“The marker is talking about the Native American presence in Butler County,” Kathy Creighton said. “There’s never been a marker — nothing has ever been done for the Native American culture.”
One side of the official Ohio historical marker (which people will see when they’re driving from Reily) will honor Native American cultures. The other side, visible to people driving from Millville, commemorates the former Lewis/Sample farm, which was founded by some of Butler County’s earliest settlers.
“Directly behind where the monument is going — it has been destroyed — at one time there was an Adena mound,” she said. “There is another mound behind the cemetery, and as you continue on along Reily-Millville into Reily Township, there are earthworks and mounds.”
Among speakers will be Richard Sollmann of a family trust, Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller and Creighton.
“We call it Lewis Farm because they’re the people who started the farm,” she said.
The farm later was sold to the Sample family in the mid-1800s. Moeller said the Lewis family established the farm in 1802.
“The farm was in the Sample family for roughly five generations,” although the last names of the owners changed because it was passed down to daughters, he said.
American Indian earthworks have had a higher profile lately in southwest Ohio for two reasons: Preservationists recently succeeded in buying properties in Ross Township that contain 2,000-year-old Hopewell Indian mounds; and other earthworks created by the Hopewells appear likely to join the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Moeller called the event “a great day for Ohio history.”
“We have the original farmhouse,” Creighton said. “We have all the original farm buildings.”
Before the farm was divided, it included almost an entire “section,” an official land measure that consists of one square mile or 640 acres, in Hanover Township and half a section in Reily Township.
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