The Township of Waterloo, Athens County, Ohio
Personal and Biographical
Samuel Allison, a native of Maryland, settled here in 1836, as a farmer. He reared a large family, some of whom have been well known in the county. Mr. W. H. Allison, a son of his, now lives in Chillicothe, but owns considerable property in Athens county.
Robert H. Cotton settled here in 1836. He was a native of Virginia and a model farmer. He settled on the farm where the village of Marshfield now stands, and sold that land to the railroad company.
Moses Hewitt was the first white settler within the present limits of Waterloo. He settled in this township with his family about 1806, and there was not at that time another family within many miles of him. The second family was Abram Fee’s, who settled on the place now owned by Mr. Warren Foster, son of Mr. Hull Foster, of Athens. The third family was that of Ezekiel Robinett, Sen., and the fourth that of Colonel William Lowry. Col. Lowry was born November 15, 1779, in Berkeley county, Virginia, and was taken when an infant with his father’s family to Green county, Virginia. He says: “That country was then a dense wilderness, infested with Indians. The settlers had to fight every summer for four years after my father moved there. At one time, my father’s was the frontier house but one, and the inmates of that one were all killed by the Indians except one boy twelve years old, who made his escape. When I was eighteen years old (1797) my father removed, to the northwestern territory and settled in what is now Athens county, and near the town of Athens. We came down the Ohio river to the mouth of Hockhocking, in flat-boats, and up the Hockhocking in canoes. At that time we had to bring our breadstuff from the Ohio river, the nearest mill being a floating one at Vienna, eight miles above the mouth of Kanawha river, on the Virginia shore. The second year after we came here, we pounded our corn on a hominy-block, took the finer part for bread and made the coarse into hominy. For meat we depended on the woods and our rifles, and always had plenty of bear, deer, and turkey meat. The first mill that I remember was built by Capt. John Hewitt, on Margaret’s creek, within a mile of the mouth. It went into operation in the year 1801. I came to Waterloo, from Athens, in February, 1820. This region was all a wilderness then, there being only three families besides mine in the township. Joseph Brookson started the first grist and saw mill in Waterloo, where Newton Hewitt’s saw mill now stands. There were a great many bears and deer here at that time, and wolves and panthers were also pretty numerous and very annoying.” Col. Lowry is still living in Waterloo, in his seventy-ninth year.
Prominent among the citizens of Waterloo, are Mr. Jesse Jones, a native of Virginia, who settled on Little Raccoon at an early day; Mr. Hugh Boden, a native of Ireland, who settled here in 1839, and now lives in Marshfield; Mr. James Mayhugh, a native of Maryland, who settled here as a farmer in 1836, and now engaged in business in Marshfield; all of whom have reared respectable families, and are highly esteemed.
Natalie Cottrill, “An Annotated Biographical History of Athens County, Ohio” ProGenealogists (Online: ProGenealogists, Inc., 2004) [some original text by Charles M. Walker, published in Cincinnati, Ohio by Robert Clarke & Co., 1869, History of Athens County, Ohio and Incidentally of the Ohio Land Company and the First Settlement of the State at Marietta with personal and biographical sketches of the early Settlers, narratives of pioneer adventures, etc.], <http://www.progenealogists.com/athens/waterlootownship.htm>.
