in the combined names of Charles McChristy and Jesse McChristy, and the two couples, Charles and Phoebe and Jesse and Nancy jointly operated a tannery in Bellbrook. Perhaps this move was inspired by Silas Hurin, who had a tannery on property next to the mill which Charles bought from him at Lebanon.

Or perhaps it was a matter of a younger generation taking a first step toward moving on to new frontiers because in 1829 the two couples sold the property in Bellbrook and Jesse and Nancy moved north to Mercer County and started a long line of McChristys there. Charles and Phoebe returned to the 100 acres David and Phoebe Lollar had purchased in 1800 in Turtlecreek Township.

Allen Nixon - Just one thing now remains to wind up the story of the pioneer lands of the McChristys and that is the next step of William's 100 acres. He sold his northwest corner of Section 15, Salem Township, to Allen Nixon. The Nixon name appears on that property in Warren County atlases for the next 100 years and the Nixon family has continued to be one of distinction in southwest Ohio up to the present time.

• William McChristy died on Janury 20, 1850, at age 84.
• Arthur McChristy - b. Pennsylvania
• William McChristy - ( D 1850) wife, Joanna
• Charles McChristy - 1st wife, had sons: John, m. Sarah Clinton; Jesse, m. Nancy Lollar - 2nd wife -1813 m. Phoebe Dunham Lollar (1770-1838)
• Joseph Dunham - (1735-1790) Westfield, New Jersey, m. Hannah Conger, parents of Phoebe Dunham Lollar McChristy)
• Joseph Dunham (1766-1846) m. Anna Wood; brother of Phoebe Dunham Lollar McChristy
• Jacob Tremble (1753-1819) and Phebe Dunham Tremble (1755-1843) uncle and aunt of
  Phoebe Dunham Lollar McChristy
• David Lollar I - (1767-1807), b. Queen Anne's, Maryland; came to Ohio about 1795 from New Jersey m. Phoebe Dunham 1792, had 7 children:
  • Elizabeth, m. Cyrus Simonton
  • Moses, m. Elizabeth Ross
  • Nancy, m. Jesse McChristy
  • Joseph, m. Sarah Vaughan, and Sara Pogue
  • Elisha, m. Mary Ann Owen
  • Polly, m. Joseph Ross
  • Phebe, m. Thomas Hunter

Note: Extensive research on the McChristy family has been done by Ruth Stevens and a small group of McChristy descendants. Their research covers the family before and after the period in Warren County which my story covers. Ruth can be reached at e-mail: [email protected]

Katherine Lollar Rowland
phone 513-932-4975
e-mail Katherine Lollar Rowland
website A Painter & His Wife