Life of Reily - The Deneen Family Pioneers

Father (background) and Son

It's a real thrill finding these old cemeteries when I geocache. There always seems to be a history lesson waiting to be uncovered. On a beautiful March day in 2012 I found a marker at Bunker Hill Pioneer Cemetery in Reily Township OH that caught my attention.
It was for Samuel Deneen, a Private in the War of 1812. I noticed that his father James Deneen, who fought in the Revolutionary War as a Private (Hunterdon Co NJ Militia), and several other Deneen's were nearby.

I wasn't able to find much more about younger Pvt Deneen's unit, Samuel Ashton's Co. of Ohio Militia but I did find an online roster. It confirms Sam Deneen served from February - August 1814. He is listed along with his brother Corp. Elijah Deneen (also buried here) and Private John M. Deneen another brother.
I also attempted to cross-reference their service with known War of 1812 battles but I wasn't able to come up with anything solid. By 1814 most of the American Northwest land battles were occurring around Lake Erie on the Canadian side. Based on what I've seen they didn't keep or retain good militia service records from this period. These Deneens all survived the war and ended up here to start new lives in Reily Township.

This property was once all owned by the Deneen Family who I found were Huguenots that first fled religious persecution in France in the late 17th century. They later settled in Northern Ireland, eventually emigrating to the US in the early 18th century. They were one of the first pioneer families to settle in Butler County OH, The area around the cemetery is now Pater Wildlife Area.
In further research of the Deneen Family, I found some other interesting but tragic history unrelated to their military service. Samuel had another brother named Alexander who also lived on this land. In 1826 while building a house he threw a wood plank out of the 2nd story which accidentally landed on their 2-year-old daughter Mary and killed her instantly. Alexander became so distraught he never finished the house and eventually moved, selling the one-acre cemetery to the local Universalist Church. Mary, along with Alexander are buried in nearby Springdale Cemetery.

sources: 
-James Deneen at Waymarking.com
-Deneen Family Document at Ancestry.com
-Ohio Genealogy Express
-FindAGrave.com
-Butler County MetroParks

Lt. Joseph Catterline - Miami Chapel Cemetery

In March of 2011, I was geocaching near Fairfield OH and spotted this replacement grave marker for Lt. Joseph Catterline in a tiny roadside cemetery called Miami Chapel. The original stone, like many from this period, had been either stolen, vandalized, or obliterated by the elements. In 2010, the Fairfield Historical Society, the Fairfield City Parks Department, and Tom Stander a Butler County Historian placed new gravestones here. So thanks for that.

Like the marker says, Catterline fought in the Revolutionary War. In case you didn't know, the first United States national army was known as the Continental Army led by George Washington as opposed to the less disciplined and less equipped state militias. The New Jersey Line was a formation of infantry from NJ and made up part of the Continental Army along with other state lines.

Most don't think of Ohio as having much connection to the War of Independence but many vets settled in the Ohio frontier afterward since they were given parcels of this newly acquired land instead of cash payment for their service. It was a new start for many but also a hostile place in those days since the local Shawnee and Miami didn't quite agree on the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the war without their input.

I did a bit of research and found that Joseph Catterline (sometimes spelled "Catterlin") was a Lieutenant in the Army from 1777 to 1783 and engaged the enemy several times, most notably at Fort Lee NJ. When Thomas Paine wrote the famous line in The American Crisis, "These are the times that try men's souls" he was referring to events at Fort Lee.

Catterline had also been in charge of Signal Beacon No. 7 in New Jersey. In 1779 There were about two dozen Signal Beacons throughout the state. The types of beacons varied from tar barrels on top of poles, to pyramids, to wooden towers filled with dried grass or hay that could be ignited to warn others of a British attack.

Miami Chapel Cemetery is also the resting place of a War of 1812 soldier and four Civil War veterans.

Sources:
- Ancestry.com
- Findagrave.com