Aaron Boggs ⁴⁰⁶

  General Notes:

As a boy worked at his father’s mill near Piqua, Ohio. At the age of 18, he left home on foot and ended up at Maysville, Kentucky. Moved back to Piqua, Ohio in 1841 with his wife and four children. In 1843 he purchased a grist mill and moved to its location just north of Covington, Ohio. He was a member of Church of the Brethen (Dunker/Tunker) and died while returning home from a service.

Aaron was born in on a farm located on the south half of the Northeast quarter section number 23, which his father had purchased from Jonas Haney on May 16, 1814. His father, Ezekiel Boggs was a stern disciplinarian and believed in the biblical quotation of "spare the rod and spoil the child." In 1816 he moved four and on half miles north of Piqua, OH., and started a mill, known for many years as the "Boggs Mill". Men and boys rode for miles through the wilderness on horseback with corn or other grains to be ground. Sometimes, as his mill ground slowly, they could not get all the grist ground the day they brought it and had to stay overnight and sleep on the mill floor until the following day. This was the condition of the state of affairs when one day Ezekiel had to leave on a business trip and he left the grist for Aaron to grind, who was then 18 years old, to get ground for the customers. He played around the mill with some of the boys and neglected to get the grist ground. When his father went to the mill on his return in the evening he was furious. Some of the men were still waiting and the grist was not ground. He cut a hickory switch and proceeded to apply it in the presence of the man in the mill. This humiliated Aaron so he decided then and there he would leave home. So he went to the house and told his mother he was leaving but would not tell them where he was going. So in the year 1832 he started out on foot with a shirt and a few clothes. They did not know where he was until after he was married, when a man named Marshall Morgan came to visit at grandfather Ezekiel's. He told them that Aaron Boggs was at Maysville, KY. and had married the most good-for-nothing girl in Maysville. Her name was Melvina Hitt (daughter of Aaron Hitt and Kathryn Holtzclaw) whom he married Nov. 24, 1833 and they were living with her father. Ezekiel was so greatly worried he was no longer angry and thought he would go to Maysville (1834) and get him to come back to the mill. He found Aaron working at the carpenter trade and doing well. But Ezekiel had decided to keep one eye on Aaron's wife and see if she was so worthless. Melvina got him a good supper. After supper Aaron went to bed in one corner of the cabin and Ezekiel in the opposite corner. Melvina lighted an extra candle and sat down by the fireplace and commenced knitting on a sock for Aaron. She soon finished it and laid it upon the table beside her and then finished the other and rolled the pair together. Then she cut out a pair of pants for Aaron. Ezekiel must have been a crafty old fox, he lay awake watching the new bride sitting in the candlelight sewing by hand in the drab of the night until she finished the pants, folded them and hung them over the back of the chair, and sat it beside of Aaron's bed, so he could have them to wear in honor of his fathers visit and just as daybreak came she crept into bed. Ezekiel said, "I always knew that Marshall Morgan was a liar." And that was how Ezekiel got his first hand knowledge of the kind of girl Aaron had married and he found that she was good. At this time he induced Aaron to move back to Piqua, which he did in the spring of 1841, bringing his expectant wife and four children in a covered wagon. They traveled a corduroy road which was marked by the trees and the cow was hitched on behind. At this time they had four children; Washington born 1835, Catherine born 1836, Ezekiel born 1838, and William born 1839. The moved first to Piqua, OH where Aaron worked for his father in the mill and while living here the fifth child Marion was born in 1841. Two years later he moved to Covington, Ohio and purchased from Benjamin Kendall, his brother-in-law, most of the east half of Section 19, Newberry Township, Miami County. He purchased this on May 7, 1843. At the mouth of Harrison Creek stood a grist mill which was built by Noah Davenport in 1815 and was powered by water from Harrison Creek. This was also known as the Coates Mill