From Generation to Generation

From Generation to Generation. They Lived Long on the Land. , Benjamin M. Piatt, son of a Revolutionary War patriot, was raised on farms in New Jersey and later in Kentucky. As a young adult in the Cincinnati area, Benjamin's interests in commerce, real estate and law brought prosperity and the ability to acquire a 1,700 acre farm approximately one hundred miles to the north. Benjamin and his wife Elizabeth moved with their younger children and some grandchildren to their new farm in 1828. , , The Piatt land was a mixture of fertile bottomland and wooded upland previously farmed by Shawnee People. Adapting the Shawnee place-name, the Piatts called their farmstead, Mac-o-cheek. With the assistance of his large family, farm laborers and several tenants, Benjamin cleared the land, enabled the use of waterpower for mills and developed a agricultural operation. , , Lower right image , Benjamin's land lay primarily in Monroe Township in Logan County, bordered on the west by Liberty Township and just north of the Champaign County border. By 1860, he had sold parcels he owned in Champaign County and given other lots to his daughters when they married. His son Donn, a writer, received a 77 acre parcel. To his youngest son Abram, a farmer, Benjamin gave approximately 1,000 acres with "love and affection." , , Upper middle image , After Benjamin's and Elizabeth's deaths, "The Old Home Place" was occupied by descendants or rented to tenants and laborers. It is pictured here in the early 20th century. In the 1970s the building was sold and reconstructed as a gift shop named "The Pioneer House." , , Lower middle image , By 1875, a network of Piatt relatives lived on parcels of the original family farm. Donn expanded his estate when he acquired some additional land from his brother. Abram's son William managed the family sawmill and farmed on land he rented from his uncle Donn and other family members. Nearby, William's brothers Rivenoak John and Kentucky Ben each owned approximately 200 acres. At Abram's death, his remaining 600 acres were left to his living children and several grandchildren. , , Upper right images , "Mrs. Piatt laid out the grounds in walks, lawns, and mounds, planted hedges of the native hawthorn and arranged beds of flowers and borders of roses, both wild and cultivated, mingled with lilac and wax berries." From" Caroline Piatt Morris and Elizabeth McCullough Smith, Memorial Biography of Benjamin M. Piatt and Elizabeth, His Wife, c. 1880 , , Lower right image , This image of the Piatt grist mill shows a small farmhouse across the road which might have been occupied by Piatt kin, laborers or renters. Both the mill and the house are now gone. ,

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"Court News-Piatt Lands Divided. An amicable division of the Piatt lands was made in this city today. Anna P. Black and Emilie R. Piatt receive 75 acres in the southeast corner of the farm. The five minor children of Jacob I. Piatt, deceased, received all the Piatt land from west of the old mill road running north and south. The remainder. . . goes to William M. Piatt and Mary A. Worthington in common." , Bellefontaine Examiner, March 28, 1908