BUTLERVILLE ITEMS

Saturday, September 11th, 1886 was an anniversary of Uncle Charlie Murphy's birthday, making him ninty years of age. When the trains came in on the evening of the 10th the passangers all got of at Butlerville, and all proved to be Murphys, some of whom had come hundreds of miles to be present at the birthday dinner the next day. When that time came, and all were assembled around Uncle Charlie's hospitable table which groaned under its load of good things, there were found to be 42 persons present, 22 of whom were his children and members of their families. The remainder was old neighbors invited to be present, all joined in the wish that Mr. Murphy might live to see many more birthday anniversaries, and that they might all be allowed to join the reunion each time. Mr. Murphy has eight children living all of them being present.  (P.D.  September 15, 1886)

HER NINETIETH ANNIVERSAY
(not a complete article but still worthwhile)  

A happy gathering was that held at the residence of Mr. W. D. Evans, on the 5th inst., the occasion being the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Mrs. Susan Alley, mother of Mrs. W.D. Evans. There gathered her children, grand-children and her great-grandchildren. After the exceution of some fine vocal and insturmental music, ther was an interchange of sentiment, bestowing gifts and general happiness. There were five of her children, twenty-eight grand children, and twenty-nine great grand children present.

Grandma Alley has passed through a long and active life of usefulness and goodness, always ready to assist the needy and sick. She would at all times enter into the disease burdened air of the sick room, and act an efficient part there. Her life runs back to the last century. She has lived under every Presidential administration, from that great and grand Washington to Cleveland; she was approaching her teens when Fulton pushed the "Clermont" into the Hudson, in 1807; she was a married woman during the war with England; she saw the first steamboat descend the Ohio; she has seen introduced those great great promotions of civilization--the locomotive, by Stevenson, telegraphy, by Morse; the sewing machine, by Elias Howe; the telephone, by Bell; and the varied uses of electricity, by Edison. She can tell of seeing the great and good Lafayette; speaks familarly of the discourses of the eccentric Lorenzo Dow; she has listened to the great pioneer preachers, Collins, Raper, and men of that type, besides sitting under the masterly eloquence of John Newland Maffitt.
   (I found an entire article on Susan Alley in the December 4, 1889 North Vernon Sun-it follows)
  
   Grandma Alley was indeed a striking monument of the past. Born in 1797, during the administration of Washington, united in marriage to Amos Alley in 1814 during our last struggle with Great Britain. Her active young married life had passed ere this generation had appeared on the stage of Time. Her early days are of the pioneer era. She witnessed the descent of the first steamboat down the Ohio, which was one of the events of early days. Her father emigrated from New Jersey to Clermont county, Ohio, in 1804, and settled in the native forest, and grandma remembered well seeing her father shoot a deer from his cabin door. One of his fellow pioneers was the noted Methodist preacher, the Rev. John Collins. One of her classmates in the log cabin schools of that early day was the lamented Roper noted for his piety and for his eloquence in the pulpit. She heard "Sehon" preach in his eighteenth year. She has listened to the erratic, but devout Lorenzo Dow. She often drank in the eloquence of that matchless pupit orator, John Newland Moffit. Her friends have been the most worthy and noted in Ohio. Some of them are of worldwide fame, and many are of National fame. I will mention Judge Salmon P. Chase, known to all soldiers as "Old Greenbacks." He was one of the true Anti Slavery men in the old days. Calib Atwater, who wrote the history of Ohio, and was Gen. Harrison's Indian interpretor during the war with England, and was at the victory of the Thames where Tecumseh fell. Rev. John Blanchard the great debator, and Prof. Fairchils, of Oberlin college. But I might name a great many more from Oberlin college, fro Grandma's house was the center of attraction fifty years ago to the professors and students of Oberlin. The fact is the anti-slavery people of that day were glad to meet, and made each other welcome, as they were not overly numerous in that pro-slavery age. She was well aquainted with Senator Morris, noted for his spirited reply to Henry Clay in the U.S. Senate. She knew the Hon. Bellamy Storrer from his boyhood up, and she knew Judge Laffin. One of her early friends and neighbors, was the benevolent and good John Whetstone. I might mention many that she made business acquaintances, as the Longworths, Burnetts, the Corneals and others. But the truth is grandma knew most of the people in Cincinnati of years ago, for the Queen City was small when she moved there from old Clermont in 1817.
   Grandma moved to Jennings county in 1843. She gave one son to the Union army. I mean Sargent Theodore S. Alley, as brave a soldier as ever carried musket, or drew sword in any field. Grandma had two grandsons in the glorious Army of the Union, two gentlemen now well known in this city-Fred and Frank Evans. Grandma left one son who has had a rather remarkable career. St nineteen he was publishing a newspaper-The Phillantropist-at Cincinnati, which made repeated upheavels in the pro-slavery camps. Twice they destroyed his press; the last time they threw it into the Ohio river, but Phenix-like it rose from its ashes, to preach for the downtrodden slave. They also destroyed his mercantile house as far as externals, but his friends rallied and drove them to their dens. I mention these things to show kind of stuff Grandma's sons are made of. The gentleman being referred to is Samuel A. Alley. He now resides in the adjoining county of Ripley. Grandma and her friends were among the marked and foremost of the anti-slavery times. God bless her. She is safe among the angels, and may we be counted worthy to join her in that happy land.
   She had been blessed with four sons and four daughters, a host of grand- children, and great grand children, and even great great grand children. Three daughters have entered the pearly gates. One daughter, Mrs. W.D. Evans, survives, and with her grandma for many years had made her home. Grandma was a member of the Presbyterian church. The last words she uttered were "glory, glory," so her daughter, Mrs. Evans, who was tenderly watching her informs me,and with these cheering words of triumph she entered the dark river of death.  J.
  

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