Property and was abandoned due to competition from other mills more easily approached. Just to the north of this mill they lived in a house probably built by Noah Davenport. Later on the hill just north of the mouth of Harrison Creek Aaron Boggs built a brick house, a Kentucky styled house and probably a replica of Melvina’s home in Kentucky. Here he saw his children grow to manhood and womanhood and finally marry and establish homes of their own. Here were born Alden in 1844, Frank in 1846, Melvina in 1848, Nancy in 1850, and the twins Martha and Mary in 1852. Aaron also gave room and board to William Brown and Jacob Kendall. Jacob being homeless after his mother , Mary (Boggs) Kendall died. He did not stay long however and soon left to live with Doctor Weaver at Clayton, Ohio. Aaron put the grist mill into operation again and also erected a lath mill at the Northwest corner of what is now the intersection of State Route 48 and Iddings Pike, which at that time did not exist. The road to Bradford crossed the Stillwater River at the mouth of Harrison Creek, then went south up the hill, make a sharp turn west, crossing to the north of the first settler, Michael Ingle's cabin and then turning south to the approximate location of the road today. Aaron Boggs was politically a Democrat with a Southern leaning during the Civil War but had nothing to say after his son, Alden, went to that War for four years. He was called a copperhead or a Southern sympathizer by his fellow townsmen, and was not very popular, for this reason, at the time of his death. He did not approve of his son going to war but while the boys were out doing the fighting for his country he stayed home with one hand in the mill hopper and one in the sack and thought it was alright to rake in the war profits and thought he was doing God’s service. The womanfolk would defend him by saying he never took any toll he wasn't entitled to by law and he wasn't disloyal because it was against the rules of the church to fight and it was natural for him to be concerned about the war. His heart trouble may have been aggravated by the attitude of his fellow townsmen and business associates. After his father's death on September 22, 1864, his mother came to live with Aaron until her death on February 2, 1867. Aaron Boggs was a member of the Church of the Brethren which at that time was located at Sugar Grove, a few miles south of the village of Covington, Ohio. He was always very neat in appearance and physically was a very heavy set man. His son Benjamin Franklin Boggs favored Aaron very much in personal appearance. Aaron Boggs at one time was a very rich man and also was a very large land-owner. He owned at one time the entire east half of Section 19, Newberry Township, Miami County, Ohio. He also owned several acres of land near Piqua and several city lots in Piqua. And he owned some land in Hot Springs, Arkansas. About 186l, he entered a partnership with Louis Kensinger and Joseph Ullery in the grain business. This was short lived and all three men lost great sums of money. It is determined that mismanagement was the cause of the failure. In January of 1872 he moved into the village of Covington, Ohio into the Catherine Shellabarger home on north High Street. On October 23, 1872 Aaron and some of his family planned to attend a church meeting at Sugar Grove. Shortly after his arrival he felt ill and started home on the hack. Suddenly he leaned over with his head in Mrs. Doctor Weavers lap having died of a heart attack. He had reached the age of 57 years, 11 months, and 8 days. Aaron Boggs was buried in the south east corner of the small family cemetery which is located on northwest corner of the farm. This cemetery lies on the north-south half section line of section 19 and is 100 feet north of north boundary of section 19. Melvina (Hitt) Boggs died on the farm in Newberry Township, Miami County, Ohio, on January 27, 1883 at the age of 70 years and 8 months. ⁴⁰⁶

  Life Events:

1. Occupation: Miller & Owned a Grist & Lathe Mill. ⁴⁰⁶

2. Church Affiliation: Church of the Brethen.

Aaron married Melvina Hitt on 19 Nov 1833 in Maysville, Mason, Kentucky, USA.⁴⁰⁶ (Melvina Hitt was born on 17 May 1812 in Mason County, Kentucky, USA,⁴⁰⁶ died on 27 Jan 1883 in Newton Township, Miami, Ohio, USA ⁴⁰⁶ and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery (Piqua, Miami, Ohio, USA) ⁴⁰⁶.)