Over an hundred years have passed since the organization of the county.  In every avenue of material activity, a marked and gratifying progress has been shown from decade to decade, and the experience of recent years justifies the belief that the

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second century of the county's history will exhibit a relatively increasing prosperity.

     WILLIAM McCLELLAN, the first Sheriff of Butler county, was born in 1767, near Mercerburg, Pennsylvania.  He came to Hamilton in 1792 and followed wagoning as an occupation for a number of years.  In 1803 he was elected Sheriff and re-elected in 1806.  After an interim of two years he was again elected, serving two terms.  He settled in St. Clair township, on Two Mile creek, near the old Eaton road.  A part of the homestead farm is today in the possession of one of his descendants.  He died Oct. 2, 1827, at the age of sixty years.

     JOHN WINGATE

     JAMES McBRIDE was born Nov. 2, 1788, a short distance from Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania.  He received no set education, but improved what opportunities, he had for reading, and, on coming to Hamilton, in the eighteenth year of his age, was discovered to possess a large amount of useful knowledge.  His first employment was as clerk for John Reily, but he soon found other openings.  Every one had the utmost confidence in him, and he was constantly in request.  His patrimony was not large, but it enabled him

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sometimes to try new plans for bettering his fortune.  Just before the war with Great Britain, he engaged with Joseph Hough in a venture to New Orleans.  Flour was bought and shipped to that port with a large profit, and thenceforth Mr. McBride was easy in his circumstances.

     In 1813, he was elected Sheriff, and was again chosen in 1815.  This office was then considered as being the chief one in the county, and it shows the confidence his fellow-citizens must have had in him, as he was but twenty-five when elected.  Mr. McBride had scarcely removed to this county when he began his researches in the early history of this region.  He foresaw its progress, and knew that where there was then only a wooded plain, would soon be villages and cities.  The pioneers were still alive who could recount the tale of the defeat of St. Clair, the triumphal march of Wayne, the building of the first houses, and the birth of the first children.  It is impossible to say how much he wrote, but there are probably now in existence, in his handwriting, not less than three thousand pages of manuscript bearing upon Butler county and the country adjacent.  Among the most valuable of these is the work issued in 1869 by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, under the title of "Pioneer Biography of Butler County."  He wrote a History of Hamilton, in 1831, which has never been published.  It is now the property of Frank E. Brandt.  Mr. McBride's map of Butler county is a large copper-plate, five feet by four, and of the utmost accuracy. Every little stream is laid down upon it and every farm, road, church, and school-house, and the meanderings of the Miami can by this be compared with its bed in the present day.  No more truthful county map was ever published in Ohio.

     He was elected mayor of Hamilton.  While in this position he aided in a codification of the municipal ordinances.  After the election of John Woods as Auditor of State he went to Columbus to assist him, rendering most valuable co-operation, and in 1846 was chosen clerk of the courts of Butler county, a position he held until 1852.

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Mr. McBride's wife died Sept. 23, 1859.  Ten days later, October 4, he died.

     PIERSON SAYRE

     SAMUEL MILLIKIN

     JOHN HALL

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     WILLIAM SHEELY

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     ISRAEL GREGG

     JOHN K. WILSON, SR.

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     WILLIAM J. ELLIOTT

     GEN. FERD. VAN DERVEERE [See Hamilton in Civil war.]

     AARON L. SCHENCK

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     John Durrough, a noted gambler, died in 1849.  He plied the Ohio and Mississippi rivers following his vocation.  He willed his farm near Snaptown to an adopted daughter.  Mr. Schenck was appointed administrator.  Tom Simmonds, a desperate character and a well known sporting man of Natchez,

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PETER MURPHY

     PETER MURPHY

     JOSEPH GARRISON

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     A. A. PHILLIPS

     A. J. REES

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In October, 1863, he was elected Sheriff, serving until January, 1868.  Mr. Rees was radical in politics and was pronounced in his likes and dislikes.

R. N. ANDREWS

     ROBERT N. ANDREWS

     WILLIAM H. ALLEN

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MARCELLUS THOMAS

     MARCELLUS THOMAS

     F. D. BLACK

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     GEORGE W. ST. CLAIR

     ISAAC ROGERS

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     FRANK KREBS

WILLIAM BRUCK

     WILLIAM BRUCK. - The present Sheriff was born in Hamilton, Ohio, Nov. 14, 1848.  He received a liberal education under private instruction in this city.  When thirteen years old he began learning the art of printing in the Schildwache office, conducted by his father - Captain John P. Bruck.  Subsequently he worked in Cincinnati and Indianapolis.  He mastered his chosen calling and was a very rapid compositor.  His proof was excellent, frequently being returned to him after being read by an expert proof reader, O. K.'d, without an error marked.  In 1876 he was appointed on the Hamilton police force, and served for four years.  In April, 1881, he was elected city marshal, and was re-elected in 1883.  In Novem-

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ber 1895, he was elected Sheriff of this county and was installed in office the first Monday in January, 1896.  He was married in July, 1869, to Miss Barbara Musch.  Two children have been born to them, namely, William C. and Edward G.   Mr. Bruck is well qualified and equipped to fill the office of Sheriff.