Martin HESS was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1803, from which State he emigrated to Anderson township in 1828, when he took immediate charge of the TURPIN mills. He continued in his position, respected by all, for twenty-five years, and died in 1855. His wife - Eliza FLINT previous to her marriage - was born in 1806, and is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-four. The children are Sarah MUCHMORE, Martin V. HESS, G. W. HESS, Lottie SEARLES, and Amanda HESS. Mr. M. V. HESS was elected township clerk in 1868. Two years later he became township treasurer, which office he has since held, with the exception of two years. He is the present incumbent.
 

William H. AYRES was born in the year 1849. Leaving school at the age of nineteen, he entered the employ of Mr. W. R. MCGILL, and still holds his position, respected by all who know him. The first representative of his family in Ohio was his grandfather, John JONES, whose wife was Hattie DURHAM before her marriage.
 

R. W. HIBBEN first settled in Anderson township in 1839. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and came from that city to Ohio. He died in 1844. His wife's name was Rebecca E. GOODMIN, and they have seven children living. Duke G. HIBBEN, the son of the preceding, was born in South Carolina in 1829. At the age of ten he came to Anderson township, and still remains on the old homestead, surrounded by many friends.
 

Samuel SHAW settled at Newtown in 1828. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but emigrated from there to Ohio, where he lived until the time of his death in the year 1848. He was the proprietor of a hotel for thirty-one years. His wife was Isabel JEFFERIES. Five children are living. The son, Moses SHAW, was born in 1833. In 1861 he was married to the daughter of Jacob ROSS. He has always followed the business of farming.
 

Elisha MILLER settled in Anderson township in 1812. He followed the business of blacksmithing and farming, and has given the art of wood carving a deal of attention, receiving a diploma for the finest carving on exhibition at the tri-State fair of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. He was married, in 183-, to Hester J. HOPPER, daughter of Abraham, who is noticed elsewhere with the Hopper family. He is a man respected by all.
 

The venerated name of Rev. Philip GATCH will ever be associated with the records of pioneer settlement and early religious movements in Hamilton and Clermont counties. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time in the Little Miami valley. Mr. GATCH was born near Baltimore, Maryland, March 2, 1751, of Prussian stock on his father's side and Burgundian on his mother's. He was converted under Methodist influences in 1772; began to speak as an exhorter in the same year; the next year was sent into New Jersey as the first itinerant of the church ever sent into the State. He and the Rev. Mr. WALTERS, then laboring in Virginia and Delaware, were, indeed, the first preachers recruited for the Methodist itinerancy in this country. At the conference of 1774, held in Philadelphia, he was one of five received into full connection. January 14, 1788, he was married to Miss Elizabeth SMITH, of Powhatan county, Virginia. After much laborious and able service at the east, part of the time under severe persecution, being often threatened, once dangerously assaulted, and once plastered with tar, he engaged in farming for a time; emancipated his slaves in December, 1780, removed to Buckingham, Virginia, and improved a large farm. In 1798 he resolved to emigrate to the Northwest Territory, and set out for the land of hope October 11th, of that year, with his brother-in-law, the Rev. James SMITH, and family, and a near friend, Mr. Ambrose RANSOM and his family. Thirty-six persons, white and colored, were in the colony. After many tribulations, by land and water, they reached the Little Miami valley. Says Mr. GATCH in his journal:

From Williamsburgh we passed on to Newtown, and for some days pitched our tents in TURPIN's bottom, and there, with those who were with me, were accommodated with a small shop used by a mechanic. On Sunday morning after our arrival the boats landed. My heart was dissolved into love and gratitude to God for his care over us on our journey, and bringing us safely into this desirable and distant land. I rented a house in Newtown, and we were treated kindly by the people, though they cared little for religion. The land which l had taken in exchange for my farm in Virginia did not answer for a settlement, so I purchased a tract in the forks of the Little Miami river.

His residence in Anderson township was, therefore, brief, lasting only till the middle of the next February, when his cabin was finished and he moved beyond the East fork into it. His history thenceforth belongs mainly to Clermont county, which he served long and ably in public stations, as justice of the peace, associate judge of the court of common pleas, member of the first constitutional convention, and otherwise. He remained identified, however, with the religious interests of the lower Miami valley, preaching regularly at Newtown and other places, though not as a circuit preacher until circuits were regularly established and appointments made to them, and frequently preached thereafter. He died in the fullness of years and honors December 28, 1835, and was laid to rest beside his venerable wife, in the burying-ground upon his farm.
 

One of the most notable citizens of Mount Washington, in the present generation, was Dr. Leonard W. BISHOP, a native of Cheviot, in Green township, but who removed to this locality in 1849, to practice medicine. It was a terrible cholera year, and he soon found abundant opportunity for professional activity. He was a thoroughly public-spirited man, and one of his projects was that of a fine academy in the place. During the war he was secretary of the Anderson township relief society, of which Captain KLINE was president, and aided to keep the township clear of all drafts and to disburse large sums for the assistance of soldiers' families. After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing a large meeting of citizens of the township was held at Mount Washington, to consider the best means of sending relief to the two companies from the township that were in that hard-fought action. Dr. BISHOP was unanimously deputed to go to the front with suitable supplies for the Anderson men, and to bring back their dead, sick and wounded. At Cincinnati he fell in with Dr. COMEGY's, of that city, who was about to leave for Pittsburgh Landing in an official capacity, and was by him appointed a surgeon on his staff, which gave him superior facilities of movement within the lines of the army. He found the Anderson companies, and promptly relieved their wants. Within two weeks he had fulfilled his mission, and returned with his precious charge of disabled and dead heroes. At another large meeting held after his return, he received a unanimous vote of thanks on behalf of the people of Anderson township, which was all the compensation he asked or received for his services. He was thereafter often summoned to Cincinnati to assist the army surgeons in the work of the hospitals. After the war he removed to Mount Carmel, in Clermont county, where we believe he now resides.
 

The Rev. Francis MCCORMICK, formerly a neighbor of Rev. Philip GATCH, on the East fork of the Miami, and, like him, one of the pioneer preachers of Methodism in the Northwest Territory, spent his last days near Mount Washington, whither he removed in 1806. He was an old Revolutionary soldier, who had served under Lafayette at Yorktown. At his cabin beyond the East fork, in 1797, it is said the first Methodist class organized in Ohio was formed.