Originally printed in 1896 so this text is out of copyright.
http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/page/page/1523179.htm
CHAPTER II.
THE SETTLEMENT AND THE FIRST SETTLERS.
During the winter of 1795-96 forty-six men agreed to settle in Dayton in the spring of 1796. When the time came to start only nineteen responded, and they set out in three sections, two overland and one by water.
William Hamer, who owned a wagon and two horses, had charge of one section. He was born in Maryland about the year 1750, and moved west with his wife and children in 1792. He and his son Solomon, who was then sixteen years old, built a flatboat, in which the family descended the Ohio River to Cincinnati, and then used the lumber in the boat to erect a house. Here they lived until they started for Dayton in March, 1796. With him on this trip to Dayton were his wife, Mary; his children, Solomon, Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Polly; and Jonathan and Edward Mercer. The party was somewhat delayed, and was the last of the three to reach Dayton.
Mr. Hamer, who was a local Methodist preacher, has the honor of being the first minister of the gospel to live in this place. He evidently was of the opinion that he should be known by loud speaking, as it is said he could be heard three miles at family prayers.
Mr. Hamer located on a quarter-section of land, east of the town, known recently as Tate's Point, now owned by William Focke & Sons, the butchers. It was at this home that a son was born, December 9, 1796, and in honor of his being the first white boy born in the settlement his parents named him Dayton. Of his children. Nancy married William Gahagan, who came here on the pirogue; Elizabeth married William C. Lowry; Sarah married David Lowry, in 1801, and lived on Mad River, near the mouth of Donnell's Creek. They were about the first to settle in Greene County. Polly married Joseph Culbertson, of Miami County, and Dayton Hamer married Catharine Haney, and moved to Illinois, and from there to California, where he died. William Hamer, Jr., married Hannah Culbertson, and moved to Indiana; Susan married a Mr. Krider, and Ruth a Mr. Wagoner. Ellen never married. Mrs. Elizabeth Croy, of Sidney, Ohio, and Mrs. E. E. Berkdoll and Fletcher Lowry, of Dayton, are the only living grandchildren of William Hamer. Mr. Hamer's wife, Mary, died at their home, August 9, 1825, and he died in 1827 from an accident received on his way to Cincinnati.
After reaching Dayton with Mr. Hamer's party, Jonathan and Edward Mercer, with all their worldly possessions in the panniers of one horse, went on up Mad River several miles, and located on prairie land that is now in Bath Township, Greene County. They were the first white people to settle there. It was an exposed position and they were twice driven to Dayton for safety during the first two years.
