Gatch Family
The Gatch family has lived in Milford for eight generations. The northern portion of Valley View's property is part of the Gatch "Arrowhead Farm." This photo shows the 500-year old burr oak tree that stood in the front yard of the Gatch farmhouse until it was recently destroyed in a storm. The Gatch family farmhouse can be seen in the background of the photo above. The home was built between 1810 and 1826. The Valley View property sits behind the house in this photo. Philip Gatch came to Milford from Maryland in 1799. His nephew Lewis Gatch moved to Milford in 1812. The Gatch Family still has the originbal Revolutionary War land grant signed by President Thomas Jefferson and then Secretary of State James Madison for much of the land that is now downtown Milford. Over the years the Gatches have been a part of Milford, Ohio and United States history. Philip Gatch was a legendary frontier Methodist preacher. He was so well known that his biography was drafted in 1851 by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John McLean who wrote the anti-slavery dissent in teh Dred Scott case. The two youngest sons of Lewis Gatch were at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. on April 14, 1865 when President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. One of thebrothers, Dr. Davenport Gatch, was one of the first to reach the President and tend to hiis mortal woond.
A Gatch Family Runion in 1891. The stone house sits atop the hill and the photographer who took this photo was standing on what is now Valley View property.
The Gatch Arrowhead Form homestead today.
Laudeman Family
The ancestors of the Laudeman family emigrated to teh United States and the Milford area in the first half of the 18th Century. Our board member and the Founder of Valley View Foundation, Robert E. Laudeman, Jr., is the sixth generation of teh Laudeman family to live on the land at the confluence of the East Fork and teh Little Miami Rivers. The Laudeman farm once spanned fromn teh East Fork to the Little Miami River and included much opf the current SEM Retirement Community. The Laudeman's built the barns that sit on Valley View property as well as the farm homes located at 5384 and 5392 South Milford Road. Many of the artifacts and historic photographs on our website came from the Laudeman family. Click on the Read More button to see more of the Laudeman family photos of life on Valley View over teh past 100-plus years.
Here's a deed from 1865 transferring a portion of the Valley View land to George F. Laudeman
Craver Family
The Craver Family has also been in Milford since the early 1800s. The descendents of the family live in Milford and Greater Cincinnati and a portion of their farm remains in the seventh generation of the family. The Craver's ancestors were teh Woodwards. Their farm sat inside the confluence of the East Fork and Little Miami Rivers, today the site fo the Terrace Park Country Club, Pattison Elementary School and the Milford Jesuit Spiritual Retreat Center. The dramatic views of these river valleys caused the Woodwards to name their farm Valley View Farm. And yes, that is how our organization gained its name. The picture below shows the barns on their farm which were located near the current location of the Terrace Park Country Club clubhouse.
This photo shows members of the Craver family with their first car, a Ford Model T.
